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William Shakespeare's life and career
William Shakespeare's life and career
A brief biography of william shakespeare
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The beauty and ardour of young love as depicted in Romeo and Juliet encompass the irradiating glory of sunlight and starlight in a dark world. Shakespeare predominantly incorporates the element of light, every form and manifestation of it: the sun, moon, stars, fire, lightning, and the reflected light of beauty and of love. Such light is juxtaposed with darker elements like the night, darkness, clouds, rain and death. Shakespeare emphasised how each of the young lovers thinks of the other as light. Romeo’s overwhelming attraction towards Juliet on their first encounter is depicted in his exclamation. “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright/It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night/Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear. It is metaphorically representative of Juliet’s possession of eternal radiance. However, it …show more content…
To Romeo, Juliet is the sun rising from the east, and to Juliet, Romeo is the ‘day in night’, and when they rise to love’s trance, each pictures the other as stars in heaven, shedding such brightness as puts to shame the heavenly bodies themselves. The intensity of feeling in both lovers transforms them into the exquisite and passionate expression of lover’s rhapsody. “What if her eyes were there, they in her head?” “The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars/As daylight doth a lamp” displays the clever language choice of Shakespeare in Romeo’s dialogue as he illustrates that two of the fairest stars in heaven, having some business on earth, have entreated Juliet’s eyes to take their place till they return. Light is also demonstrated in Romeo’s immortal expression of the transforming glory of love, “her eyes in heaven/Would that the airy region stream so bright/That birds would sing and think it
Juliet is brighter than the torches which light the whole room and that she teaches them to be as bright as she is. Romeo then goes on to talk of Juliet as "a snowy dove trooping with crows," saying that Juliet is a bright, white dove, a symbol of peace. walking among black crows; she stands out like a beacon of light in the dark. Romeo then asks. My heart loves it till now, forswear it.
William Shakespeare is amazing at using extended metaphor in Romeo and Juliet to show love between the characters, the word choice that Shakespeare uses to write extended metaphor is very detailed. During the balcony scene, Romeo says something towards Juliet which is an extended metaphor which shows love Romeo said, “Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief that thou her maid art far more fair than she” (Shakespeare 2.2.3-5). What this means is that Juliet is being compared to the sun and Romeo is telling Juliet to arise beautiful woman and kill the envious moon so Juliet is a fair sun which has to destroy the darkness which is the moon. Romeo is saying that Juliet is as beautiful as the sun which shines over the world they live in. A little later during the balcony scene, Romeo uses extended metaphor again to compare Juliet to something good. Romeo is in love with Juliet and her beauty because Romeo always complements Juliet with something lovely and he speaks of Juliet in a nice way. For example, Romeo says “O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art as glorious to this night, being o’er my head as is a winged messenger of heaven unto the white-upturned wondering eyes” (Shakespeare 2.2.29-32). This really shows the love that Romeo has for Juliet because he compares her to a bright angel and being compared to an angel shows that she’s very glorious and mighty with beautiful features. Also, Romeo complements Juliet’s eyes again saying that her eyes are awestruck and so pretty that all mortals fall back to gaze this shows that Romeo is in love with all of her beauties and all the other people are too. Romeo says a lot of extended metaphor during the play to compare Juliet to things that are of beauty and not something that is horrible thus extended metaphor is used to show the love between
An example of this is “Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaways’ eyes may wink and Romeo leap to these arms, untalk’d of an unseen”. Juliet is longing for Romeo to come and consummate their marriage at night, which is when they can be together, as their relationship is too unnatural for them to meet at day, due to the hatred of their families. It is further proven that the dark imagery represents passion. Juliet is passionate about Romeo, as she has made up her mind to give her maidenhood to him, which is something she can never undo. An additional quote is “Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die… Let me be ta’en, let me be put to death; I am content, so thou wilt have it so“. Romeo has just consummated his marriage with Juliet. He says that the stars are gone, and that daylight is coming. Romeo must leave, as Verona is waking up, and he will be killed if he is seen with Juliet. Even with this risk, he considers staying with Juliet, as he enjoys being with her. Dark imagery is used to show how passionate Romeo is about Juliet. He made their marriage legal, and is even considering risking death to stay with her longer. He has permanently committed to her, and cannot go back. As the evidence presented shows, the dark imagery in Romeo and Juliet reflects the theme of passion.
This slide shows Romeo and Juliet at the Capulet’s banquet or gathering. Romeo wears a mask to prevent being seen, for Montagues were not allowed, or even invited to this gathering. Romeo went to this gathering only for the sole purpose of meeting Rosaline again, which was Romeo’s first crush. But halfway through this “party”, Romeo saw Juliet, in which he stated he never saw true beauty until this night. He compares her to many things, such as a bright torch, a rich jewel, beauty too rich for earth, and a snowy dove among crows. This is truly true love at first sight, not founded on lust, for he shows true loyalty to Juliet later in the play.
