Color and Symbolism in Shakespeare´s Romeo and Juliet

533 Words2 Pages

During Shakespeare’s time, feasts and balls were very popular amongst the members of upper class. The masks worn to these festivities were often extremely detailed, fabulous, and expensive. The main component to make those masks catch people’s attentions is the colour. The background colour of the mask is purple, the symbol of power and wealth. In the play, Juliet is the daughter of a big family – the House of Capulet. The Capulet family is one of the Patriarch families of Italy, the other one is the House of Montagues. Recall that purple represents power and wealth, in Act I Scene V it shows how powerful and wealthy Juliet (and her family) is, because masquerades would only be held if nobility (the House of Capulet) could demonstrate their own wealth, status, and power. However, the mask is not painted all purple, because those wealth, titles are not all belongs to Juliet, it’s partly just because she’s born in this family, and she doesn’t contribute as much. Therefore, there is a space that is painted purplish-white. Eyes are the window of our soul, eyes are relatively important to...

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