ipl-logo

Examples Of Diction In Romeo And Juliet

352 Words2 Pages

In this passage, Shakespeare utilizes metaphor and negative diction to characterize Romeo as a person who is conflicted and frustrated by love, which ultimately reveals the theme that love is uncontrollable, conflicting, and short-lived. Towards the end of act 1 scene 1, Romeo still has a big crush on Rosaline, but Rosaline has no feelings for him. Hence, Romeo experienced a sense of depression and is conflicted by love. In this passage, Shakespeare uses numerous metaphors. “Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs.” (1.1.197) This is a metaphor that equates love with smoke. “Smoke” disappears in the air very quickly. Therefore, by saying “love is a smoke”, Shakespeare suggests that love is short-lasting and fleeting. Furthermore, Shakespeare compares love …show more content…

The word “preserving” shows that you want to keep something for a long time. Meanwhile, “sweet” connotes that it is something addictive. Common sense dictates that candy is not healthy. Hence, this phrase suggests that love is not the healthiest, but we really long for it. Therefore, this exhibits that love is conflicting. At last but not least, the author employs negative diction, such as: “vexed” (1.1.199), “madness” (1.1.200), and “gall” (1.1.201). “Vexed” denotes annoyed, and “madness” denotes insanity. Since Romeo is referring to love in such a negative way, this shows that Romeo is pessimistic about love. In this passage, the metaphors demonstrate that love is short-lasting, depressing, and conflicting. Due to the metaphor and negative diction in this passage, the author characterizes Romeo as a person who is conflicted and frustrated by love. Ultimately, Shakespeare reveals the thematic message that love is uncontrollable, conflicting, and short-lived. The theme is very significant throughout the book, because Romeo forgets about Rosaline completely, and falls in love with Juliet later. Throughout the plot of the story, this theme is constantly

Show More
Related
848 Words | 4 Pages

Mercutio is making light of Romeo’s deep depressing love for Rosaline, he’s mocking love and making it a joke. This creates an emphasis on Romeo’s utter affixation with love. Mercutio’s playfulness and ability to make a serious subject humorous and reasonable bring out the deep, dark, and depressing side of Romeo, who is completely the opposite when it comes to love. Romeo does not see love as a joke and we see him fall into a depression, Mercutio only makes this sadness more apparent as he talks so jokingly of love. Shakespeare uses Mercutio to lighten Romeo’s depression and make it more

Read More
979 Words | 4 Pages

This quote shows how Romeo was upset and he was not happy but instead disappointed and angry because he didn’t get the happy ending he wanted with the girl he fell in love with, he explains how he fell in love with a girl and how she is really beautiful to him which is why he is upset that the girl

Read More
595 Words | 3 Pages

Rosaline rips Romeo’s heart out of his chest, causing an absence of love, sadness, and depression to overcome his feelings of joy that he once has for her. Part of Romeo is missing when Rosaline does not want to be with Romeo. Without

Read More
459 Words | 2 Pages

Love is a natural feeling that causes humans to do crazy and irrational things. For instance, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the two main characters’ obsessive love for each other is the main cause of their downfall. Romeo, however, indulges in his passion much differently than Juliet. In the balcony scene in Act II, scene ii, of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is shown to be impulsive and immature. This is made clear in Romeo’s attitude toward love and his reactions to dangerous situations.

Read More
682 Words | 3 Pages

When expressing his feelings of heartbreak to Benvolio, Romeo stated, “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs, / Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes, / Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears.” (Shakespeare 1.1.181-183). In other words, when Romeo explained love as a fire in the eyes of a lover and a smoke created from sighs, he is using metaphors to show his feelings of melancholy. He feels as though love is depicted as a caring and nurturing emotion, but what he is experiencing is nothing of the sort. Rosaline’s unrequited love for him has caused him to experience great pain and anguish.

Read More
246 Words | 1 Pages

Romeo and Juliet Quote Analysis In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses literary devices and diction to make connections within the play. As Romeo enters the monument, he walks to and opens Juliet’s casket to see her lifeless body. His grief and sadness cause him to say, “Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death, gathered with the dearest morsel of the earth, Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open, and in spite I’ll cram thee with more food,” (5:3:54-57). Romeo describes his beloved as the “dearest morsel of the earth”.

