Characters: (2) "By Any Other Name"

                              

            Here’s an excerpt from the famous balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet:

                         Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Romeo

[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

Juliet

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,                    

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What's in a name? That which we call a rose,

By any other name would smell as sweet.

So Romeo would — were he not Romeo called —

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

And for that name, which is no part of thee,

Take all myself.

Would a rose by any other name be as sweet? Maybe!

Aptronymologists are those who study how names are appropriate to occupations (apt=appropriate; onym=name; log=reason, study).  They cite many amusing examples of what New Scientist journal named “nominative determinism”—the process by which names can predestine the course of lives. Think of poet William Wordsworth (his worth is in words), undertaker Robert Coffin, and astronaut Sally Ride.  There’s a Dr. Donald Butts who is a proctologist, a pastry chef named Baker (and one named Gunnar Bakk), and a neurologist named Russell Brain.  Sigmund Freud coined and studied “the pleasure principle.”  “Freud” means “pleasure” in German.  Frank Field is a weather reporter.  And Sue Yoo is an American Lawyer.  My student Meagan Mentor is (you guessed it) a teacher!

Exploring literary characters from an aptronymologist’s perspective is fascinating and, to use a Freudian word, uncanny. Let’s look at Romeo and Juliet. Romeo. No sooner does Rosaline (beautiful rose) spurn Romeo, his heart roams to Juliet.  Yes, he is a roamer.  How in love was he with Rosaline if the rebound was so swift?  Was it his heart or pride that was truly injured? Although, as the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, ironically, for Romeo love has to be instant.  He insists on Juliet’s accepting him although they are both masked and know nothing about each other.

Rome is a embedded in Romeo’s name.  Rome was named after Romulus who vied with and killed his twin brother, Remus, to found the city.  This source is played out in the fight scene in which Mercutio, Romeo’s close friend, is murdered in the battle with the Capulets. 

Montague means “pointed hill,” reminiscent of a dunce cap—a word that came into common use during Shakespeare’s life—and is a Protestant slur on the Catholic philosopher John Duns Scotus.  We could interpret Romeo’s character as being that of a dunce, who spurns social customs that ends up destroying him and his beloved.

Juliet’s name originally meant “downy-bearded youth.”  Given that there were no public female actors in Shakespeare’s productions, this root can inspire a Queer Theory reading of the play. Another meaning for Juliet is ‘Jupiter’s child.’  We could interpret her character as that of an imperious princess, and a prototype for Sleeping Beauty—whose family falls asleep (doesn’t see what’s going on right in the home).  Or consider that Juliet has ‘Jewel’ as its first syllabus.  What is a jewel?  What kind is Juliet?  How does her character evoke the sparkle and hardness of a gem?

Capulet means “small cap.”  Paired with Montagues pointed hill, we can interpret the play as being not so much a story of love—or even lust—but adolescent rebellion against the common social structure.

In response to Juliet’s question, we can say that much lies in a name—beware the pointed mountain—it’ll be all downhill from your perch on that balcony.

Report here about your own names (both family and given), and do some research on name origins. Are they eerily appropriate to your life? Report on the nominative determinism of the names of others you know or about whom you have read. In your next literary essay, be an aptronymologist and do your character studies and interpretations base on names, their etymologies, embeddings, and related stories.

In the post entitled “Playing Literature Like Music: (2) Sound Frequencies,” we will see that not only the dictionary, etymological, and allusionary meanings of names, but their sounds, also play a profound part in whether the rose smells as sweet.

© Susanna Rich, 2020

Works Cited:

Cover Art:

https://www.projectation.com/2012/10/23/a-rose-by-any-other-name-would-smell-as-sweet/

Texts:

Nims, John Frederick, and David Mason.  Western Wind. 5^th ed. New York: McGraw, 2000.

Shakespeare, William.  Romeo and Juliet. (2.2.33-49a)

Shakespeare Concordance. http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20180404-do-our-names-push-us-toward-certain-jobs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-aptronym-names-1689129

Because I Can Teach:

Characters: (3) "Where Lies Your Text?" Deconstruction.  
https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=4711406005322167702#editor/target=post;postID=8932217661873955945;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=link

Playing Literature Like Music (1): https://becauseicanteach.blogspot.com/2018/10/playing-literature-like-music.html

Playing Literature Like Music (2): https://becauseicanteach.blogspot.com/2020/03/playing-literature-like-music-2-sound.html