hi everyone welcome to miss Adams teachers Romeo and Juliet in this video I'm going to be talking to you about act 2 scene 2 the very very famous balcony scene we'll have a little look through the characters of Romeo and Juliet focusing on language structure and form as always so let's get started okay quick plot summary for you so the scene begins outside Juliet's bed chamber she's out on the balcony um and Romeo is sort of observing her and kind of commenting on her incredible beauty um and then he stops to listen to her speak and then she has this moment where she is um thinking about Romeo obviously musing out loud talking about why he has to be a Montague why he has to have that name uh leads the very very famous quotation you know what's in a name that which we call a rose by any other any other name would smell as sweet so she's talking about sort of taking away the status taking away the kind of family name and just being them as themselves so she basically tells Romeo without knowing that she loves him which means that he feels bold enough to be like I'm here I was listening not at all creepy um they then have um this exchange where um she's quite practical minded asking like how are you here why are you here like what what are you doing um and Romeo is sort of full of this sort of transcendental love that he expresses to her but the scene moves quite quickly in terms of they both make their vows of love for one another and it is Juliet that's like do you know what if you mean business you mean business let's get married um and so a plot is hatched for a message to be sent back between them through the nurse and so that they will be able uh to get married so quick plot summary but we do need to look at the scene in a little bit more detail okay so this is the um first part of the scene where Romeo is um looking towards Juliet and he says but soft what light through yonder window breaks it is the east and Juliet is the Sun so we've got this beautiful metaphor um that suggests that she is the giver and bringer of light and of warmth so Mass feelings of love now this metaphor is extended um and it's all about creating again this imagery of light and dark that she is The Light Within the darkness um and you know it continues arise Fair Sun so that prayer again and kill the envious Moon who is already sick and pale with grief okay so he personifies the moon he's like come on son up you come Julia get rid of the night light versus dark and then he says through this personification that the Moon is actually jealous of Juliet yeah that that thou her made are more uh far more fair than she okay be not her maid since she is envious so you're more beautiful than her you shouldn't be her maid and then it gets food dare I say it her Vestal Livery is but sick and green and none but fools do wear it cast it off now in case any of you are wondering what does that bit mean so vest delivery is like a a metaphor for for virginity um it's the uniform of the virgin um and this idea about being sick and green is apparently associated with diseases that only virgins get um but look again you know this imperative cast off he's gone straight to sex again no this is meant to be transcendental love but his mind is on one thing here um but then he gets back on track if it's my lady oh it is my love so we've got these exclamatives lovely interjection you know the O it is my love oh that she knew she was so very heightened emotion very heightened feelings of love she speaks yet she says nothing what what that her eye discourses so a bit more personification her eye speaks I will answer it oh no I'm too bold it's not to me she speaks yes careful there Romeo she doesn't know that you're there and at the moment you're already interpreting words that she hasn't said through the way that her eyes are speaking so give her a chance um he then continues so again we've got more of this light and dark two of the fairest stars in all the heaven having some business do inflate her eyes to twinkle in their spheres till they return so we've got this personification here um that the the most beautiful stars in heaven have had to do one and so they're like oh who can replace us Julia's eyes Okay so we've got metaphor we've got personification but again all of this is this idea that Juliet is brighter than any Star Julia is better than any Star Julia offers more light than any Star so we've got all of this hyperbole look at how it continues down here what if her eyes were there they in her head so what if the her eyes were up in heaven and those stars were here well then the brightness of her cheek would chain them so even her cheek is more beautiful and bright and sparkly than the brighter stars of Heaven okay her eyes in heaven would through the Airy region steam's stream so bright that birds would sing and think it were not night oh my word so if her eyes were in heaven glistening like a star it would make the birds think it was daytime that's how bright and light and beautiful he is um note the way that just like in Acts 1 scene 5 he is worshiping her not as a religious deity now but as the as as almost like mother nature herself so you've got this idea of her being placed up on a pedestal to be fair you can still link it to uh religious worship because he's placing her up there in the heavens um and then we have a little bit more Romeo higher motion see how feelings her cheek upon her hand oh that I were a glim I touched that so again this idea of how precious it would be just to be able to touch her so again quite reminiscent of act one scene five familiar is obviously also feeling the love for uh Romeo but she expresses it slightly differently so very famous line This rhetorical question oh Romeo Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo okay don't get confused that doesn't mean where are you Romeo where four means why so she's