Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare is a tragedy involving two “star crossed lovers” whose love for each other leads to death. It was love at first sight, but Romeo being a Montague and Juliet a capulet the two even interacting was unspeakable due to a family feud between the two. However, true love couldn’t keep Romeo and Juliet apart. They attempted to make the unthinkable happen, a montague and capulet getting married, but when Romeo doesn’t receive the message notifying him about the plan he see’s a dead Juliet and kills himself. Juliet, only being knocked out due to a potion kills herself when she awakes to a dead Romeo. William Shakespeare uses imagery throughout the play to depict this kind of emotion and to symbolize different …show more content…
times during the play. He uses light and dark to show the two separate parts of their relationship. In the dark Romeo and Juliet can be together because nobody can see them, but in the light they can’t be seen together for fear of what their parent’s will due if they find out. Light also depicts love in the play while darkness portrays hatred. “The Imagery of Romeo and Juliet” by Caroline F E. Spurgeon further reinforces this idea of the contrasting light and dark and the meaning of both. Love is the light that radiates through all the surrounding darkness in the lives of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet’s lives are full of darkness because of the hatred between their two families. Their love is the only thing shining through, battling all the darkness that surrounds them. Spurgeon 73 states “In Romeo and Juliet the beauty and ardour of young love is seen by shakespeare as the irradiating glory of sunlight and starlight in a dark world.” Romeo and Juliet’s love is the light that radiates through the dark world around them.
Shakespeare uses the sunlight and starlight to symbolize their love. The dark world is symbolizing all the hatred and anger that surrounds them due to their enormous families feud. Also, Spurgeon 75 states “Which ten times faster glide than the sun’s beams, driving back shadows over louring hills.” this is showing that the light from Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is so strong that it can fight through all the darkness to shine through. Romeo and Juliet are fighting through all the hatred by continuing to love each other even though they’re from 2 opposing sides. Furthermore, Shakespeare in 2.2 has Romeo say “O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art as glorious to this night, being o’er my head, as is a winged messenger of heaven…” Romeo is talking as an aside about how Juliet is an angel who brightens up the sky and how she is shining down on him. Their love is shining through the darkness of night despite all the hatred that is surrounding them their love for each other is so strong that even in the darkness of night their light is there. Even when the feud was at its most intense points for example when Romeo killed Tybalt, Romeo and Juliet’s love was still there, their light never burned out. All around Romeo and
Juliet their is fighting, anger, and detestation, but Romeo and Juliet prove that through all that darkness their light is strong enough to come beaming through.
When Romeo is leaving Juliet's chamber and climbs down to the ground to leave Juliet sees him as pale: "O God, I have an ill-divining soul. Methinks I see thee now, thou art so low. As one dead in the bottom of a tomb"(Rom. 3.5.54-56). Juliet describes Romeo as looking dead when he is descending from the tower. In the scene Juliet is sensing something wrong but doesn't think much of it and brushes it off. She then after goes back to saying goodbye to Romeo. This shows that their love has caused Juliet to not think of the uneasy feeling she had felt. The purpose of this scene connects to the message of Shakespeare because it shows that in the end they both have killed themselves due to the fact that they love each other so much. The two lovers feel they can not live without each other and cause them to make the irrational choice of taking their lives. Another scene foreshadowing the two lovers death due to their love for each other is shown in a quote of dramatic irony. Romeo is begging Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet : “Do thou but close our hands with holy words, Then love-devouring death do what he dare” (Rom.2.6.6-7). Romeo is saying in this quote that as long as they are married then love-destroying death can do whatever it wants to them both. He is prioritizing his love for Juliet and her being his wife over what could happen to them in the future. Being so in
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
An example of this is “Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaways’ eyes may wink and Romeo leap to these arms, untalk’d of an unseen”. Juliet is longing for Romeo to come and consummate their marriage at night, which is when they can be together, as their relationship is too unnatural for them to meet at day, due to the hatred of their families. It is further proven that the dark imagery represents passion. Juliet is passionate about Romeo, as she has made up her mind to give her maidenhood to him, which is something she can never undo. An additional quote is “Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die… Let me be ta’en, let me be put to death; I am content, so thou wilt have it so“. Romeo has just consummated his marriage with Juliet. He says that the stars are gone, and that daylight is coming. Romeo must leave, as Verona is waking up, and he will be killed if he is seen with Juliet. Even with this risk, he considers staying with Juliet, as he enjoys being with her. Dark imagery is used to show how passionate Romeo is about Juliet. He made their marriage legal, and is even considering risking death to stay with her longer. He has permanently committed to her, and cannot go back. As the evidence presented shows, the dark imagery in Romeo and Juliet reflects the theme of passion.
Who would be willing to die for their loved ones? Romeo and Juliet would and did. Romeo and Juliet’s love and death brought two families together who could not even remember the origin of their hate. When the parents saw what their children's love for each other, they realized that their fighting had only led to suffering and insoluble conflict. Romeo and Juliet loved each other to an extent that they killed themselves rather than live apart. They did it with no hiatus. Juliet says before she kills herself, “O happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die.”( 5, 3, 182-183) demonstrating how she would rather die than not be with him.
