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"to do"
Wordplay
Act 1,
Scene 1
Lines 168b-178b

An explanation of the wordplay on “to do” in Act 1, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo

                                              O me! What fray was here?
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 anything of nothing first created,
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen 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?

Benvolio

                                     No, coz, I rather weep.
  • In Shakespeare’s day the phrase “to do” was sometimes used as a noun (spelled “ado” today) meaning a commotion or disturbance. Romeo’s saying that this interaction between his family and the Capulets was a disturbance full of hate.
  • But “to do” was also used as a verb as we use it today. Romeo is saying that in addition to hate, the relationship with the Capulets also has to do with love, as we will soon find out.