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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
Throughout the whole play, we see Romeo refer to Juliet as light. There are many examples of this in the balcony scene and at the Capulet. party in Act 1, scene 5. When Romeo first meets Juliet he states. O she doth teach the torches to burn bright" Romeo says this after first setting eyes on Juliet, he is saying that.
On first seeing Juliet, Romeo exclaims, "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! / It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night / Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear; … So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows" (Act 1 Scene 5 Lines 44-48) Romeo describes Juliet's beauty in terms of light and dark. "She doth teach the torches to burn bright" means both that her beauty is brighter than the light of any torch and that she makes the whole room light up. The brightness of Juliet's beauty is made even brighter by the contrasts with the blackness of the "Ethiope" and the blackness of crows. The use of antithesis with the "snowy doves" and the "crows" creates a powerful opposing force showing how she stands out from the others. Another interpretation of the dove is that it is a symbol of peace and sets in place an image of Romeo and Juliet's love creating peace between the two rival families. Another moment is when Juliet is waiting for Romeo to come to her bed. In her imagination, the night will bring her love. She goes on to say, "Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, / That runaways' eyes may wink and Romeo" (Act 3 Scene 2 Lines 5-6). Juliet is seeing things as though she is in bed, the curtains are closed, creating a dark atmosphere where they act their love. In the dark, the pair will create their own light, because "Lovers can see to do their amorous rites / By their own beauties" The use of courtly love is very common in theatres at the time of Romeo and Juliet because in those days people would dream and fantasize about courtly love and was an entertaining
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
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.
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.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night/ As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear” (Shakespeare 1.5.43-45). When Romeo compares Juliet to a torch, he makes a metaphor, suggesting that her beauty and radiance resemble the light of a torch. He continues to refer to Juliet’s beauty when he compares her to a sparkling jewel that catches the eye of the night sky (the “Ethiop” being a person with dark skin). Romeo correlates Juliet to a torch and a jewel, but never once mentions anything about her personality, even when he has his first interaction with her at the feast. Romeo simply feels a desire towards Juliet and seems to over exaggerate his feelings for her.
“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/ That thou her maid art far more fair than she/ Be not her maid since she is envious/ Her vestal livery is but sick and green/ And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off!/ It is my lady. Oh, it is my love/ Oh, that she knew she were!” (Shakespeare II ii 2-11).
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
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.
Techniques and Devices Shakespeare Uses to Show the Power and Beauty of the Love Between Romeo and Juliet
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.
Although Romeo most frequently compares her to the light, Paris and Lord Montague do so as well. The reader sees the light comparison in Romeo’s words most often, as he states things like, “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun/ Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon” (II. ii. _-_). This is just one of copious examples in which Juliet serves as Romeo’s light. From his words, the reader gains insight to Romeo’s feelings, being that Juliet serves as the only light he has. Likewise, Shakespeare depicts Juliet as the light illuminating Paris’s life. Though Juliet loves Romeo, Paris sincerely wants to marry Juliet. He has genuine intentions, and truly loves her. Juliet acts as the main light brightening Paris’s life. Even when Romeo kills Paris, his last dying wish is to lay next to Juliet in the tomb. Further, Juliet also acts as a light in Lord Montague’s life following her and Romeo’s deaths. He decides to raise a gold statue of Juliet in honor of her love for his son after they die. Montague realizes Juliet was the only bliss in his son’s life, even though she was a Capulet. He comes to the realization that because she serves as the light highlighting Romeo’s life, she in turns serves as the only light left for him. Juliet seemingly translates to Montague’s only happiness, as he recognizes she made Romeo cheerful and lively. In result, Montague vows to take after
Madly-in-love star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet cannot withstand a life without one another. In William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo Montague is aware that the Capulets--such as Juliet--don’t get along very well. However, Romeo finds that Juliet is the most beautiful human being on the Earth and he does so by expressing his love explicitly for her. Juliet is the light constantly pulling Romeo out of his darkness. Due to Romeo and Juliet’s undying love, William Shakespeare uses light and dark imagery as a form of parallelism to convey their emotions towards each other.