actually asking why are you Romeo why do you have to be called Romeo deny thy father and refuse thy name or if that will not be but someone my love and I'll no longer be a Capulet so again we're playing around with the concept of names here yeah so lovely imperatives deny thy father so say leave Montague refuse thy name say that you're not a Montague anymore and if you're not willing to just just love me and I'll no longer be a Capulet so she's not putting all on him there's this kind of sense of balance here but either way she's saying the names we have are our problem which he continues in this metaphor but thy name is my enemy the name is the enemy not the person uh they want thyself not a Montague what Montague lovely rhetorical question it is no hands nor foot nor arm nor face nor any other part belonging to a man so we've got this lovely lovely synthetic listing here um listing all of the things that it's not yeah that being a Montague doesn't mean so she's reminding us that actually there's so much more to a human being than their name than their family name oh be some other name what's the name that which we call a rose biennium other name would smell as sweet you've got this lovely and analogy sorry of the Rose basically saying if you have a rose yeah whether you call it a rose or a pumpkin it doesn't matter it's still beautiful it still smells the same as does Romeo yeah so Romeo would were he not Romeo called retain that dear Perfection which he owes without that title so he's like she's like it's not the name that makes him perfect it's him just quite sensible thinking here okay um Romeo thy name and for that name which is no part of the take all myself so again ending with this imperative but remember Romeo stood like listening to this and he's like yeah at this moment and so this is when he steps forward um and basically just surprises her I take the Thy word call me but love and I'll be new baptized henceforth I never will be Romeo so he's like fine cool yeah I'll blend my name I'll bring my name for you okay so what I want to do look at now is just the sort of differences in their characters and the way that they handle this moment so I've just got three little exchanges for us to focus on so the first one they're all like q a all sort of adjacency pairs Julia asks what man art thou that Vesper screened in nights so some stumblest on my Council good question who are you why are you creeping around my Gardens at night and listening into what I'm saying good question Juliet okay Romeo responds by name I know not to how to tell you who I am my name disinct again religious worship it's hateful to myself because it is an enemy to thee had I written I would tear the word so Julia straightforward practical question who you what the heck are you doing in my garden at night time Romeo heightened metaphor emotion if I had the name Montague written down I tear it into pieces so lots of lovely hyperbole and this one how came us thou Heather tell me and wherefore the orchard walls are high and hard to climb and the place death considering who Thou Art if any of my Kinsmen finally here good question Julia yeah so how did you get here and why yes sir how did you get and why did you come practical questions straight forward then she qualifies the orchard walls are high and hard to climb so she's like it's did you climb up the walls like those tall walls and she's like and good God man if anyone had found you they'd have killed you because you're Romeo of Montague what are you doing so again very very practical caring but practical Romeo's response with loves light Wings did I over perch these walls for Stony limits cannot hold love out well yeah they can um so again he responds in metaphor he responds with hyperbole so I almost makes me think of Red Bull you know Red Bull gives you wings but in this case for Romeo it's love that has given him wings but no again it's this idea of flight and of this that Juliet's love for him gives him this kind of power to be able to do anything so it should remind you of act 2 scene one when Benvolio talks about how he's overperched the walls and then the last one by whose Direction Founders are out this place so who told you how to get to Maroon dude good question Romeo by love who fasted promptly to inquire he let me cancel and I lent him eyes so love told him uh lovely bit personification I am no pilot yet what the hell as far as that vast Shore washed with a further sea I would adventure for such a merchandise if nothing a girl wants to hear more than being described as much um but on the more romantic side um we've got this metaphor back going on a journey so he's like even though he's not a pilot even though he's not a sailor if the idea of Juliet was over the vast ass Shores furthest away in the world he would battle in Germany and but you can see from these three exchanges that Juliet is practical is logical is not actually very impulsive you know she thinks things through whereas Romeo is emotional metaphorical so they are quite different not that that's a problem opposites do attract and it is clear even though Juliet is quite um yeah practically minded here it's still clear that she loves him it's this is an unrequited love they just got very different approaches and actually more on that with the lovely Juliet okay so this is part of the speech um that she delivers um after they've had this conversation about how Romeo got there because she's really conscious of the fact that you know she's kind of broken protocols a little bit like she should like or Romeo should never have heard her thought she would never have said them in this situation with a with a boy or a young man she didn't know and so she says but trust me gentlemen I'll prove more truth and those that have more canning to be strange I should have been more strange I must confess but that thou