What best restates the meaning of this line What here shall miss our toil shall strive to mend?

‘Two households, both alike in dignity’: so begins the Prologue to William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. What is less well-known is the very specific poetic form Shakespeare chooses for the Prologue: a form he goes on to use later in Romeo and Juliet. (We have analysed the play as a whole here.)

Let’s take a closer look at the famous ‘Two households’ speech, offering a summary and analysis of its meaning as we go – and, of course, let’s take a look at that distinctive form Shakespeare chooses to employ.

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

The Prologue tells us the setting of the play: we are to be transported to the beautiful (‘fair’) Italian city of Verona, where the ensuing action takes place. There, a long-standing feud between two well-respected households or families, a grudge which goes way back, will violently break out again.

The line ‘Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean’ takes a bit more unpicking: ‘civil’ here refers to ordinary citizens (as opposed to soldiers: hence the word ‘civilians’ or ‘civvy’ used for non-combatants in a war situation). The word also

But ‘civil’ also means ‘courteous’ or ‘polite’, which clearly cannot be possible in the face of such ‘mutiny’ or violence between the ‘two households’. So ‘civil hands’ cleverly conveys both meanings, and the line means both ‘where violence between families makes ordinary citizens’ hands dirty with blood’ and ‘where violence between families makes otherwise friendly and non-violent hands violent’.

However, there’s yet another sense to the line, too, which relates to the double meaning of ‘blood’: both violence (as in the phrase ‘bad blood’ between two people) and kinship or family. So, ‘civil blood’ can also mean ‘the blood, or family loyalty, tying citizens together’.

In other words, it is ‘blood’, or family, that is the problem: the Montagues and the Capulets cannot really pick a side based on political allegiance, but are bound to continue their feud (indeed, their blood feud) by virtue of which family they belong to. As Juliet will later famously ask Romeo, ‘wherefore art thou Romeo?’ If only he had been born of different blood, there wouldn’t have been a problem.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.

Two doomed children from these feuding families fall in love with each other and take their own lives. They are ‘star-cross’d’ because it is destined by the stars that their love for each other will be thwarted. There are many astrological references in Romeo and Juliet to the idea that the stars govern human fate: Romeo will later defy the stars, and elsewhere he will observe that ‘my mind misgives / Some consequence yet hanging in the stars’.

However, the Prologue goes on to reveal (giving a fair few spoilers as to the details of the play that hasn’t been staged yet) that the two lovers’ ‘misadventured piteous overthrows’ will, through their two deaths, succeed finally in convincing their parents to put the feud behind them and live in peace with each other.

The word ‘overthrows’, as a noun, means a successful coup, such as overthrowing a corrupt military leader or politician; ‘misadventured’ relates to the idea of an unfortunate accident (Romeo and Juliet cannot help falling in love with each other, if it’s written in the stars!); and ‘piteous’ obviously means ‘deserving of pity’.

The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage, Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove,

Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;

The doomed love between Romeo and Juliet and how it came about, and the way their parents persisted in their anger towards each other (which nothing except the deaths of their own children could put to an end), will now constitute the business of the play that follows for the next couple of hours. (As a point of interest, love and remove may have been more than eye-rhymes in the time of Shakespeare.)

The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

In other words, ‘If you listen to the following play patiently, whatever shortcomings you as an audience may feel the following play has (i.e., whatever you feel it is missing or lacking), our actors will attempt to fix through their performances.’

And so concludes the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet; the play itself, thumb-biting and all, then gets underway.

But we mentioned something notable about the form Shakespeare uses for the ‘Two households’ speech. What is it? You may have noticed that we divided the Prologue’s fourteen lines up, in the analysis above, into four sections: three four-line sections (or quatrains) and a concluding two-line section (or couplet).

In other words, Shakespeare writes the ‘Two households …’ prologue in the form of a sonnet: specifically, an English or Shakespearean sonnet, rhymed abab cdcd efef gg. Sonnets have long been associated with the courtly love tradition: male admirers gazing longingly upon a beautiful but unattainable woman and waxing lyrical about her beauty. Romeo is such a figure, desperate to fall in love (first with Rosaline, and then, truly, with Juliet); when he and Juliet first meet and converse at the ball, their exchange takes the form of another sonnet, while there is also a second ‘Chorus’ in sonnet form between the first and second acts of the play.