Shakespeare has many prime examples of symbolism in Romeo and Juliet that helps the audience understand the relationship love and hate have, and how it relates to the plot. One example is of the light and dark (day and night). Although the day has the sun and is brighter and happier, their love flourishes in the dark. Due to this, Romeo constantly refers to Juliet as the sun. When Romeo is observing Juliet at her deathbed, he states, “For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes This vault a feasting presence full of light” (5.3 85-86) Even when Juliet is dead, Romeo proclaims that her beauty makes the vault full of light. Even when she is no longer alive, she is still the sun. Although people don’t consider death and beauty to be at all related, these two contradictions fit well together. Throughout all of these examples, Shakespeare represents that love and hate need each other to survive, just like the day and night, the light and dark, and the death and
Eros lovers are often seen someone who idealizes their love a lot. This trait can be demonstrated when Juliet states “Give me my Romeo and when he shall die,Take him and cut him out in little stars,And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun. ”(III.ii.20-31) In this line Juliet romanticizes Romeo by calling him so beautiful that when he becomes stars, no one will like the day but they will instead love the night.
The tragic play "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, is a love story between Romeo, the young heir of the Montagues, and Juliet, the only surviving child of the house of Capulet. This story of the young "star-crossed" lovers is an extraordinary work in which Shakespeare uses a variety of verbal imagery including; contrasts between sex and love with hate, conflict, and death, comparisons between romantic and unromantic views of love, the correlative use of light and dark polarity, and the correlation of fate and fortune. Using this type of imagery, T. J. Spencer suggests, "at the greatest moment of the play Shakespeare subjects even the ambiguities of words to the sublimity and pathos of the situation" (43).
Juliet as he describes her in relation to the light of the sun and the
Romeo and Juliet is the tragic love story of two star-crossed lovers. Shakespeare used light and dark imagery throughout the play to make this story more dramatic and to show how their love is the light in the dark abyss of their families feud. Shakespeare uses light and dark symbolism in the book, as well, to display the characters intentions, if the character was against or in favor of the antagonist.
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light” (Aristotle). In other words, Aristotle means even during the darkest times of someone’s life, they must seek light to pull them out of the dark. This philosophy is similarly reflected in Shakespeare’s famous drama, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare uses light and dark imagery to emphasize the calamity and to make the emotions of his main characters more apparent. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is likely the most well known love story of all time, but there is much more to the plot than two star crossed lovers forbidden to be together. Romeo and Juliet serve as each other’s light; however, their love flourishes in the darkness. Juliet also acts as a light for
Lady Montague, Romeo’s mother, is concerned about Romeo’s well being. He has been wandering through the woods at night, in tears, and locks himself in his darkened room upon return. “With tears augmenting the fresh morning’s dew, Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs; But all so soon as the all-cheering sun... The shady curtains from Aurora’s bed... And private in his chamber pens himself, Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, And makes himself an artificial night.”
Techniques and Devices Shakespeare Uses to Show the Power and Beauty of the Love Between Romeo and Juliet
The light and dark imagery that Shakespeare uses in this passage describes Juliet as a young and eager lover. Romeo associates Juliet with light meaning goodness. Then Romeo says that Juliet looks like the excellent night. The night that Romeo speaks of represents Rosaline. Romeo basically says through with light and dark imagery, that Juliet is as good as Rosaline to love. Romeo then compares Juliet to a "winged messenger of heaven" who filled with lightness and goodness. He says that all humans look upon this kindness as the messenger "bestrides the lazy puffing clouds" while doing his errands. Romeo explains using this imagery that everyone looks at Juliet because she gives off a stunning and intricate outlook.
the importance of it and worked with what he had. Shakespeare didn’t always do what was expected, and this was shown in his use of his limited lighting. Nowadays, we can portray nighttime and the audience can still observe the action on stage. In Shakespeare’s time manipulation of light was an impossible task, so instead he welcomed the daylight to go against the nighttime scenes, as in Midsummer Night’s Dream. Much of this play is at night, but the bright daylight gives the play enhanced conflict. The lovers’ treacherous relationships give the play conflict, but the audience also could possibly feel the frustration of the light outside and the supposed
However, in act two, scene two, the mood is altogether more optimistic and Shakespeare uses a lot of light imagery particularly when Romeo is describing Juliet. When he first sees her on the balcony, he compares her to the sun. This clearly conveys Romeo's passion for Juliet as the sun is a giver of life, a brilliant source of light and has connotations of happiness and cheer, which contrasts greatly with Romeo's previous melancholy. Furthermore, Romeo exclaims that Juliet's eyes and cheeks are 'bright and later call her a 'bright angel' which suggests the strength of his admiration for her - to him, she is more of a divine, or spiritual light; a beacon of hope.