Read Shakespeare’s ‘O, She Doth Teach The Torches To Burn Bright’ soliloquy from Romeo and Juliet below with modern English translation and analysis, plus a video performance.
‘O, She Doth Teach The Torches To Burn Bright’, Spoken by Romeo, Act 1 Scene 5
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.
‘O, She Doth Teach The Torches To Burn Bright’ Soliloquy Translation
Romeo stared. She was so beautiful that she made the torches around the hall appear to grow dim. She was a dazzling jewel illuminating the dark night sky. She stood out from the other girls like a snowy dove in a field of crows. She … Oh. he could never find the words to describe her. She couldn’t be real: such beauty wasn’t possible. ‘I don’t believe what I’m seeing.’ he said aloud and pushed his mask right up to the top of his head to see better.
This is in Scene 5, not Scene 1.
This is not a soliloquy, it is a monologue. This monologue is no a soliloquy because there are other actors on stage when Romeo is describing Juliet.
I believe it’s spelled not*. As in this is not* a soliloquy because….
hey! how dare you!! of course this is a soliloquy!! u better review your info before you talk u noob..
A soliloquy is pretty much thinking aloud. A monologue is speaking aloud by yourself, but you are aware of the presence of other people, when in a soliloquy, the speaker has no idea that there is anyone around, and/or there is just no one around anyways.
OKAY okay, let’s all just calm down here, and get these things straight:
> A soliloquy is when a character speaks his or her thoughts aloud; the character speaking the soliloquy may not be the only one onstage. However, if this is the case, the character speaking is unaware of the other characters onstage or the other characters are unaware of him or her.
> An aside is usually a (short) comment towards the audience by a character onstage in the knowing presence of other characters, but not meant for the other characters to hear.
> A dramatic monologue is when a speech is directed towards characters onstage.
By these definitions, The fact that Tybalt hears Romeo speaking, this would make this closest to being a dramatic monologue because it was in the knowing presence of other characters who may have heard him, even though he did not address anyone in particular.
Now, it is not an aside due to the fact that it wasn’t necessarily addressed to the audience, but to no one in particular. In all reality, he was knowingly talking aloud to himself, knowing he may have been overheard, but not caring.
A dramatic monologue is a type of poem…….
Why does the writer claim that Romeo thought that J. Made the torches grow dim when the quote is “she doth teach the torches to “BURN BRIGHT”?
What the “She doth teach the torches to burn bright” quote is saying is that Juliet’s beauty outshines the torches (making them appear dim in comparison), and that they ought to learn how to shine as brightly as her ~ hope this helped :)
She shows the torches how to burn brightly, her beauty is of such radiance; her blazing beauty is the example that they follow. They didn’t know such burning brightness until now and she is the one who teaches them how. That’s what I think it means.
This is most definitely a monologue as the speaker is very much aware of the presence of other characters on stage,though he may not necessarily be addressing them.
I saw “Pit of Darkness” (1961) today starring William Franklin on Talking Pictures tv channel .The first three lines were quoted in the film several times.My wife corrected me stating it was Romeo talking to one of his Montague clan when I mistakenly quoted Lord Byron.
However thin the line is between soliloquy and monologue, we need to first define the two and be in agreement then we will have consensus on where to place the quote.
A monologue contains clues about the presence of other characters on stage and these characters generally remain silent where as a soliloquy does not contain any such clues. As this piece of poetry contains such clues this is a monologue not a soliloquy. Generally soliloquies are uttered when there are no characters around.
This is most definitely a monologue as the speaker is very much aware of the presence of other characters on stage,though he may not necessarily be addressing them.
This is most definitely a monologue as the speaker is very much aware of the presence of other characters on stage,though he may not necessarily be addressing them.
Hi Faizanali, I don’t think that labelling that bit of the text really matters but as you think it’s worth raising I would say that we always try to be accurate. In that case we would argue that it’s a soliloquy. The passage is not part of the development – in other words it isn’t an interaction with other characters by Romeo. Romeo is muttering that under his breath – it’s what he’s thinking, not what he’s saying to any other character. He may be aware that there are other people there but he’s not addressing any of them, telling them how he feels – he’s telling the audience alone. No-one apart from the audience can hear him. Whatever one calls it – a speech, a monologue or a soliloquy – he’s confiding his feelings to the audience as he looks at Juliet. Technically speaking, it’s a soliloquy.