Romeo And Juliet Figurative Language Essay

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Shakespearean Language Used to Create Meaning Romeo and Juliet is a well-known tragedy and play written by William Shakespeare. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are two adolescent lovers separated by the feud between their families. Even after marrying each other, sneaking around and faking dead, Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other ends up resulting in them taking their own lives. Shakespeare uses imagery, hyperboles and sonnets to emphasize the relationship between Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare accentuates the love between Romeo and Juliet through the use of imagery. In act two, scene two, when Romeo is looking up at Juliet on her balcony, he expresses he would risk everything to gain Juliet. Romeo indicates, “I am no pilot; yet, wert …show more content…

In the first sonnet, used as a prologue to the tragedy, Romeo and Juliet are described as “star-crossed lovers” (line 6). The meaning of star-crossed lovers establishes the idea of failed romance. All throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet are referenced to stars and astrological imagery. When Romeo is wandering in the Capulet’s garden after the party, he finds Juliet on her balcony, and expresses how beautiful she is, “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?/ It is the East, and Juliet is the sun./ Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,/ Who is already sick and pale with grief.” (II.ii.2-5) Through this imagery, it is evident Romeo views Juliet more beautiful than the moon and she can easily surpass the moon turning darkness into daylight. Romeo also personifies the moon as “sick and pale with grief”. By this, he emphasizes her beauty as brighter and possessing much more beauty than the moon. As Romeo watches Juliet on her balcony , he observes, “Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,/ Having some business, do entreat her eyes/ To twinkle in their spheres till they return./ What if her eyes were there, they in her head?/ The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars/ As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven/ Would through the airy regions stream so bright/ that birds would sing and think it were not night.” (II.ii.15-23) This quote …show more content…

The first sonnet acts as a prologue and is spoken by the chorus. The first sonnet gives the audience an insight of what to going to happen and background knowledge. The quote, “Two households, both alike in dignity/(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),/ From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,” (1-3) explains the play takes place in Verona, involving two families of high social standing, who have been rivals for a long time. The lines, “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/ A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,/ Whose misadventured piteous overthrows/ Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.”(5-8) explains the children of the enemy families become lovers and commit suicide. In the end, their deaths is what contributed to the end of the two families feud.Through these lines, the audience is able to receive an overall summary of the plot. These lines also introduce the theme of love through the “star-crossed lovers.” The second sonnet in Romeo and Juliet is incorporated into the dialogue between Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting. Through their first encounter, Romeo and Juliet discuss lust and physical desire while masking it through religious terms. Romeo says, “Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.” (I.v.118) This quote means Romeo’s sins have been taken away by Juliet’s lips; [he

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