Sight, sound, touch, movement, rhythm, imagination - these are the senses we have used so far.

For this last scene, in which Romeo and Juliet must say goodbye, we are going to draw upon your sense of style to make sense of the scene.

This may seem odd: you may think your sense of style only comes into play on special occasions.  You put on a fancy dress for prom. You put on your coolest shoes to give you something extra on the court.  You're "stylin" when you want to make an impression, but most of the time when you get dressed, you just grab some sweats and a tee and don't think much about "style."

Shakespeare understood language always has "style".  In fact, so does The American Heritage Dictionary which defines style as

1) the way in which something is said, done, expressed, or performed.

It is not until the second definition that words like "distinctive", "artistic", or "characterizing a particular person" are used.

It's easy to recognize "style" when it's distinctive, or in Shakespeare's case, when he uses "fancy" language, that is language which is complicated and hard to understand. It’s language that uses metaphors, unusual words -- all the  things we think of when we think "Shakespeare." Language like this:

Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes,

O now I would they had chang'd voices too

Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,

Hunting thee hence with "Hunt's Up" to the day.

That is "fancy" language! In these lines. Shakespeare uses a metaphor based in an old French folk tale about two fairies one who took the shape of a raging toad and the other a gentle lark.

Then there's that word "affray", not a word you hear every day. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "a fight in a public place"; think of the fight Romeo just had with Tybalt.

Then there's another metaphorical image taken from a custom in Shakespeare's England: the fox hunt. "Hunt's Up" used in the last line is the call that goes out at dawn to hunters and their hounds as they set out to kill a fox.

Once you decipher all that, then maybe you understand that Juliet is sorry to hear the lark (the bird that sings at dawn) for she knows the Prince has ordered Romeo killed if he is found in Verona.

Prince   

And for that offense

Immediately we do exile him hence.

. . . . . Let Romeo hence in haste,

Else, when he is found, that hour is his last.                            .

The Prince is clear; why doesn't Shakespeare have Juliet speak as clearly, something like "You have to go or you will be killed"? Why are her lines so complicated?

Why? Because that complicated language, which actors call "heightened", is a style of language that can express more than simple words can.

Shakespeare does use simple words sometimes.  In a style of language actors call "direct" language, the kind of language we might use in everyday speech to say something clearly and plainly, like "We do exile him" or "You have to go."

Or like this line that comes after the heightened ones above.

O now be gone, more light and light it grows.

In this guide, we will draw on your sense of style to identify the different types of language Shakespeare uses. We will help you understand how those different styles create meaning in different ways.

We begin by looking at the first lines Juliet and Romeo exchange.

Juliet

Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.

It was the nightingale and not the lark

That piers the fearful hollow of thine ear.

Nightly she sings on yond pom’granet tree.

Believe me, Love, it was the nightingale.

Romeo

It was the lark the herald of the morn:

No nightingale: look, Love, what envious streaks

Do lace the sev’ring clouds in yonder East:

Night's candles are burnt out and jocond day

Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain's tops.

I must be gone and live or stay and die.

Juliet

Yond light is not daylight, I know it I.

It is some meteor that the sun exhales

To be to thee this night a torch-bearer

And light thee on thy way to Mantua.

Therefore stay yet, thou need'st not be gone.

Romeo

Let me be tak'n, let me be put to death,

I am content, so thou wilt have it so.

First scan through and find the sentences or phrases that use simple, direct language.  If a sentence uses a metaphor, image, or a word you don't recognize easily, skip over it and go to the next direct line.

This is what we found:

Juliet

Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.   Direct

It was the nightingale and not the lark.

That pier'st the fearful hollow of thine ear. Heightened

The second sentence uses a metaphor. No bird is actually piercing Romeo's ear: it's the  bird's song that is "stabbing" his eardrum as he hears it.

The next lines are direct.

Nightly she sings on yond pom'granet tree.  Direct

Believe me, Love, it was the nightingale.   Direct

Romeo

It was the lark the herald of the morn:  Heightened

Romeo’s first line is a metaphor: the lark is a herald like those who announce the entrance of important people at court. 


No nightingale: Direct

look, Love, what envious streaks.

Do lace the sev’ring clouds in yonder East: Heightened

Metaphor: The "envious streaks" (light can't be jealous) that shoot through the clouds like lace on a doublet are shafts of light going through the clouds as the sun rises.

Night's candles are burnt out and jocond day

Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain's tops.  Heightened

Night's candles is a metaphor for stars; the "jocond" (a word meaning happy) day standing at tiptoe on a mountain top is a metaphor for the way an army would wait on a hillside for enough light to attack an enemy below.

I must be gone and live or stay and die. Direct

Juliet

Yond light is not daylight, I know it I. Direct

It is some meteor that the sun exhales.

To be to thee this night a torch-bearer

And light thee on thy way to Mantua. Heightened

That last sentence use a metaphor, and a mixed-up one at that! First the daylight is a meteor -- a burst of light coming out of the sun -- but then it becomes like a person bearing a torch who will guide Romeo through the dark as he makes his way to Mantua.

Therefore stay yet, thou need'st not be gone.  Direct

Romeo

Let me be tak'n, let me be put to death.

I am content, so thou wilt have it so. Direct

Taking out the heightened language, we get a simple, direct, easy-to-understand conversation.  We know exactly what is being said.  Juliet wants Romeo to stay, he says he has to go, she again says stay and he says okay.

Direct Juliet 

Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.

Nightly she sings on yond pom'granet tree.

Believe me, Love, it was the nightingale. 


Direct Romeo 

No nightingale:

I must be gone and live or stay and die.

Direct Juliet  

Yond light is not daylight, I know it I. 
 

Therefore stay yet, thou need'st not be gone. 


Direct Romeo 

Let me be tak'n, let me be put to death.

I am content, so thou wilt have it so.

Simple, direct, but easy to understand? The words are easy to understand, but it's hard to understand why Romeo changes his mind so quickly. After just two lines from Juliet, in which she says pretty much what she said before, Romeo changes his mind. He won’t go and live.  He says he'll stay, be captured, be killed and be content.  Why?

Romeo says it's because Juliet "wilt have it so."  But she never said that.  She said he did not have to go yet because it wasn't dawn; she did not stay he should never leave and be captured and killed.

It doesn't make sense.

Some might say Romeo gives in because he loves Juliet.  But where is any love expressed, beyond the two times they call each other "Love"?

Where is the love?  it is in the heightened language we skipped over. The direct words tell us what is happening, but they do not carry the emotion that tells us why.

Heightened language gives us what characters feel. Through metaphors, and also in the sound of the words, the way they create movement between the characters -- the kind of physical understanding we discovered in the conversation at the party.  In a way, this good-bye conversation becomes another dance where we sense how much love Romeo and Juliet share, even as they separate.

Direct language is the language of the head.  It gives you facts --who, when, where, what -- and plot. Juliet wants Romeo to stay a little longer, Romeo says he must go, she says stay, and he agrees.  But to make sense of why he changes his mind, we need understand what is in his heart.

Shakespeare uses two types of language -- direct and heightened -- so that we we can make sense of two different things: what is happening and what is felt.

In the next guide, we'll play with the heightened language to make sense of what Romeo and Juliet are feeling in this scene.