The tragic play Romeo and Juliet, by playwright William Shakespeare, is about star-crossed lovers from feuding families that end up dying for the love of each other. The theme of fate as a controlling force is strong in the play in a way that one little coincidence can change two children’s lives that are really not meant to be. The play’s main theme brings the two closer and closer together until the unfortunate death at the very end which is foreshadowed by the chorus. Fate changes their lives by the servant unable to read a list of names and Romeo sees Rosaline, the girl whom he fell in love with first, on the list which makes him go and
The play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is about a forbidden love between two hateful households which tragically ends in death. It begins with Romeo’s broken heart from a dainty lady and a lively masquerade where two lone souls come together. However, their love for one another was doomed at birth for both households had a constant hatred for one another. Infatuation, rage, and sadness contribute to an unhealthy relationship between Romeo and Juliet.
“To be consorted with the humorous night. Blind is his love and best befits the dark. If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark” (2.1. 31- 33). Among one of the most renowned contributions to literature is The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet written by the prestigious English poet, William Shakespeare. This tragedy of the sixteenth century concludes with the fate of the two star- crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, along with those attempting to see them apart. As the prologue states, The Capulets and Montagues are from separate rivaling households, both alike in dignity, whose children have fallen in love. It is believed that if the two were to marry then feuding in the streets of Verona would come to an end, but only further complications have risen. These complications result in six deaths total. Those responsible for these deaths are Romeo and Juliet themselves, Lord Capulet, and the one who holds this burden as his obligation, Friar Laurence.
Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, depicts an ancient feud ended by a pair of star-crossed lovers’ deaths. A lord and lady from warring families seek a forbidden love with guidance from a friar and nurse. Due to a tragic course of mischances and fateful errors, their attempt of eloping led the lovers to a tragic end. Because of rash decisions, the four characters are torn apart by miscalculating events and misunderstandings. Ultimately, the four characters encounter a heartbreaking ending, as a result of their hastiness.
At a young age individuals tend to react impulsively when they lose someone they love, choosing instead to take their own lives to relieve the suffering. Romeo and Juliet is a play about two teens that quickly fall in love. When threatened to be separated forever, the thought of losing each other becomes overwhelming and suicidal thoughts produced there in their minds, ending tragically in both Romeo and Juliet losing their lives. In Romeo and Juliet, playwright William Shakespeare has shown the theme of impulse of young love successfully by using dramatic irony, creative foreshadowing, and situational irony.
The purpose of the light/dark motif in Romeo and Juliet is to show how Romeo and Juliet are unable to tell light from dark, or good from bad. I think everyone has the potential to discern what choices lead to “light” and what choices keep them in the “dark”. So Romeo and Juliet had that potential but I don’t think they wanted to know about that, since nothing else mattered to them but them. In this play, Romeo and Juliet do never make a clear choice of light over dark because they almost do not want to deal that decision in the midst of their romantic bliss. They could have brought their situation, which was becoming more of a mess each day, into the light by speaking openly about it. However that would’ve ended, I think the feud would have to be reconciled in some way and I’m sure Romeo and Juliet would not have lost their lives doing this. By ignoring their responsibilities and ignoring the darkness that was impeding upon them, Romeo and Juliet in essence allow tragedy to befall them both.
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.
As Mehmet Murat İldan once quoted, “A man who refused light will remain in darkness even by the side of light.” Throughout Romeo and Juliet, light and dark imagery is used to intensify the tragedy in this story. Romeo exists in a dark, depressed state while thinking about his first love, Rosaline. Romeo doesn’t ever think he will be happy or see light again, yet Shakespeare provides light imagery that implies Romeo could have a positive future. Light imagery conveys that Juliet, a beautiful, young girl full of hope, dreams of bringing Romeo out of the artificial darkness he creates for himself. Shakespeare uses light and dark imagery in many ways, including setting the mood, capturing the characters’ personalities, and developing the characters
As Romeo professes how the brighter the day shines forth, the darker fall the shadows of their woes; this imagery of darkness in this act shows that the time of night seems to shelter and protects the lovers, while the glare of day threatens to reveal them. Hidden in darkness, Romeo and Juliet's love is free from the family feuds that could separate them. But danger lurks in the light, as the secrecy of Romeo and Juliet's marriage could prove to be highly critical to
Romeo and Juliet is a romantic love story about a young lad named Romeo who has fallen in love with Lady Juliet, but is unable to marry her because of a long-lasting family feud. The play ends in the death of both these characters and the reunion of the friendship between the families. Romeo is in love with Juliet, and this is a true, passionate love (unlike the love Paris has for her or the love Romeo had for Rosaline) that nothing can overcome, not even the hatred between their two families that is the reason for the death of their two children. Throughout the play, Shakespeare thoroughly explores the themes of both true love and false love and hatred. Without either of these themes, the play would loose its romantic touch and probably would not be as famous as it is today.
of Tybalt's death. He felt that he fell into one of fate's many cruel games