The Use Of Oxymorons In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Despite the families attempts at trying to break two young lovers apart, they still try to reconcile the families together. In the story of “Romeo and Juliet", written by William Shakespeare, 2 families with a long lasting feud ultimately affect “Romeo and Juliet”, which leads to their tragic deaths. In William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare uses oxymorons to further develop the story and better develop the theme. An example of this technique being used is when we see words such as "loving hate” and “cold fire” can help develop the story by further highlighting the intense and conflicting emotions experienced by the characters in this story. "O serpant heart, hid with a flowering face, Did ever dragon keep so far a cave”, “Beautiful Tyrant, Fiend Angelical” The quote above, spoken by Juliet refers to Romeo as “Beautiful Tyrant" and "Fiend Angelical.

Another example can be taken in act 3, scene 2 where Juliet wavers between reality when refering to Romeo as “A damned saint, an honourable villain” which then Juliet shows she can’t choose whether she loves Romeo or not. She shows immaturity in her actions because one moment she says she hates him, another she says the opposite. “Shall I speak ill of him who is my husband, ah poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth my name” (Shakespeare III.ii 98-99). This quote is taken from act 3, scene 2 and Juliet doesn’t know if she should speak ill of Romeo because he is her husband, and if she does no one will speak kind of him but her. In this context she is referring to how Romeo brutally ended her cousin, Tybalt’s life. The literary device being used in this context is an oxymoron and it works well because there are contrasting words that normally wouldn’t make