Ilyas Malik Mr.Norris and Mr. James F block 6/9/23 In the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the impulsive actions of the young lovers lead to their tragic deaths. As seen in the play, Romeo's intense emotions make him act out of haste, this is shown when Romeo's apprehension of love changes the second he sees Juliet. When Romeo first lays his eyes on Juliet he mutters “I’ll watch her place of stand and, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. Did my heart love till now?”
In Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene, Shakespeare relays Romeo and Juliet’s passionate, almost obsessive young love through the
He believes that Juliet’s family is “no let” to him. To Romeo, if Juliet would “look…but sweet,” he would be “proof against their [Juliet’s kinsmen] enmity.” Romeo ignores the threat of being killed and instead claims he is protected by love. His behavior can be compared to a child who is oblivious to the dangers around them and does things based on their immature conceptions of the world. This behavior is further carried out when Romeo uses a simile about schoolboys and their books, saying that “love goes toward love” like schoolboys do to their books, but “from love, towards school with heavy looks.”
“Alas that love, whose view is muffled still, should without eyes see pathways to his will.” (I,i) This quote displays the feelings Romeo has toward love.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet contributes a portion of it’s popularity due to it’s almost eccentric use of dramatic irony and other literary instances, (some of which are pioneered by Shakespeare himself), which makes it difficult for the reader to lose interest. Imagery, a common example of a literary device, is the articulate formation of words to develop a vivid “scene” in the reader’s mind. There are many subcategories of imagery, albeit this particular essay will specifically cover his continuous usage of “Light and Dark Imagery”, which are forms of imagery that reference nouns resembling literal “light” objects in conjunction with being “good” objects, and vice versa. In this Shakespeare classic, Light and Dark imagery is used to convey and to even “exaggerate” Romeo’s love for Juliet, and Juliet’s love for Romeo.
This shows that the darkness is what hides Romeo and Juliet’s relationship from their families and the outside world. In this case, the idea of blindness is literal because one is indisputably unable to see in the dark, this being the reasoning as to why Romeo and Juliet can express their love during the night. The figurative idea being the Capulets and Montagues not choosing to see what is really occurring because of their stubbornness with the rivalry. The literal and figurative meaning of blindness relates to the darkness in contrast with choosing not to
Thus, light imagery is effectively used to establish the romantic atmosphere of Romeo and Juliet’s first encounter, whereas dark imagery is used to foreshadow the dreadful events of the play’s conclusion, therefore creating a suspenseful atmosphere. Moreover, characters in the play use light imagery as they experience the elation of love, yet also dark imagery as they feel the heartbreak of rejection. Thus, as shown in Romeo and Juliet, the balance between light and darkness, happiness and sadness is a natural occurrence, which one cannot prevent nor
Romeo faces many challenges throughout the play regarding his star-crossed lover, Juliet. His incompatible feelings highlight the conflicting emotion of love being “A choking gall and a preserving sweet” (act 1, scene 1). Love is both sweet and bitter at times. This
Romeo and Juliet’s love seemed like a little harmless thing, but the reality was that their “love” led them to their eternal doom. Shakespeare applies the use of diction in the climax to further advance the motif of dreams. When Romeo first sees Juliet lying in the tomb he describes her as “Is crimson in thy lips and in thy
Shakespeare’s’ Romeo and Juliet, religious imagery represents the romantic relationship of the two characters and to express the tragedy and inevitable calamity of this pair. Religious imagery is used by the characters in their discussions of each other, their relationship and it progression, and Shakespeare’s original audience would have understood the symbolism and its meaning. The Christian symbolism in Romeo and Juliet can appear to portray the relationship in a positive light, depicting young love as sacred and innocent, however this interpretation does not understand the deeper connotations and meaning behind these symbols and motifs. While Romeo and Juliet’s relationship can appear romantic, their first meeting, the infamous “balcony scene”, and the discussions of their deaths are laced with religious symbolism and discourse that allows for a more nuanced interpretation of their nefarious love. Religious motifs and symbols are usurped and corrupted to represent the couple’s relationship, indicating the corruption and negative aspects of the pair.
Although danger and dilemmas are to come, Act I is still filled with love and romance. In Scene v, Romeo and Juliet meet and immediately fall in love. Upon first seeing Juliet, Romeo begins to describe her beauty, “Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! / It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night, / Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear” (Shakespeare 1.5.42-45). An infatuated Romeo emphasizes on Juliet’s beauty being too good for this world and cannot seem to take his eyes off of her.
In act two, scene two of the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, the two main characters are in love, and Shakespeare is trying to convey that to the audience. Romeo, one of the two main characters, is hiding in the garden of his enemy, watching his love, Juliet, stargazing from her window. Once she starts speaking, he is mystified by her beauty, and she’s analyzing the possible pros and cons of their relationship. Romeo is driven purely by pathos (feelings and emotions), while Juliet is very analytical, most of her actions being lead by both ethos and logos (ethics and logic, respectively). In this scene, we have Romeo gazing at Juliet, who is leaning out of her window to look at the sky and think.
He possessed a gift to stretch the English language and bring out depth in each individual word and lines. As his writing is so eloquently crafted and so it is very difficult to guess what Shakespeare actually penned to begin the line when Romeo speaks about the eye. The metaphors about ‘eye’ as a target is found only in Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet and is not used in Macbeth. Most of the conceptual metaphors about ‘eye’ in Romeo and Juliet is personified, it Romeo thinks that EYE CAN SPEAK, EYE CAN WONDER and EYE CAN ATTACK.
William Shakespeare consistently uses language that displays celestial imagery in order to explore enduring themes such as love, loss, destiny and vengeance throughout his classic play Romeo and Juliet. The uses of imagery that Romeo uses bequeath not only the idea of fate, but meaningful symbols and metaphors to successfully convey the despair that the lover’s face in a way that we ourselves can feel their lust as well as their anguish. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses imagery to portray the adoration and love Romeo has for Juliet using language to compare her to all that illuminates. Here Romeo professes, Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Margaret Wolfe Hungerford once said, “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”. The meaning of this quote is that beauty exists only in the mind of the person that contemplates it. This correlates with the beginning of the love shared by the main characters in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Born from opposing families, Romeo and Juliet fall in love, but cannot be together because of their family feud. Their love begins from the moment they meet, and just upon looking at each other, they instantly fall in love.
