This is the general subject of the whole play, and it is the particular subject of every scene and of every speech. All the winds of passion are let loose, and they blow where they list. Love and hate, hope and fear, courage and despair, and with them the wildest vagaries of fancy and caprice—all are in the field together; yet all move in subordination to the “central idea,” even as the ocean tides are governed by the moon.
All the personages of the play are made to illustrate this subject, each according to his own nature and circumstances. Romeo and Juliet tossed on the stormy sea of ill-starred love, pass from the summit of bliss to despair and death. The hatred of Montague and Capulet is drowned in tears, and from their grief springs reconciliation and friendship. Mercutio is a courtier and a wit, his spirits are always brim-full, and sparkling; and he pursues and runs down every phantom that happens to flit across his mind. His wit, and all his speeches are entirely of this character. He never opens his lips except to utter something fantastical. The Nurse, by following her impulses wherever they lead, presents a most ludicrous specimen of garrulity. Wherever the “fiery” Tybalt sees any one belonging to the house of Montague his sword instantly leaps from its scabbard. Friar Laurence and the Prince discourse on the subject, and all the inferior characters, as we shall see, adapt themselves to it.
For the purposes of a more minute examination, it will be convenient to group the chief passages under several heads.
1. Suggestives of the fancy; viz., quibbles, conceits, etc.
The play opens with a dialogue between Samson and Gregory, two servants of Capulet’s. I quote the first few lines:
Sam. Gregory, o’ my word, we’ll not carry coals. [that is, bear injuries
Greg. No, for then we should be colliers. [An ancient term of abuse.
Sam. I mean an we be in choler we’ll draw.
Greg. Ay, while you live draw your neck out of the collar.
Sam. I strike quickly, being moved.