Romeo And Juliet Figurative Language

How does Shakespeare express love in his writing? One of his most known plays, Romeo and Juliet, contains the answers to this question. The play tells the story of two teenagers from opposing families, Romeo and Juliet, who fall in love with each other and the events leading up to their tragic deaths. In Shakespeare’s infamous tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, the way he portrays the idea of love through figurative language directly coincides with Neil Gaiman's idea of love causing vulnerability as well as great pain.
First, Shakespeare uses oxymoron to show that love leads to vulnerability. Because Romeo is deeply infatuated with a girl named Rosaline and his feelings are unrequited, he says, “Here's much to do with hate, but more with love. Why,

This love feel I, that feel no love in this” (Shakespeare 1.1.180-186). In this piece of monologue, Romeo uses a multitude of oxymorons to describe his pain, as well as to express how he feels that his one-sided love feels similar to hate. This shows that Romeo associates his feelings of heartbreak and one-sided love with things that directly contrast each other to show his inner turmoil. While talking to Friar Lawrence and Romeo, The Nurse tells Romeo, “Just in her case! O woeful sympathy / Piteous predicament! Even so lies she / Blubb'ring and weeping, weeping and blubb'ring. Stand up, stand up, stand and you be a man. For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand” (Shakespeare 3.3.85-80). The Nurse ordering Romeo to get up and stop weeping over the fact he has been estranged from

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. As Romeo, Benvolio, and Mercutio approach the Capulet’s party, Romeo says, “Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, / Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn” (Shakespeare 1.4.25–26). This piece of dialogue depicts Romeo's perception of love, and how he views it as rude, boisterous, and painful. He uses metaphors and comparisons to show how he views love negatively. This encapsulates the idea that Shakespeare writes love as something that causes great