Tis but thy name that is my enemy Literary device

Q: What literary device is used in Romeo and Juliet?

Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet utilizes metaphors, symbolism, oxymorons, and personification to further his theme of nature to describe and illustrate his story.

Q: What is an example of irony in Romeo and Juliet Act 2?

When Romeos friends cant find him, they assume he is mad about Rosaline when really he has fallen in love with a new girl. Its irony because we already know he is love with Juilet, but they think he is still mad about Rosaline. --Scene 3, line 24.

Meaning of Passage

Table of Contents Show

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” Meaning
Where Did Shakespeare Use This Quote?
Why Did Shakespeare Use This Quote?
FAQs
Other Resources
What does Tis but thy name that is my enemy mean?
What literary devices are in Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene 2?
What literary device is used in Romeo and Juliet?
What is an example of irony in Romeo and Juliet Act 2?

The passage above reveals that Juliet is in love with Romeo. Juliet goes on to say that family names don't matter, and she would love Romeo even if he wasn't named Romeo. An analogy is a literary device used in the passage when Juliet says "That which we call a rose by any other name would sound just as sweet". Juliet follows this idea by saying Romeo would be the same person even if he was not called Romeo. The passage is significant to the plot because Juliet is expressing her love for Romeo and the importance of family names in the time period.

Original Passage:

"Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name,
When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?
But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?
That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband:
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;
Your tributary drops belong to woe,
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;
And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband:
All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death,
That murder'd me: I would forget it fain;
But, O, it presses to my memory,
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds:
'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo--banished;'
That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,'
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there:
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be rank'd with other griefs,
Why follow'd not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead,'
Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentations might have moved?
But with a rear-ward following Tybalt's death,
'Romeo is banished,' to speak that word,
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. 'Romeo is banished!'
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
In that word's death; no words can that woe sound.
Where is my father, and my mother, nurse? (3.2.106-138)"

Translation:

Should I say bad things about my husband?
My poor husband, who will say good things to you
when I, your wife of three hours is saying bad things about you.
But why did you have to kill my cousin?
Probably because my cousin is the villain who wanted to kill my husband. Go away tears.
You tears belong to sadness.
Should I be happy because my husband is alive?
Tybalt would of killed my husband.
Should I be sad Tybalt is dead?
This is good news so why do I cry?
There are things worse than Tybalt's death, news that make
me want to die. I would be glad to forget about it,
but it stays in my memory
like sin lingers in guilty minds.
'Tybalt is dead and Romeo is banished'
That word banished, that one word banished.
The banishment is worse than the death of 10,000 Tybalts.
Tybalt's death was bad enough by itself.
Maybe pain likes company
and can't come without bringing more pain.
It would of been better if after Tybalt's death she told me
my mother, father, or both of them were gone.
That would make me cry with normal sadness.
But following Tybalt's death with the news of
Romeo's banishment. To say the word banished
is like saying my mother, father, Tybalt, Romeo, and Juliet
are all killed and dead. Romeo is banished!
There is no end to the pain of
that word. No words can express the sadness of that one word.
Where is my father, mother, and nurse?

Meaning of Passage

Juliet is upset her cousin Tybalt has been killed, but devastated about her husband Romeo being banished from Verona. The passage reveals Juliet considers Romeo to be more important than family. She says she would rather have her parents dead then Romeo to be banished. A hyperbole is used when Juliet talks about Romeo's banishment when Juliet says it can cause immeasurable pain. This is a hyperbole because Juliet exaggerates Romeo's banishment.

The line is used by Juliet as she’s standing on her balcony, considering her situation with Romeo and the feud their families have been engaged in for years.

Interestingly, there are several other versions of this quote in different printings of Shakespeare’s plays. For example:

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet.

Today, the quote can be found in any essay about the young lovers’ plight as well as in numerous film and television adaptions of the story. It’s not uncommon to hear the quote in everyday life as well. It’s so well-known that it has become somewhat of a cliché.

