Ad-free experience
Study Guides for 1,000+ titles
Full Text content for 250+ titles
No Fear Translations of Shakespeare’s plays (along with audio!) and other classic works
Flashcards
Mastery Quizzes
Infographics
Graphic Novels
AP® Practice & Lessons
Note-taking
Bookmarking
Dashboard
Act 1, Scene 1
SAMPSON: Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them, which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it. (bites his thumb)
Physical altercations between the Capulets and the Montagues are set off early in the play by an instance of the symbolically insulting gesture of thumb-biting in Act 1, Scene 1 line 36 by the Capulet servant, Sampson. Biting your thumb—placing a thumb behind your front top teeth and then flicking it out—is roughly similar to “flipping someone off” now. The action is a silent and immature way to insult someone that could be interpreted as an invitation to violence. In this quote, Shakespeare reveals that the young men involved in the feud between the families, Sampson in particular, are immature and “looking for a fight.”
ABRAM: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON: (aside to GREGORY) Is the law of our side if I say “ay”?
GREGORY: (aside to SAMPSON) No.
SAMPSON: No, sir. I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.
A few lines later in the scene (lines 39–42) Abram conveys that he understands the symbolic meaning behind Sampson’s thumb-biting and that he takes offense at it. Realizing that he may be in legal trouble if he admits to the insult—since such an action would constitute inciting a fight—Sampson backtracks by denying that he was biting his thumb at the Montague servant Abram. This silly exchange reveals the false bravado of these foolish young men.
SAMPSON: But if you do, sir, I am for you. I serve as good a man as you.
ABRAM: No better.
SAMPSON: Well, sir.
GREGORY (aside to SAMPSON): Say “better.” Here comes one of my master’s kinsmen.
SAMPSON: (to ABRAM) Yes, better, sir.
ABRAM: You lie.
SAMPSON: Draw, if you be men.
The confrontation initiated between the representatives of the rival families initiated by Sampson’s act of thumb-biting in line 36 of Act 1 continues here in lines 47–53. The Capulet servant Abram has responded to Sampson’s thumb-biting in a similarly immature way with a taunt about which house’s master is “better.” At first, Sampson agrees that his master is no better than Abram’s master. But once Gregory and Sampson realize the arrival of Benvolio will give them a numerical advantage, they collude to goad Abram into a fight by having Sampson change his answer to say that his master is better than Abram’s. These childish acts of nail-biting and taunting about who is better soon have the streets of Verona veering towards a battle. The acts symbolizes how immature and foolish the Capulet–Montague feud is at its very core.
