Question

Read the excerpt from Act V, scene iii of Romeo and Juliet.

Friar Laurence: Stay not to question, for the watch is coming;
Come, go, good Juliet.—[Noise again.] I dare no longer stay.

Juliet: Go, get thee hence, for I will not away. [Exit FRIAR LAURENCE.]
What’s here? a cup, clos’d in my true love’s hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.
O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after! I will kiss thy lips;
Haply, some poison yet doth hang on them,
To make me die with a restorative. [Kisses him.]
Thy lips are warm!

First Watch: [Within.] Lead, boy: which way?

Juliet: Yea, noise? then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger! [Snatching ROMEO’S dagger.]

Which phrases from the passage are oxymorons? Check all that apply.

true love’s hand
happy dagger
good Juliet
lips are warm
timeless end

I think it's "true love's hand", "happy dagger", and "timeless end" but I'm not sure.

Answer 1

• happy dagger
• timeless end

Step-by-step explanation:

Oxymoron was a feature commonly used in classical rhetoric, which consists of the association of two contradictory terms of meaning. From this antagonistic combination - most recurrent in the context of Literature - several expressive / literary effects are obtained, leading the reader to seek a metaphorical meaning.

Based on this, we can conclude that the expressions "happy dagger" and "timeless end" are the oxymoron present in the excerpt. This is because the word "dagger" refers to pain and suffering and not happiness; so "happy dagger" are two antagonistic words. Similarly, "timeless" is a word that means eternal, something that has no end; in this way, we can see that the term "timeless end" establishes a relation of antagonism.

Answer 2

The correct answers are B. Happy dagger and E. Timeless end

Step-by-step explanation:

In literature, an oxymoron refers to a literary and rhetorical device in which two or more words with contradictory or opposite meanings are placed together in order to create a complex concept or show the paradox of some situation. Additionally to this, in the case of Shakespeare works including "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet" it is common to find combinations of two words or phrases that include oxymoron.

This can be seen in the excerpt from Act V, scene III of "Romeo and Juliet" in the words "happy dagger", because the word "dagger" had a negative connotation and therefore linking it to the word "happy" seems contradictory, and in the words "timeless end" because the word "timeless" means eternal, but the word "end" means there is a limit of time. This means the phrases from the passage that are oxymorons are "happy dagger" and "timeless end" considering in these sentences two contradictory words are placed together which is exactly what oxymorons are about.