Romeo And Juliet Figurative Language Essay

In the extremely dramatic and emotionally enlightening play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare enlightens and constructs ways to convince his audience through the use of figurative language (personification, metaphor, and simile), and juxtaposition that misfortune can bring salvation, yet the opposite occurs which creates a fated path based on how one truly acts.

Throughout the soliloquy of Friar Lawrence, Shakespeare shares light on concepts where there is no true despicable evil or true angelic good, resulting in incorrect use of fortune or salvation through misfortune, which allows Friar Lawrence to predict the fate of the play based on his philosophy. Throughout Friar Lawrence’s speech, Shakespeare drills the idea that good can construct

A quote from the speech using metaphor is, “Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, And vice sometime by action dignified.” Depending on the action of a character, immorality will come from virtue, such as Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, the immoral, or blind love they shared brought them virtue, yet in the end brought a wicked end from their incorrect actions, in which both vice and virtue can be compared through this balance. Friar Lawrence fell into his own logic when he began his plans, which resulted in the opposite of the fate Romeo and Juliet had, as Friar Lawrence did something that was morally wrong (married Romeo and Juliet). The Friar, ironically enough didn’t stay with his logic fully, he tried to unite Romeo and Juliet later on, however he failed, and as a result his logic showcased itself, bringing an error on his part. The Friar in desperate times shows how his master schemes make him think immorally to obtain a somewhat glorified ending, however this was at the expense of many lives (Tybalt, Mercutio, Lady Montague, Romeo, and Juliet). Another example of this rhetorical statement found in this soliloquy is, personification, “The gray-eyed morn smiles on the frowning

Light and dark replace one another, however Romeo’s darkness and depression (dark night associated with dark feelings of a person) was replaced with Juliet’s light and salvation (light of morning is associated with happiness and upbringing) that brought their love to unite them. Light scatters across the sky replacing the blue darkness that once lived, this brought balance to the natural cycle of both night and day. This ties into how fate predicts the upbringing of some and downfall of others, as Friar Lawrence explains how a good will come of evil, however the opposite result occurs. The dark rift between the Capulets and Montagues due to their feud would soon construct a light brought from selfish desires of man (Romeo and Juliet’s marriage), however this also brings deep misfortune resulting in the balance cycle. Shakespeare used Friar Lawrence as a balanced character to interpret the play’s true