in Romeo and Juliet, what does these quotes mean?
"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parent’s strife
The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love."
"I fear, too early: for my mind misgives
Some consenquences yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night’s revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of ultimely death."
can you tell me what those quotes mean?
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The first is of course from the Prologue, where Shakespeare to a certain extent gives the plot away.
He explains that Romeo and Juliet, members of the household of two feuding families ("fatal loins of these two foes") will end the feud ("bury their parents’ strife") with their unfortunate death.
The second, from Act I sc. 4, means that Romeo is concerned that they will arrive too early, and predicts that the party they attend will somehow result in his death. However, since he is not master of his own fate, he says, more or less, let’s get to it.
You will note that both passages make what are essentially astrological references to fate: The first calls the lovers "star-crossed lovers" and the second notes that the predicted untimely death would be the a consequence "yet hanging in the stars."
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