O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love... 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet...

Summary

In this quote from Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is expressing her frustration over the fact that Romeo is a member of the enemy family, the Montagues. She questions why Romeo has to be Romeo and suggests that if he were to forsake his family name, they could be together. To emphasize her point, she argues that a name is merely a label, and that the essence of a person or thing remains unchanged regardless of what it is called. She uses the example of a rose, stating that its fragrance would be just as enchanting even if it were given a different name.

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