Friday, November 13, 2015

What are 10 puns in Romeo and Juliet and what do they mean?

"Romeo and Juliet" begins with a triple pun on the word collier (coal vendor) which sound like choler (anger) and collar(hangman's noose). (I,i,1-4)

Here are some others:

Give me a torch.  I am not for this ambling./Being but heavy(sad, weighing much) I will bear the light (brightness, weighing little). (I,iv,1-2) 

Not I, believe me You have dancing shoes /With nimble soles.  I have a soul of lead/So stakes me to the ground I cannot move. (I,iv,4-6)

...What dost thou make us minstrels? An thou makes mistrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords (off-key notes/disagreements). (III, i, 34-35)

We see the ground (earth/reason) whereon these woes do lie,/But the true ground of all these piteous woes/We cannot without circumstance descry. (V,iii,179-181)

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