ROMEO:
I fear, too early: for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night’s revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
But He, that hath the steerage of my course,
Direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen.
When he says some consequence yet hanging in the stars means that something will happen that only the stars know because it will happen in the future.
I think that Shakespeare intentions for these lines were to say that Romeo thinks that by going to the feast he will have an untimely death but with the faith of God he will go, using the metaphor:
But He, that hath the steerage of my course,
Direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen.
which I think means that Romeo will let God direct his ship which means him traveling through life and He will direct him to the feast even if it means he dies.
October 14, 2012 at 1:09 pm
It’s great to see you going to the trouble to fully unpack the metaphors. When you consider that in Elizabethan times they believed heaven to be in the stars, to say that something is yet hanging in the stars suggests that it has been decided already in heaven.
Good work, Bruke
CW