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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 1Scene 1
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Word Nerd: "canker"
Context and Language Videos
Act 1,
Scene 1
Lines 84-90

An explanation of the word "canker" in Act 1, Scene 1 of myShakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. 

myShakespeare | Romeo and Juliet 1.1 Word Nerd: "canker"

Prince

Three civil brawls bred of an airy word,
By thee old Capulet and Montague,
Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets,
And made Verona's ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
To wield old partisans in hands as old,                       
Cankered with peace to part your cankered hate.
Video Transcript: 

RALPH: Canker derives from the latin word cancer, a malignant tumor or ulcerous disease that eats away at the surrounding healthy tissue. This is where we get our modern word cancer.

SARAH: Shakespeare uses canker in two metaphorical senses. In the first sense, he’s describing the rust on the old swords which resembles a malignant skin disease.

RALPH: But he’s also describing the feuding families’ hatred, which corrupts the surrounding society, just as a cancer corrupts the surrounding tissue.