Friday, October 17, 2014

What do these lines from Act 2, Scene 6 of "Romeo and Juliet" mean?These violent delights have violent endsAnd in their triumph die, like fire and...

These words are spoken by friar Laurence in response to Romeo's request that he should hurry up to conduct his and Juliet's marriage. The words are actually advisory in nature and the friar uses metaphors to allude to Romeo and Juliet's rushed conjugation.


Friar Laurence is saying that the couple's fiery and aggressive passion would end just as savagely as it had begun, implying that this great desire for each other would suddenly die at its pinnacle, just as fire and gunpowder do. The one ignites the other, and the burst they create exists for a brief but exhilaratingly profound period and then quickly fizzles out. 


Friar Laurence uses another comparison when he further states that honey which is very sweet ironically becomes abhorrent because it contains too much sweetness. Such honey is distasteful and when one has a taste of it, one is put off. Because of its gross sweetness, the honey's true value cannot be appreciated and its taste cannot be truly savored.


The friar advises Romeo to love in moderation since this is the quality of an enduring love. If he rushes into love, he might never achieve true, meaningful and lasting love (more haste, less speed). It would only be a short, bright flame that would quickly die out. 

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