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By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘A pair of star-cross’d lovers’ is a well-known phrase from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.The Prologue’s description of Romeo and Juliet as ‘star-cross’d lovers’ has become one of the most emblematic phrases from the whole play, neatly encapsulating the doomed nature of their love affair from the outset.
Here we examine what ‘Star crossed lovers’ means, and the context of the phrase within the play. When the audience at the Globe Theatre was all ready and settled to watch Master Shakespeare’s new play, Romeo and Juliet, the stage manager came out and delivered the following sonnet as a prologue: Two households, both alike in dignity,
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Like several other phrases, this phrase has been selected from Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet. This phrase is illustrating a couple whose bond of love is destined to fail. Its origin seems to be astrological, but it is best known for its association with Romeo and Juliet. In the prologue, chorus uses states, “A pair of star-crossed lov...
It refers to someone having bad luck, because the stars or heavens do not favor him. This phrase refers to those lovers whose relationship is destined to fail, because people who have a strong belief in astrology are of the belief that stars actually control the destiny of human beings. Simply, we can call this couple ill-fated. Star-crossed lovers...
We often see the use of this phrase in literature and movies. We find many examples of star-crossed lovers in novels and plays, such as Lancelot and Guinevere in King Arthur’s mystical tale Round Table, Heathcliff and Catherine from Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, and Lyla and Majnun from the classic love story Nizami Ganjavi. Its use in modern l...
The chorus uses this phrase in the sixth line of the prologue section in Romeo and Juliet. The chorus goes on to say that, (Romeo and Juliet, Prologue, Lines 6-15) Both the lovers, due to the unfortunate circumstance, predetermined fate, or uncontrollable situations, are destined to face failure in their love affair. This exactly happened to this r...
As we know from the prologue of this play, which introduces the couple as “star-crossed,” it becomes clear that the couple’s relationship is to face hardships. This phrase has been used as a harbinger of doom and devastation for the couple. You have noticed towards its end how the couple is at the mercy of destiny/fate/bad luck/chance. In the Prolo...
In the opening Prologue of Romeo and Juliet, the Chorus refers to the title characters as “star-crossed lovers,” an allusion to the belief that stars and planets have the power to control events on Earth. This line leads many readers to believe that Romeo and Juliet are inescapably destined to fall in love and equally destined to have that love destroyed.
Jul 31, 2015 · Entire Play The prologue of Romeo and Juliet calls the title characters “star-crossed lovers”—and the stars do seem to conspire against these young lovers.Romeo is a Montague, and Juliet a Capulet. Their families are enmeshed in a feud, but the moment they meet—when Romeo and his friends attend a party at Juliet’s house in disguise—the two fall in love and quickly decide that they ...
Jul 31, 2015 · Entire Play The prologue of Romeo and Juliet calls the title characters “star-crossed lovers”—and the stars do seem to conspire against these young lovers.Romeo is a Montague, and Juliet a Capulet. Their families are enmeshed in a feud, but the moment they meet—when Romeo and his friends attend a party at Juliet’s house in disguise—the two fall in love and quickly decide that they ...
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Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, are the "pair of star-cross'd lovers" whose misadventures and deaths will finally put an end to the feud. "Star-cross'd" means "opposed (crossed) by the ...