1 “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” Meaning
2 Where Did Shakespeare Use This Quote?
3 Why Did Shakespeare Use This Quote?
4 FAQs
5 Other Resources

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” Meaning

The quote is spoken as a way of alluding to the feud between the two families.

Their names are what is separating them, and, as Juliet proves in the quote, names don’t really mean anything. They can change, and the person will still be who they were before. The idea of intermarriage between Romeo and Juliet is incredibly taboo, and Juliet mourns that fact through this logical argument on her balcony.

Where Did Shakespeare Use This Quote?

This quote appears in Act II, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet. This famed tragedy contains some of Shakespeare’s best-known quotes. This one is spoken by Juliet while standing on the balcony. As part of the famous balcony scene, these lines are commonly quoted, seriously or humorously, in similar circumstances. The lines are spoken to herself, but they are overheard by Romeo, who is standing nearby. Here is the quote in context:

’Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face. O, be some other name
Belonging to a man.
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And, for thy name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Juliet is at her father’s party and thinks that Romeo has gone home. He’s lingering in the garden and watching the young girl on her balcony. She leaves her room, stands on the balcony, and speaks these words, she thinks, to herself. But, he hears her and comes out, and they begin an interaction.

Within these lines, Juliet says that names do not make something that it is. Even if a rose had a different name other than “rose,” it would still be the same flower. Juliet makes a profound observation about the nature of names in these lines, and Romeo hears her wisdom.

The rose is used as a metaphor for the names that Juliet and her love interest have themselves. Even if Romeo had a different name, he’d still be Romeo. The name does not change him. This is meant to provide evidence in support of ending or breaking the feud between their families.

Romeo responds to Juliet’s ideas about names and meaning with the following lines:

I take thee at thy word.
Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized.
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

He makes a romantic, metaphorical gesture, suggesting that he’s going to throw away his name and be nothing to her but her “love.” He’ll be baptized in this new role. Later, after being reprimanded by Juliet for spying on her, he reveals that he does not know how to “tell thee who I am.” He says that his name is “hateful to myself” because it is an enemy to Juliet.

Why Did Shakespeare Use This Quote?

Shakespeare used this quote within Romeo and Juliet as a way of asking readers and audience members to consider the meaning, or lack thereof, of names. What role do names play in everyday life, and what power do they have? For Romeo and Juliet, names are, unfortunately, significant. It is because of the names the two have that they can’t marry and end up losing their lives. All for a name, the two young lovers lose their lives, something that the families mourn at the end of the play.

FAQs

Who says, “A Rose by any other name would still smell as sweet?”

This quote appears in Romeo and Juliet and is spoken by the latter. She speaks it, she thinks, to herself during the balcony scene. But, Romeo is in her garden, listening to her monologue.

How does Juliet show her maturity?

Juliet shows her maturity several times throughout the play including in the balcony scene as she analyzes the meaning of names and the importance they actually hold.

What did Shakespeare mean by “what’s in a name?”

The speaker, Juliet, is considering what is truly in a name. What control, she wonders, does it have over the object or person it’s attached to? She deduces that it has no real control, only that which people are willing to give to it.

Other Resources

Read and understand: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Watch: Romeo and Juliet
Read: William Shakespeare Best Plays

What does Tis but thy name that is my enemy mean?

Tis but thy name that is my enemy...not a Montague (40-1) i.e., But only your name is my enemy; you would be yourself even if you had some other name. Back to the Balcony Scene.

What literary devices are in Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene 2?

All Literary Devices..

Allegory..

Allusions..

Dramatic Irony..

Foreshadowing..

Genre..

Hyperbole..

What literary device is used in Romeo and Juliet?

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet utilizes metaphors, symbolism, oxymorons, and personification to further his theme of nature to describe and illustrate his story.

What is an example of irony in Romeo and Juliet Act 2?

When Romeo's friends can't find him, they assume he is mad about Rosaline when really he has fallen in love with a new girl. It's irony because we already know he is love with Juilet, but they think he is still mad about Rosaline. --Scene 3, line 24.