In Romeo and Juliet, the phrase “from forth the fatal loins of these two foes” simply means that the title characters were born to two feuding families. The “loins,” an old-fashioned word for the sex organs, are “fatal” in that they’ve produced offspring, Romeo and Juliet, who are destined to die tragic deaths.

William Shakespeare

Two households, both alike in dignity. 2 houses that are alike in the levels of social class; both very wealthy. In fair Verona, where we lay our scene.

star-crossed

This line means the play will tell us about Romeo and Juliet’s doomed love. The quote “the fearful passage of their death-mark’d love” means the play is about Romeo and Juliet’s doomed story. Their love is doomed.

“Naught” means nothing. So when we read “naught could remove” it means “nothing could remove.” This line combines with the line before it in order to make sense. The complete meaning, then, is: The continuing feud between the Montagues and Capulets will only be ended because of the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

‘ – ‘misadventur’d piteous overthrows’ = ‘unfortunate sorrowful deaths’. 9 ‘death-mark’d love’ – primarily ‘marked out for death’, but also with a sense that, from the start, their love is stained and diminished by their future death.

: of a kind to move to pity or compassion.

: showing or promising no abatement of severity, intensity, strength, or pace : unrelenting relentless pressure a relentless campaign.

2 : abnormally susceptible to or characterized by gloomy or unwholesome feelings. 3 : grisly, gruesome morbid details morbid curiosity.

evoking or deserving pity; pathetic: piteous cries for help. Archaic.

deserving

adj Death-marked marked for or by death, destined to die.

help or assistance

1a : causing or tending to cause pestilence : deadly. b : of or relating to pestilence. 2 : morally harmful : pernicious.

It refers to the idea that nothing but the deaths of Romeo and Juliet will make their parents (and their families as a whole) stop hating each other. The first part of the quote refers to the “continuance” of the parents’ rage. This means that their hatred of each other would continue.

Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife. The which, if you with patient ears attend, For the next two hours, we will watch the story of their doomed love and their parents’ anger, which nothing but the children’s deaths could stop.

“Where we lay our scene” simply refers to the location where the story takes place, which as we’ve already discovered, is Verona. So the line can be translated into modern English as “In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place.”

Adjective. fair, just, equitable, impartial, unbiased, dispassionate, objective mean free from favor toward either or any side. fair implies a proper balance of conflicting interests. a fair decision just implies an exact following of a standard of what is right and proper.

Anchorwoman

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life, Whose misadventur’d piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.

This line means that citizens of Verona will dirty their hands (in a literal and figurative sense) with the blood of other citizens. Literally, the old feud between the Montagues and the Capulets will cause new fights to break out, and the blood of each side will be spilled by the other.

Here is a translation into Modern English for the phrase under question: “Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean” = The blood of the citizens of Verona makes the hands of the citizens both bloody and uncivilized; that is, not polite, and possibly murderous. [Please see further explanation below]

So star-crossed means opposed by fate or destined to misfortune. The phrase apparently comes from a line in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.

SAMPSON

Biting your thumb—placing a thumb behind your front top teeth and then flicking it out—is a symbolic gesture similar to “flipping someone off.” The action is a silent and immature way to insult someone and could be interpreted as an invitation to violence.

Act I. Abraham: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Sampson: I do bite my thumb, sir. Sampson: No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you sir; but I bite my thumb, sir.

Abra : Do you bite your thumb at *us*, sir? Sampson : [to Gregory] Is the law of our side if I say aye? Gregory : NO! Sampson : No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir!

2) against each other that remains a source of violent and bloody conflict. The Chorus states that from these two houses, two “star-crossed” (Prologue. 6) lovers will appear. These lovers will mend the quarrel between their families by dying.

Romeo takes his poison and dies, while Juliet awakens from her drugged coma. She learns what has happened from Friar Laurence, but she refuses to leave the tomb and stabs herself. The deaths of their children lead the families to make peace, and they promise to erect a monument in Romeo and Juliet’s memory.

House of Montague He is very wealthy, but he is not an aristocrat; that is, it would be incorrect to refer to him as “Lord Montague”. He worries over Romeo’s relationship with Rosaline (with whom Romeo was in love at the beginning of the story), but cannot get through to his son.