Friday 6 December 2013

What is an example of Juliet's hubris in Romeo and Juliet? What quotes support this?

Many of Juliet's quotes can be interpreted as containing hubris. I'll note a few below and then describe how they could represent the hubris of Juliet.



...stony limits cannot hold love out,


And what love can do, that dares love attempt.



This quote by Juliet, which is spoken in the balcony scene, speaks of love's power. Today, this would not be viewed as hubris. However, Romantic love is a fairly new idea. Juliet discusses how...

Many of Juliet's quotes can be interpreted as containing hubris. I'll note a few below and then describe how they could represent the hubris of Juliet.



...stony limits cannot hold love out,


And what love can do, that dares love attempt.



This quote by Juliet, which is spoken in the balcony scene, speaks of love's power. Today, this would not be viewed as hubris. However, Romantic love is a fairly new idea. Juliet discusses how her love cannot be chained down or limited ("stony limits cannot hold love out") and Juliet believes that her love trumps her familial obligations. Today, this perspective would be viewed as normal, but this belief may have been construed as hubris during Elizabethan times, or it would have, at least, been viewed as demonstrating self-centeredness.



My bounty is as boundless as the sea,


My love as deep; the more I give to thee,


The more I have, for both are infinite.



This quote from Juliet appears to be romantic, but it could also be seen as containing hubris. Juliet is comparing her love to the natural properties of the world. While she may feel this way, she is still a 14-year-old girl. 



... when he shall die,


Take him and cut him out in little stars,


And he will make the face of heaven so fine


That all the world will be in love with night,


And pay no worship to the garish sun.



Juliet continues to relate the love between her and Romeo to having fantastic, natural qualities. In modern society, this may not be viewed suspiciously, but classical, and more religious, societies would see this as a sign of hubris. To Juliet, the love between her and Romeo is not beneath the world and its gods; it is above it. 

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