Similes And Oxymorons In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Literary devices are incorporated in almost every novel and play for the soul purpose of providing the reader with a greater knowledge of what is going on. Shakespeare skillfully includes these devices in his plays to help characterize his characters and explain their feelings.

In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, both similes and oxymorons are used throughout the story to enhance the subject that is being talked about as well as helping the reader understand the story better.

To begin, Shakespeare includes many similes and personification to help the reader understand the feelings of each character. To elaborate, while Romeo describes his troubled love life to Mercutio, he complains, “Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too

boist’rous, and it pricks like thorn” (1.4.25-26). In this scene, Shakespeare utilizes both a simile and personification to describe Romeo’s hateful attitude on love by describing it as a thorn who pricks people. By using these literary devices the reader gets a better understanding of how depressed and lovesick Romeo is and the reader can imagine how he must feel. Because of the reader knows what a thorn is and how much it can hurt, the reader understands how hurt and vulnerable Romeo must feel. Moreover, right before the intense brawl between the Montagues and the Capulets, Mercutio states, “Come, come, thou art as hot a jack in thy mood as any in Italy, and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved” (3.1.12-14). By reading this quote, the reader can understand that the day is hot and sweltering and they can use their own knowledge to infer that because it is so hot, the people are more irritable. Shakespeare utilizes this simile to provide a reason for why the infamous street fight between all the moody characters occurred. By utilizing all of these literary devices, Shakespeare ultimately intensifies the readers’ understanding of the character’s feelings.
Next, Shakespeare also includes many oxymorons to intensify a character’s feelings.

, In particular, after Juliet hears the astonishing news that her dear Romeo has been banished, she wails, “O serpent heart hid with a flow’ring face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! Dove feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb!” (3.2.79-82). Shakespeare includes these oxymorons that describe Juliet’s new hateful views on Romeo, but the reader can still infer that Juliet still loves Romeo based on how she still views him as beautiful and fair. By using these oxymorons, readers can understand that even after Juliet believes that Romeo tricked her, she still cannot get mad at him, characterizing her as a truly loving and caring person. Furthermore, after meeting her one and only love Romeo at the party, Juliet says, “My only love sprung from my only hate!...That I must love a loathed enemy” (1.5.152,155). Shakespeare uses oxymorons all throughout this conversation to help the reader realize Juliet’s love predicament. By describing Romeo as Juliet’s “loathed enemy” and her “only hate”, it enhances her problem and they can sympathize for her. These oxymorons describe the problem that Juliet faces and how she is torn between pleasing her parents or pleasing herself, helping the reader characterize her as a strong woman. Shakespeare’s oxymorons enhance that thoughts and actions of almost all characters and by adding them, the reader can further interpret the

text.
All in all, because Shakespeare utilized so many literary devices in his text, the reader can see the character develop throughout the story and sense their change in views. The similes in the play add a relatable feel and can greatly help the reader characterize each character. The oxymorons he uses are also strategically placed so that the reader knows exactly how the character feels and what is going on in his or her’s mind. Utilizing these devices ultimately allowed his play to be interpreted more clearly and added depth to the plot.