overheards me I was aware so she's talking about the rituals of courting she's saying I will be more honest and more true than any woman that is kind of playing the game of courtship who um use cunning so we're calculatedly strange strange meaning affected [Applause] um you know that they have affectations or that they pretend to be something that they're not or they play hard to get being strange in that way and she goes yeah I mean I should have been more strange I should have I I I shouldn't have said all of those things but I didn't know you were listening so it's almost like escalated the love or it's pushed it further forward because he has heard things that she never would have normally said now in this exchange the vows Romeo starts uh continuing to use his um language of love you know his kind of trademark uh chat up lines swearing by the moon he says Lady by Yonder blessed Moon I vow that tips with silver all these Fruit Tree Tops so you know he's on one Juliet's like no swear not by the Moon the inconstant Moon that monthly changes in her circled orb lest that thy love prove likewise variable she is right to ask that question so she's like don't don't swear by a moon because a moon changes yeah it's constantly changing it's in a circle orbits monthly changes in her circled orb so she's like if you're swearing by the moon what if your love is exactly the same now dramatic irony moment because we know that only a few hours ago he was saying that he was going to die from love sickness because of his love for Rosaline so she's right to ask that question okay beautiful like for analysis you've got that lovely personification of the Moon the uh the inconstant um Moon you've got the imperative so the way that she's saying to him nope don't do it that way and in fact she develops this idea about being calmer being more uh careful in this little part of the speech when she basically says look just stop stop swearing stop trying to make Oaths although I joined thee so although I love you and I'm happy to have you here I have no joy of this contract tonight so she's saying it's too soon it is to rash to unadvised to sudden to like the lightning which just cease to be air one can say it lightens brilliant Juliet yeah she's saying this is really impulsive this is really quick we've not sought any advice from anyone it's got lovely listing there and it's great um uh repetition of the adverb to to rash two unadvised two Saturn and then this lovely simile to like the lightning which just cease to be I.E when lightning strikes it's there and it's bright and it's powerful and then it disappears so she's saying what if your love is like that hard and fast and powerful and passionate like it is in the second but what if it's disappeared like what if it disappears by tomorrow so she's she's thinking all of the right things here that doesn't mean that she doesn't love him though he says my bounty is as boundless as the sea my love as deep the more I give to thee the more I have for both the infinite so there's a really kind of powerful promise in this simile or these these two similes that talk about the Limitless nature of her love for him and how by loving him it produces more love so even though I sort of make fun of Romeo in this situation because Julia is so practical-minded and logic and rational and he's just like blood I Can Fly With Love um it doesn't take away the fact that she does feel really strong emotions of love for him which leads to this spectacular bit of negotiation on Juliet's part three words dear Romeo and good night indeed is that by bent of Love be honorable thy purpose marriage send me word tomorrow so Juliet knows you can't be entertaining um young men on your balcony at night you know she's in a pickle she knows that if this love is something that they want to go down you know they want to go down that route then it's got to be done properly and it's got to be done with marriage she also knows that this is going to be against her parents will um wishes and so she's like let's get going so we've got impulsive slightly irrational highly emotional metaphorical Romeo and we've got straight talking practical logical like plan oriented Juliet but who both clearly love each other the scene continues with um their continual pledge of love for one another um so it's worth just you know having a little look through and this is one of the kind of lovely scenes you know where there isn't a kind of sense of impending doom with the exception of of course that we know we know where they are going to end up we we know um where this is going to lead us to so even when we have these wonderful moments of love it is bittersweet so key beans love marriage yeah the different kinds of love and the sort of practicalities of it all conflict has always because conflict sits under this love the fact that they're having to talk about uh refusing fathers and names is is a is a massive part of that and the fact that Romeo is risking his life just by being there reputation and name it's all about family honor family Duty what your name stands for um which is why they can't just come out and tell their family although judging by how Capulet spoke about Romeo at the party it does make me wonder and here wisdom versus impulse now a really big theme of this play is this idea of wisdom and age and then this idea of Youth um an Impulse but here we see wisdom versus impulse in those characters Juliet seems more wise Romeo Sims wildly impractical and impulsive at times and that's sort of necessary for the continuation of this plot that's it from me um thank you very much for watching I hope that was useful drop me a line in the comments if you've got any questions or any feedback and I will get back to you if you haven't subscribed do click that button so that you can see when act two scene 3 is coming up thanks so much happy revising