Shakespeare Analysis

To start off, Shakespeare's elaborate use of figurative language is a huge reason why his writing is still taught centuries after his death. He used an extensive amount of this language to deliver a sense of emotion and depth in what his characters are saying. In some cases, Shakespeare will use figurative language to foreshadow future events in the play. For example, Friar Lawrence is talking to Romeo about the secret marriage he was being asked to do when he states, "These violent delights have violent ends. And in their triumph die, like fire and powder." In this case, Friar is basically reminding the audience that the forbidden lovers will die no matter how much they attempt to fix it. Shakespeare also uses figurative language to indicate a somewhat clear time period when actions take place. When Benvolio is talking to the Montagues about the last time he saw Romeo, he says, " An hour before the worshipped sun/ peered forth the golden window of the east." Shakespeare could have easily used simplistic language to explain the time of day the actions were taking place, but instead he personified the sun in a very pure and beautiful way.

Next, Shakespeare uses a variety of poetic writing styles within his work. In the majority of the play, most of the characters speak in blank verse, or simply iambic pentameter without any rhyme. An exception would be the minor characters such as the servants and commoners, who do not speak in Iambic pentameter but instead in pros. Shakespeare likely made them speak this way to show the nobility and intelligence of other primary characters. In one particular scene, Lady Capulet is talking to Juliet about how she should get married to Paris soon, and says, " This preci...

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...and problems with their plans to escape death, and if one piece of Shakespeare’s work was taken out the entire chain of events would be completely different. Shakespeare made every character an antagonist in this play, because every primary character had done something that caused the death of Romeo and Juliet. One could also say that everyone might be a protagonist as well, considering the deaths of these two lovers did “bury their parent’s strife”, ending the hated feud between the Capulets and the Montagues. Shakespeare’s work makes even the smartest literary professors in the world evaluate his complicated work, and there are some questions that are still left unanswered. The only clues we have to figure these literary mysteries out are hidden in Shakespeare’s writing, and even then some of are questions only depend on the writer himself, William Shakespeare.