So, Shakespeare’s decision to use the sonnet form at several points in a play in which unattainable love will, against the odds, be attained – albeit only for a short while – is entirely in keeping with the mood and themes of Romeo and Juliet as a whole.

The line which best restates the above line is: The play is long and requires patience. The prologue of the play Romeo and Juliet tells the audience about the place where the play will revolve on. The feud between the Montagues and the Capulets is also been introduced to the audience.

Which best relates the meaning of this line What here shall miss?

What here shall miss means whatever has been missed, or not completely explained, by this prologue. Our toil is the work of the actors in performing the play. Shall strive to mend means that the performance will mend, or fix, any gaps in the story.

Which best restates this line The which if you with patient ears attend?

The which if you with patient ears attend, Which best restates this line? C. Listen well and carefully to our show

What line is the prologue of Romeo and Juliet?

ROMEO JULIET ACT 1 PROLOGUE In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. Do with their death bury their parents strife.

What is the best paraphrase of these lines Romeo and Juliet?

What is the best paraphrasing of these lines? Even their childrens deaths could not end the parents rage. Nothing but their childrens deaths could stop the parents anger. The parents continued their feud even after their children died.

What is the most important message in Romeo and Juliet?

ROMEO JULIET ACT 1 PROLOGUE In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. Do with their death bury their parents strife.

What is the most famous Romeo and Juliet scene?

Love is naturally the plays dominant and most important theme. The play focuses on romantic love, specifically the intense passion that springs up at first sight between Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, love is a violent, ecstatic, overpowering force that supersedes all other values, loyalties, and emotions.

What does the last line of Romeo and Juliet mean?

In the concluding lines the Prince says that the morning has brought glooming peace. It is glooming because the hero and heroine have died. It is peace because the death of Romeo and Juliet has brought reconciliation between the rival families, Capulet and Montague.

What are the last two lines of Romeo and Juliet?

A glooming peace this morning with it brings. The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things. Some shall be pardoned, and some punishxe8d.

What does Lady Capulet mean by the following line?

What does Lady Capulet mean by the following line? By my count, I was your mother much upon these years that you are now a maid? she means she was Juliets age when she was Juliets mother. to whom is lady Capulet referring when she says the line, Veronas summer hath not such a flower

Which best states the meaning of this line Romeo and Juliet?

The line which best restates the above line is: The play is long and requires patience. The prologue of the play Romeo and Juliet tells the audience about the place where the play will revolve on. The feud between the Montagues and the Capulets is also been introduced to the audience.

Which best describes the purpose of the excerpt of the prologue?

What here shall miss means whatever has been missed, or not completely explained, by this prologue. Our toil is the work of the actors in performing the play. Shall strive to mend means that the performance will mend, or fix, any gaps in the story.

How many lines does the Prologue have in Romeo and Juliet?

Shakespeare wrote the prologue of Romeo and Juliet in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet, which means that the prologue is a poem with 14 lines written in iambic pentameter. The sonnet also contains a specific rhyme scheme (abab cdcd efef gg) and can be broken down into three quatrains and a final rhyming couplet.

How speaks the Prologue in Romeo and Juliet?

The prologue to Romeo and Juliet is spoken entirely by the chorus. In Greek drama, the chorus consists of a group of people who serve to narrate throughout the play and provide more details of what the characters are thinking or feeling, and they often sing and dance.

Which is the best paraphrase of Benvolio’s lines Romeo and Juliet?

The best paraphrase of Benvolios lines is: I want to keep the peace, so put your sword away or use it to help me break up this brawl.

What is the best paraphrase of Capulets lines?

Which is the best paraphrase of Capulets lines? Juliet is too young and not ready to be married for another two years.

Which best restates the meaning of this line Romeo and Juliet?

The line which best restates the above line is: The play is long and requires patience. The prologue of the play Romeo and Juliet tells the audience about the place where the play will revolve on. The feud between the Montagues and the Capulets is also been introduced to the audience.

What is the purpose of these lines Romeo and Juliet?

What is the purpose of these lines? Paraphrase these lines from the prologue in two to three sentences. The play is about the frightening path of the childrens doomed love and the constant anger of their parents. Only the childrens death could end the fight.