Essay Figurative Language In Romeo And Juliet

How does someone deal with the loss of their husband and cousin? In Shakespeare's famous play Romeo and Juliet, Juliet tries to do just that. Juliet is a part of the Capulet family and Romeo, her true love, is a part of the Capulet's enemy, the Montague family. Juliet is not always the calmest and most collected person, this is shown many times throughout the scenes. In the "Shall I speak ill" speech in Act 3 Scene 2, Juliet's use of repetition, oxymorons, and hyperboles shows a distressed wife trying to deal with the loss of her husband and cousin. While Juliet is talking to her nurse about her dilemma, Juliet uses a few words that are repeated throughout her speech. Juliets often repeats the words “Banished” or “Romeo is banished” like in

Juliet's repetition of these words pushes the idea that Juliet is very distressed, and it's hard for her to find other words because that is the only one she can think of. When she speaks, she often repeats the same thoughts and words. Juliet repeats some of these words at the end of her speech to the nurse. “Romeo is ‘banishèd.’ To speak that word, Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, All slain, all dead — Romeo is ‘banishèd’"(3.2.122-124). Juliet uses banished again in quotations to show the word is unnatural, or shouldn't be, but despite this she continues to remind herself of this idea that Romeo is banished. The use of repetition further shows Juliet cant keep herself composed while speaking, and is having a hard time thinking of anything

"That one word banished, hath slain ten thousand Tybalt’s”(3.2.114). Even though there is no way to kill ten thousand Tybalt’s, Juliet believes she would be better off with ten thousand Tybalt’s dead and her husband unbanished. Despite Tybalt being a part of her family, this is how she feels at the moment. This shows she is jumping around between what she believes, she was originally on the side of Tybalt but later starts leaning more towards Romeo. Juliet is still speaking with the nurse, and she talks about Romeo being banished. “if sour woe delights in fellowship and needly will be ranked with other griefs,”(3.2.116) An oxymoron is being used to describe how bad news likes to be followed by more bad news. By using the words “Sour” and “Woe” but also “Delights” this becomes an oxymoron.This literary device shows juliet is wondering why bad news must be followed by more, she doesnt think its fair. In the "Shall I speak ill” speech, Juliet's use of repetition and oxymorons illustrates a distressed wife trying to handle the news of her husband and cousin being gone. The speech shows that she can't handle the stress of her husband and cousin being gone, she cracks under