What Does Poison Symbolize In Romeo And Juliet

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.

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