Read More
1900 Words | 8 Pages

Every day, we hear the term ‘love’ in several different situations. So, what is love? According to Shakespeare, in sonnet 116 - The first quatrain describes love as an unchangeable force in the lines “Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds, / Or bends with the remover to remove: / O no! it is an ever-fixed mark.” Shakespeare enforces the fact that true love always perseveres, no matter what it’s up against by using the metaphor, “That looks on tempests and is never shaken” in the second quatrain.

Read More
844 Words | 4 Pages

In the book it says “Deny thy father and refuse thy name,” Juliet asked, or if thou will not, be but sworn my love. And I’ll no longer be Capulet” (Romeo and Juliet). Love is the most the important theme is the play. Shakespeare shows the strong nature of love. In the play, these are no other love as strong as Romeo and Juliet.

Read More
243 Words | 1 Pages

"Love is like a pineapple, sweet and undefinable," -Piet Hein. In the common literature Romeo and Juliet, "My Shakespeare", and "Love's Vocabulary," they all share the same objective of attempting to define love. By using paradox, allusion and figuritive language, William Shakespeare, Kate Tempest and Diane Ackerman show how love is undefinable.       In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare uses paradox to define love.

Read More
498 Words | 2 Pages

Shakespeare uses this paradox to represent how disappointed he was when he found out that Rosaline did not love him back: “Misshapen chaos in well-seeming forms”(1.1.172). He had just recently met her and claimed he was “in love” with her, but he just notices looks. Romeo uses an oxymoron to claim how horrible love is to him: “bright smoke”(1.1.173). He is saying that love is bright and dark. After Romeo witnessed Juliet for the first time at a party, he thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen: “envious moon” (2.2.4).

Read More
824 Words | 4 Pages

William Shakespeare wrote his play, Romeo and Juliet, to identify conflicts in the good and evils will we find in ourselves. Romeo and Juliet undergo challenges that test their undying love. These challenges take the form of poisons figuratively and literally. This constant battering of opposing forces causes the characters to be justifiably weary. As in a “The Boy who Cried Wolf” scenario, the characters of Romeo and Juliet have a reason to be feeling wary.

Read More
747 Words | 3 Pages

In Shakespeare’s tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, we see Romeo as an emotionally erratic character. He had deliberately separated himself from family affairs, and seeks out others who can romantically love him and understand his emotional nature. Secondly, he is spontaneous in his actions; he wants to find someone who loves him, and wants to be in a secure relationship. Lastly, he has very intense emotions, and tends to view the world through his heart, not his head, as evidenced in the extreme sadness he feels when his love for Rosaline is not reciprocated, and the deep passion he feels for Juliet. Romeo deliberately separates himself from his family affairs, which leads to loneliness without someone who is close to him.

Read More
695 Words | 3 Pages

These violent delights have violent ends and in their triumph die, like fire and powder which, as they kiss, consume.” Shakespeare uses this alluring quote in Romeo and Juliet, to make the reader have to read it again to try and figure out what he is meaning. The figurative

Read More
738 Words | 3 Pages

Romeo’s heart drives him to make, at times, irrational decisions to be with his one true love.

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

Romeo and Juliet Passion Essay Passion is a powerful emotion that plays a huge part in the decisions we make. Passion may seem beneficial, but ultimately leads to destruction, and it doesn't matter whether it is love or hate both can make an individual reckless and blind. In William Shakespeare's play “Romeo and Juliet”, many of the characters make rash choices because passion interferes with their capability to reason and this not only affects the individual but also others around them. This thesis will be proven by the analysis of Romeo, Tybalt, Mercutio, actions that are driven by passionate love or hate and how it has affected the other characters of the play. The power of passionate love is illustrated in the play through Romeo’s love for Rosaline and Juliet, which let him to make certain decisions

Read More

More about Examples Of Diction In Romeo And Juliet

Open Document