When Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, he included some nautical terms to describe to the audience what the character was portraying. In the spirit of the Everything Quests - The High Seas I decided to scour my copy of Romeo and Juliet and find all those obscure references. I found four:

  • First one: is Act 1, Scene 4, Line 119
    Romeo: "But he that hath the steerage of my course 
    Direct my sail,…"
  • The Second: is Act 2. Scene 2, Line 87
    Romeo: "I am no pilot; yet wert thou as far 
    As that vast shore washed with the farthest sea, 
    I should adventure for such merchandise."
  • The Third: Act 2, Scene 4, Line 165
    Nurse: "Scurvy knave!" 
  • The Fourth: Act 3, Scene 5, Line 136
    Capulet: "Thou counterfeits a bark*, a sea, a wind. 
    For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea, 
    Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark the body is, 
    Sailing in this salt flood; the wind thy sighs, 
    Who, raging with thy tears and they with them, 
    Without a sudden calm, will overset*."
    *- Bark, a boat; overset, to capsize 

Romeo and Juliet is a rich play full of more than just nautical references, there are also sacrilegious jokes and sexual puns thought the entire play, maybe when I have time I will node those references too, but at the moment I am trying to beat the Aug. 3, 2002 deadline for the Nautical Quest.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.