Question

Read the excerpt from Romeo and Juliet (Act II, Scene II).



Which lines from the excerpt best illustrate the English Renaissance focus on individual emotion and personal choice over family and social expectations? Select all that apply.

Answer 1

Likely answers (lines from the balcony scene that emphasize personal feeling/choice over family or social duty):

- "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? / Deny thy father and refuse thy name; / Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love / And I'll no longer be a Capulet." — Juliet urges rejection of family identity in favor of personal choice.

- "What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet;" — Juliet dismisses the social importance of names/family.

- "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, / My love as deep; the more I give to thee, / The more I have, for both are infinite." — Juliet stresses individual emotion and inner feeling.

- "With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls; / For stony limits cannot hold love out;" — Romeo claims love overcomes the social barriers (family enmity).

- "I take thee at thy word: Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; / Henceforth I never will be Romeo." — Romeo offers to abandon his family identity for love.

Each of these lines shows the Renaissance emphasis on individual emotion and personal choice superseding family or social expectations.