Journal Entry 5

In Romeo and Juliet, there are many good examples of premonitions. Here are some examples:

1) Act 1, scene 4.

Romeo:
I fear, too early; for my mind misgives
some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
with the night's revels, and expire the term
of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
But He that hath my steerage of my course
direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen!

Romeo says this meaning he has a vision of what he sees following the night. He senses he'll fall in love with the wrong person, Juliet. He doesn't know he fell in love with the wrong person, and loving her will bring them both to their deaths.


2) Act 1, scene 5.

Juliet:
Go, ask him his name. - if he be married,
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.


Juliet means either way, she's going to die. If Romeo is married, she will die unmarried, because she will never marry another. She is also unknowingly foreshadowing her fate, in which her grave does become her wedding bed.


3) Act 2, scene 3.

In the beginning of the scene, Friar Lawrence is talking to himself about flowers. He says they can smell and tastes sweet, but in the end it can stop the heart, killing you. This is foreshadowing their deaths. They will be happy at first, but it will end in tragedy.