In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, lovers Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague cannot be together due to their feuding families. Less than twenty-four hours after their meeting, they get married in secret. In the climax of the story, Romeo gets revenge on Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, for killing his friend Mercutio in a duel. The duel quickly turns violent, and Romeo kills Tybalt. The prince then sentences Romeo to banishment from Verona. This leaves the couple at risk of being separated. Juliet is especially conflicted by all of this. Not only did her husband kill her cousin, but he might also leave her forever. In act III scene ii, Shakespeare uses oxymorons to display Juliet's feelings of conflict over her star-crossed lover Romeo, who just killed her cousin. …show more content…
The word damnèd refers to something that is sent to hell by god. In contrast, a saint is regarded as virtuous and destined to go to heaven. The contradiction between these two words illustrates the contradiction between Romeo's words and actions. The Romeo that Juliet knew before had been kind, honest, and devoted to her. When she gets the news that he murdered her cousin, everything she thought she knew gets flipped upside down. She doesn’t know who Romeo really is. He had been such a saint, but now it’s as if he’s damnèd to hell. This paradox can be reflected on her own self as well. After all, she had never loved anyone before Romeo. She had been a saint. However, her love for him caused her to sneak around with a sworn enemy and lie to her own