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About This Passage
In Act II, Scene II, Capulet’s Garden, Juliet speaks these words to Romeo from above at her window after rejecting his oath by the changeable moon and before the Nurse’s calls interrupt her and she proposes sending marriage instructions the next day.
Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract tonight; It is too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden, Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be Ere one can say “It lightens.” Sweet, good nig...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
First, briefly retell how Act II moves, from the Chorus's account of the lovers' constrained access and their newly found means to meet, through the balcony exchange, Friar Lawrence's counsel, the comic street scene, the Nurse's mediation, Juliet's waiting, and the final cell scene. Then judge how Shakespeare turns private rhetoric into a hurried marriage plot.
Discussion Questions
- What does Shakespeare gain by moving from Mercutio and Benvolio's comic search for Romeo to Juliet's private appearance above the window, and how does that shift alter the meaning of Romeo's secrecy?
- How does the contrast between Romeo's offer to become "new baptis'd" and Juliet's rejection of the moon oath as changeable shape the audience's judgment of their planned marriage?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
In Scene IV, the Nurse uses this noun in the phrase “keep counsel” when she asks Romeo whether his man can keep their arrangement secret. Here counsel means confidential information, not advice, and its guarded tone highlights the secrecy and practical risk of carrying the marriage plan.
Item 2
In Scene II, Juliet uses this noun when she says she has no joy of Romeo’s “contract” that night. It means the vow or agreement their exchange is forming, but her “too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden” judgment gives it a warning tone and keeps the marriage plan from seeming settled.
Item 3
In Scene II, Juliet uses this adjective to question Romeo’s oath by the moon, warning that his love might prove as changeable as the moon. The word carries skeptical, protective force: her qualified vows interrupt his speed and make constancy something to test.
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Critical Thinking
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