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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 3Scene 3
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"sack the hateful mansion"
Metaphor
Act 3,
Scene 3
Lines 98-107a

An explanation of the “hateful mansion” metaphor in Act 3, Scene 3 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Nurse

O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps;
And now falls on her bed; and then starts up,
And Tybalt calls; and then on Romeo cries,                  
And then down falls again.

Romeo

                                             As if that name,
Shot from the deadly level of a gun,
Did murder her, as that name's cursèd hand
Murdered her kinsman. O tell me, friar, tell me,
In what vile part of this anatomy
Doth my name lodge? Tell me, that I may sack
The hateful mansion.

In this metaphor, Romeo's body is his mansion, which is hateful because it carries his name. To sack, or pillage, derives from conquerors' "sacking" a town — that is, putting the valuables in sacks and carrying them away. Romeo wants to put his name in a sack and remove it from his body.