Figurative Language in William Shakespeare’s Tragic Play, Romeo and Julie

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In William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, his skillful use of figurative language takes the reader on a roller coaster of emotions over a short period of time. Shakespeare’s rich character development illustrates how one’s affections can be dramatically altered in a matter of hours. Throughout the play, he uses the literary method of personification to show this change. When this method is used, it forces the reader to look at a character’s lines through different eyes, pushing them to see the deeper meaning. Personification is the literary device Shakespeare uses to express his own thoughts and views on the themes love as lust, clouded judgment, and death.
Shakespeare’s use of personification shows that love can be mistaken as personal attraction, rather than true love. Lust makes Romeo believe his eyes are what prove his feelings, not his heart. Because he is misinterpreting lust as love, he worships Rosaline for her beauty, but does not realize she does not love him, nor does he actually love her. Shakespeare depicts this false fascination using personification when Romeo claims “[t]he all-seeing sun/Ne’er saw her match since first the world begun” (I.ii.99-100). Personifying the sun as seeing something beautiful helps the reader to recognize that Romeo is in love with Rosaline’s physical features, not her personality. From the context of the play, Shakespeare reveals Romeo has unrequited lust for Rosaline. By saying the sun never saw such a beautiful sight shows Romeo’s exaggerated feelings toward her. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo tends to embellish the sensuality of women, specifically Juliet, while ignoring the fact that women may have emotional attraction as well. Personification is also used to show Romeo is ...

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...ersonification to show death makes people feel sorrow and bereavement causing them to be confused and sad.
Through the ingenious use of personification in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare competently conveys the messages of love as lust, clouded judgment and death. In this dramatic tragedy, all of the character’s problems are a result of basing decisions off of their emotions rather than logic. Because of this, two lustful teenagers end up taking their lives over extreme affections and fear of their parents’ disapproval. Sometimes in life, people forget personality and focus only on finding the most beautiful girl or the most handsome boy. This is shown time and again throughout this play and is displayed through the use of personification. In conclusion, if people would think logically and look for positive emotions in others, life would be happier and less painful.

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