In act
1, scene 4,andengage in a long exchange with numerous puns, sometimes playing off the others
preceding line. Some of the puns that Romeo makes:
Give me
a torch: I am not for this ambling;Being but heavy, I will bear the
light.
Here, he uses heavy to mean low-spirited, and
contrasts it with light, referring to weight but also to the brightness of the
torch.
Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoes
With nimble soles: I have a soul of lead
So stakes me to the ground
I cannot move.
After Mercutio tells him he must dance at
the party, he continues the heavyfor his mood, now saying that his soul is made of lead;
this use of "soul" is aon the sole of Mercutios dancing shoes.
Mercutio quips about a way to move:
You are a
lover; borrow Cupid's wings,And soar with them above a common
bound.
Romeo replies with another pun, on
"soar," meaning to fly high; he says he is sore from love, as Cupid has shot him
with his arrow.
href="http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/romeo_juliet.1.4.html">http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/romeo_juliet.1.4....I am too sore enpierced with his
shaftTo soar with his light feathers . . . .
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