This line is spoken by Juliet at the end of Act I, Scene 5. She has just met and fallen in love with a man she has never seen before while at her father's party. After her brief discussion with him, the two part, and Juliet asks the Nurse to find out who he is. After asking around, the Nurse discovers, "His name is Romeo, and a Montague, The only son of your great enemy."...
This line is spoken by Juliet at the end of Act I, Scene 5. She has just met and fallen in love with a man she has never seen before while at her father's party. After her brief discussion with him, the two part, and Juliet asks the Nurse to find out who he is. After asking around, the Nurse discovers, "His name is Romeo, and a Montague, The only son of your great enemy." Juliet is a Capulet and the Montagues and Capulets are involved in an "ancient grudge," or bitter feud, which sometimes turns quite ugly and violent, as represented by the street brawl in Act I, Scene 1. On hearing his identity, Juliet says,
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me
That I must love a loathed enemy.
The first line of this short speech illustrates her shock at finding out he is from a family which is at odds with hers. It is ironic and paradoxical that she now loves someone she also hates. Juliet suggests that had she known he was a Montague she may have looked at him differently, but now it is too late. Finally, in a bit of foreshadowing, she uses the term "Prodigious birth," indicating that fate has had a hand in this meeting and misfortune may follow.
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