9StraightNines
Themes:Love & DeathFamily & ConflictFate & Free WillSocial Order
1

Key Quote

AO1
“"For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo"”

Prince Escalus · Act 5, Scene 3

Focus: “woe”

The Prince's closing couplet — naming Juliet before Romeo — frames the play as Juliet's story and seals the lovers' tragedy with formal, public recognition.

2

Technique 1 — RHYMING COUPLET / FORMAL CLOSURE

AO2

The rhyming couplet (two lines ending in rhyme) creates a sense of formal closure — the story is sealed, finished, complete. The regularity of the rhyme contrasts with the chaos of the preceding deaths, imposing order on tragedy. The Prince uses poetic form to contain and process grief, transforming raw suffering into structured narrative.

The superlative 'never... more woe' makes the lovers' tragedy the worst in all of history — an absolute (total, without qualification) claim that elevates their suffering to the status of myth. Shakespeare ensures that Romeo and Juliet transcend their historical moment to become archetypal (universally representative) figures of doomed love.

Key Words

Rhyming couplet— Two successive lines of verse that rhyme with each otherFormal closure— The sense of completion and resolution created by literary structureArchetypal— Representing a universal pattern or model; the original example
3

RAD — PROGRESS

AO2

The Prince's final speech represents the only genuine social progression in the play: the feud ends. But this progress comes at devastating cost — two children's deaths. Shakespeare presents social change as achievable but only through sacrifice, raising the question of whether a society that requires the deaths of its youth to reform itself deserves reformation.

Key Words

Social progression— Positive change in the structures and values of a communitySacrifice— The act of giving up something precious for a greater purpose
4

Technique 2 — NAMING ORDER — 'JULIET AND HER ROMEO'

AO2

Crucially, the Prince says 'Juliet and her Romeo' — placing Juliet first and making Romeo grammatically 'hers.' This final act of naming subverts (reverses) patriarchal convention: throughout the play, women are defined by their relationship to men (Capulet's wife, Montague's son). In the last line, the man belongs to the woman. Shakespeare's final word on the subject privileges Juliet's perspective.

The possessive 'her Romeo' is also deeply poignant: in death, Juliet finally possesses Romeo freely — something she could never do in life within the constraints of patriarchal Verona. The grammar grants in death what society denied in life — ownership of one's own love.

Key Words

Subvert— To undermine or reverse the expected or established orderPatriarchal convention— Established social practices that privilege men over womenPoignant— Evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret
5

Context (AO3)

AO3

THE PRINCE AS STATE AUTHORITY

Prince Escalus represents civic authority — the state's power to impose order on private feuds. His failure to prevent the tragedy despite earlier warnings reflects the limits of political authority in the face of entrenched social conflict. Shakespeare suggests that law alone cannot reform society; only catastrophe can break the cycle of violence.

MEMORIALISATION

The Prince's closing speech transforms private grief into public memorialisation — the lovers' story becomes a city's narrative. This mirrors the function of Shakespeare's play itself: art transforms individual suffering into shared cultural memory, giving death meaning by ensuring it is remembered.

Key Words

Civic authority— The power of the state or government to enforce order and justiceMemorialisation— The act of preserving the memory of people or events for future generationsCultural memory— The shared knowledge and stories that a community preserves over time
6

WOW — THE PHARMAKOS — SACRIFICE AND RENEWAL (Girard)

AO1AO2

Girard's concept of the pharmakos (the sacred sacrifice whose death purifies the community) illuminates the play's ending: Romeo and Juliet function as pharmakoi — their deaths are the price the community pays for its own violence. The golden statues erected by the fathers are not merely memorials but acts of expiation (atonement for wrongdoing): the families acknowledge that their children's blood is on their hands. Shakespeare presents a society that can only learn through loss — the worst possible form of education. The play's enduring power lies in this question: must innocents always die before societies reform themselves? Three centuries of real-world evidence suggests Shakespeare's answer remains devastatingly accurate.

Key Words

Pharmakos— A sacred scapegoat whose sacrifice restores order to the communityExpiation— The act of making amends for guilt or wrongdoingAtonement— Reparation for a wrong; making amends through suffering or sacrifice