question about romeo and juliet
Tue, 12 Oct 2004, 08:04 amWalter Plinge13 posts in thread
question about romeo and juliet
Tue, 12 Oct 2004, 08:04 amWhat in your words does "star-cross'd lovers" mean?
Re: The Wise and Wherefores...
Sat, 16 Oct 2004, 06:31 pmblake wrote:
>
> ok, so LITERALLY i was wrong...
>
> but to ME "star-crossed lovers" is a phrase which inspires
> thoughts of soul-mates, love and it's ability to overcome
> anything...
No Blake, I really LIKED your answer, it was succinct and just as valid as any other put forward so far.
If I am right in supposing that Shakespeare may possibly have actually invented the phrase (he is known to have invented about 2000 words that passed into common English usage..!) then my answer perhaps explains literally what the word meant at the time of writing, BEFORE r&j became such a well-known fable in our culture.
Your answer incorporates an idea that we all have in our minds SINCE r&j became tragic 'heroes'....When we try to explain 'star-cross'd lovers', the answer we think of is 'Romeo and Juliet' (!) and then we express it further by saying "soul mates, love and it's ability to overcome anything..".
'Romeo & Juliet' has become so synonymous with the idea of overpowering love that the original words now seem to have a new meaning, and the logic of explaining their definition seems to act in reverse. The question is now the answer.
Cheers,
Craig
[%sig%]
>
> ok, so LITERALLY i was wrong...
>
> but to ME "star-crossed lovers" is a phrase which inspires
> thoughts of soul-mates, love and it's ability to overcome
> anything...
No Blake, I really LIKED your answer, it was succinct and just as valid as any other put forward so far.
If I am right in supposing that Shakespeare may possibly have actually invented the phrase (he is known to have invented about 2000 words that passed into common English usage..!) then my answer perhaps explains literally what the word meant at the time of writing, BEFORE r&j became such a well-known fable in our culture.
Your answer incorporates an idea that we all have in our minds SINCE r&j became tragic 'heroes'....When we try to explain 'star-cross'd lovers', the answer we think of is 'Romeo and Juliet' (!) and then we express it further by saying "soul mates, love and it's ability to overcome anything..".
'Romeo & Juliet' has become so synonymous with the idea of overpowering love that the original words now seem to have a new meaning, and the logic of explaining their definition seems to act in reverse. The question is now the answer.
Cheers,
Craig
[%sig%]