Love, Tragedy, and Drama: An Introduction to Shakespeare — Test
Question 2 • CMS 2025-2026 English I CREDIT RECOVERY
Read the excerpt from Act I, scene i of Romeo and Juliet. Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all. Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love: Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate! O any thing! of nothing first create. O heavy lightness! serious vanity! Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms! Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health! Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! This love feel I, that feel no love in this. Dost thou not laugh? The oxymorons in Romeo’s dialogue emphasize
Answer
A
his confusion about Benvolio’s advice.
B
his certainty about his romantic fate.
C
the extreme emotions that he is feeling.
D
the anger he feels toward a certain woman.
Explanation
Romeo strings together contradictions such as “brawling love,” “loving hate,” and “cold fire.” These oxymorons show how intensely conflicted and overwhelmed he feels about love. They emphasize the extreme emotions he is experiencing, not certainty about his romantic fate or anger toward a woman.
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