Figurative Language In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet
Shakespeare utilizes positively connotated diction in Romeo and Juliet to convey Romeo’s blithe tone about the possibility of seeing Juliet. Before the arrival of Balthasar, Romeo fantasizes about seeing Juliet and says, “Ah me, how sweet is love itself possessed / When but love’s shadows are so rich in joy!” The use of the phrase ‘ah me’ shows Romeo’s current feeling of joy at this moment. ‘Ah me’ in this example has a positive connotation.
Bennett Ganshorn Mrs.Calhoun English 9B 11 April 2023 Romeo and Juliet Analysis Thesis: In the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses figurative language to show Friar Lawerence’s traits. Through metaphors and personification during Friar Lawerence’s herb-picking scene, Shakespeare characterizes the Friar as a sensible and aware character. While the Friar is picking herbs, the Friar gives the herbs human-like characteristics, he also describes how the earth is where nature lives and where it dies, this metaphor, and personification reveals the Friar's character traits.
Friar uses personification along with other literary devices that helps the reader understand the theme. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses elements of language in Friar Laurence’s speech to convey the idea that everything is both good and evil. In the first half of the soliloquy, Friar talks about the sky in a way that demonstrates how it is good and evil, like the light of the sun and the darkness of the moon. Friar starts his Soliloquy by saying, “The grey-ey’d morn smiles on the frowning night, Check’ring the Eastern clouds with streaks of light” (2.3.1-2).
Shakespeare creates a strong connection between the audience and the characters in the play through his usage of literary elements that creates the young teenage love story of Romeo and Juliet. “With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out, and what love can do, that dares love attempt. Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.” (Shakespeare 2.2.71-74) This is Romeo’s speech to Juliet when he says that he has trespassed onto her property without being seen by anyone because of his love for her.
Metaphor is the comparison of two unlike things without using like or as. Shakespeare uses metaphors to create emotions and thoughts in the reader's head to help them grasp the significance of the image he is conveying. An instance that expresses a metaphor is when Romeo watches Juliet from the balcony and says, “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.” (2.2 1-2) Romeo is overcome with awe when he sees Juliet at her balcony window and compares her radiant beauty to the bright sun.
“How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night, Like softest music to attending ears!” In texts, authors use multiple literary techniques to develop tones and moods for the text. These techniques include figurative language. William Shakespeare wrote numerous plays throughout his life, and these plays have lasted centuries because of the messages they portray to the audience. Shakespeare’s works have multiple forms of figurative language.
William Shakespeare, an English playwright, poet, and actor, best known for his works such as “Romeo and Juliet” and “Hamlet” once stated, “When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew. This quote embodies the premise of Rome and Juliet’s relationship because of the initial spark that ignited when they first saw each other. In the play “Rome and Juliet”, William Shakespeare uses specific word choices and phrases to create a passionate tone between the two star-crossed lovers during their first interaction. For example, Shakespeare uses figurative language, specifically metaphor, to reveal just how in love Romeo is with Juliet, who he had only just met.
Both the song lyrics, and lines from the book use metaphors. Romeo compares Juliet to a bright angel, who’s glorious and beautiful. The song refers to the woman as perfect, as well as compares her to an angel like Romeo did. Both use figurative language to express their love, as well as a way to convey the purpose of the story or song. Along with figurative language such as metaphors, the writers also have similar meanings in some of the lines.
Additionally Juliet compares Romeo to a rose. “A rose by any other word would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Through poet's the use of hyperbole, Romeo is depicted as a hopeless romantic who appreciates the inner beauty of his lovers and not just looks. When being invited to Capulet’s party, Romeo speaks about Rosaline and says, “ One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sun, Ne’er saw her match since first the world begun" (1.2.98.) Shakespeare uses the image of the “sun” to highlight the subject's exceptional beauty, emphasizing that even the “all-seeing sun” has never seen anyone as beautiful. This shows that Romeo is deeply enchanted by her and that he sees her as a source of light in his life.
The audience learns that effective of loving relationships should not be forced on someone. Another Metaphor in Romeo and juliet is when Romeo is spying on Juliet and listening to her private thoughts Romeo says of Juliet, when he spots her on the balcony, "What light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. "(2.2.1-5) Romeo states that He finds his love Juliet to be bright, sunny, and warm.
Romeo is going through the Capulet's orchard going towards Juliet's balcony. Romeo is talking about the love he has for Juliet and her beauty. He looks at her beauty in awe like how one would look at the bright sun shining. Juliet is like the one who would shine through the crowd like the sun. He only knows Juliet by her looks and not her heart.
In this sonnet, Shakespeare compares a person to a summer’s day. However, Shakespeare does not reveal the gender of the person that he is referring to. In his comparison, Shakespeare uses lots of imagery word choices to contrast the ever changing summer and the constant beauty of the person. Images that come to mind are calm, sunny afternoons in the open park and rainy, dark days that show nature’s beauty and ugliness. These images of summer are then compared to the constant image of a beautiful woman or handsome man that Shakespeare is writing the sonnet to.
During the prominent balcony scene, Romeo begins to compliment Juliet in the most memorable way possible and says:
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.”
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