“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”
One of the most commonly misunderstood words I’ve come across is this word WHEREFORE. Most often in people referencing or parodying the above quote from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet(1). The context in which this word is commonly misrepresented is one in which someone is seeking something – believing Juliet to be asking in her soliloquy, “where is my Romeo?”
Juliet is not asking where is Romeo but why is he – the boy she loves – Romeo Montague, belonging to the one family she could never be attached to. Capulets are meant to hate Montagues, so how could it be she loves him?
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.(2)
It’s all there in the text – she’s not asking where but why. Wherefore, is an archaic term, not often seen in modern writing yet familiar in our language from this iconic scene, in this more-than iconic play.
wherefore
adverb old useuk /ˈweə.fɔːr/ us /ˈwer.fɔːr/
for what reason; why:
Wherefore dost thou (= do you) grieve?
I chose to use this word in the title of my most recent novel because of the way it is perceived in our modern day culture of language. The use of the word is twofold in my title “Wherefore Sings the Blackbird” because the blackbird in this story is an allegory for love. The title could be read correctly as why sings the blackbird or incorrectly as where sings the blackbird – both have relevance to the plot and subtext of the novel – either way the question is pertinent. I also just love to play with words!
For a spoiler free description of my latest novel Wherefore Sings the Blackbird, please click here. If you are interested in being a beta reader for this book, please click here.