Romeo & Juliet - Prologue

'Civil blood makes civil hands unclean'

- personification + repetition, constant feud between houses

- 'unclean' post-modifier, tainted/damaged consciences

- feud between C+M, damages civilisation

- juxtaposition, brawling vs civilisation

- blood imagery; family, violence, emphasises guilt as a result of violence, foreshadows deaths caused by feud

- Iambic pentameter; stresses syllables on concrete nouns, stresses idea of metaphorical guilt on 'hands' of houses

'A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their lives'

- fatalism, not take responsibility, inevitable

- celestial, elevates the couple above the masses (audience on their side)

- 'take' dynamic verb; deliberate, know their minds, steadfast HOWEVER proves fate doesn't control them, casts doubt on their characters

- 'pair', unity + togetherness, unbreakable bond