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What Does Poison Symbolize In Romeo And Juliet

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Isn't it cool when an object represents something in a story? Well when you come across something like this it's called a symbol. In the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet which takes place in Verona Italy. There are tons of symbols. For example some symbols are fire, stars, poison and statues. Anyway those are just a few of many examples of symbols in romeo and juliet. Out of all these symbols I think the biggest symbol is poison. Poison is a big symbol in this play and here is why. Poison is symbolized in a lot of ways in this play death is the main way it is symbolized two more ways are selfishness and love. In Romeo and Juliet poison is used as a symbol multiple times. One example of when poison is used as a symbol is when the apothecary says. “Put this in any liquid thing you will and drink it off” (Apothecary 5.2.863) What this symbolizes is the apothecary telling romeo that the poison is very strong and Romeo is very desperate to kill himself because he is drinking poison which will most likely kill you and he is desperate to die beside juliet. So in this line poison is something that Romeo thinks is a good thing or a better outcome but in the long run it ends up being the wrong thing to do. …show more content…

He causes Mercutio's death by showing mercy to Tybalt. For example when Romeo says. “O sweet Juliet Thy beauty hath made me effeminate” (Romeo 3.1.823). What is being symbolized in this quote is Romeo is saying Juliet's love is making him weak. He says this because he tried to get Tybalt to calm down and not get into a fight because Romeo is married to his cousin. What this means is Romeo is calling Juliet's love poison because it made him weak and now his best friend is dead. When Romeo says this its also a very selfish thing to say about someone's love that is another way poison is brought into this play is

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Juliet’s tragic downfall began when Romeo killed Tybalt, banishing himself to a lifetime of separation from her. Emotionally demolished by his sentence, Romeo says, “ Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say ‘death’”, indicating that Romeo would rather die than be banished from Verona. Romeo’s banishment by the Prince then causes Juliet and the Friar to come up with the idea to drink a potion that portrays Juliet to be as still as death. Once Romeo believes that Juliet is no longer alive, he makes another rash decision to bribe an apothecary for poison.

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Romeo receives the poison so he can drink it and kill himself once he arrives at Juliet's grave. Here we see a loss of innocence since Romeo not only committed the crime of buying poison. He also decided that the poison would be used for his demise since

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Thus with a kiss I die” (Act 5, Scene 3, Lines 119-120). Romeo knows that the poison will kill him, and yet he still drinks it. His choice to take his own life, although he made it out of grief for his dead love, was still his own rash and poorly made decision.

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In the play Romeo tells Juliet he loves her than drinks the poison to die with his sweet Juliet. “Here’s to my love! O true apothecary! / Thy drugs are quick.

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In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses the love shared between Romeo and Juliet to show how moving love is and how deeply it can affect us. The strong affection Romeo and Juliet have for one another was ultimately their undoing. When Romeo heard news of Juliet’s death, Romeo rushed to the apothecary and asked him, “Let me have A dram of poison... That the life-weary taker may fall dead.” (V. i.63-65).

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Mercutio being an easily influenced guy caused his death and the 2 more. On the day of his own death, Mercutio was confronted by Tybalt. Tybalt tried to get a fight out of Mercutio without being the one to start the fight. Tybalt plan prevailed and Mercutio succumbed to his anger which eventually caused his own death. This leads up to Tybalt’s death, Romeo’s banishment, Friar Lawrence’s plan, and the unfortunate death of Romeo and Juliet.

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Throughout the play, Shakespeare’s repeated use of potions and poisons, which represent humanity’s tendency to corrupt itself, express the true poisons of the Veronese

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Romeo is quite distraught when Juliet “dies”, so he quickly decides without thinking to “have a dram of poison” - and commits suicide juxtaposed to Juliet’s “dead” body.

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