The Language of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
"Gibson says that Shakespeare, "brilliantly transformed whatever he
worked on", through his use of language.
Shakespeare was fascinated by language. Throughout the play 'Romeo and
Juliet', he uses words a tools to do his work and conjure images of
every different emotion. Shakespeare unleashes the whole spectrum of
emotions, always having at least two scenarios for each scene. These
usually come from the characters and 'Romeo and Juliet' is rich in
many different uses of language.
The play 'Romeo and Juliet' is full of oppositions that beset the
doomed lovers. In the prologue, we hear of an, "ancient grudge break
to new mutiny." A clever use of language, oxymorons, highlight these
oppositions.
An oxymoron is usually a phrase, divided into two parts. Each part is
contradictory to the other and the result is a phrase of striking
expression. An example of this would be, "O loving hate." The words
love and hate are opposite emotions, so when placed together they
emphasise and heighten the feelings of Romeo, who is describing his
love for Rosalind and Rosalind's failure to return his affections.
Oxymorons are very useful for describing these contradictory states of
feeling that people often experience in times of excitement, crisis,
and stress.
In Act 3 Scene 2 Juliet finds out about Tybalts death and that her
lover, Romeo, is the murderer. She uses several oxymorons to help
describe her torn emotions for Romeo,
"Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! Dove-feathered raven,
wolvish-ravening lamb! Despised substance of divinest show!"
Juliet is battling with her f...
... middle of paper ...
... goose chase," and," where the devil?," are
found in the play, all of which are still widely in use today. This
shows just how much impact Shakespeare has had on the English
language, to still be able to find phrases that are 400 years old in
existence today.
Not only this, but the wide, complex spectrum of emotions created by
the words Shakespeare uses adds depth and underlying meaning to his
characters and their situations. Love, hate, every single emotion, are
illustrated through the many types of language found in the play
'Romeo and Juliet', such as metaphors, similes and puns. He even
invents his own words; giving existing words new meanings and
unexpected twists.
I think Gibson is right when he says that Shakespeare, "brilliantly
transformed whatever he worked on." 'Romeo and Juliet' is no
exception.
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as a Play Of Opposites In the play Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare utilizes opposites in both the thoughts and actions of the characters in Romeo and Juliet. Outlined are contrasts of crime and violence versus peace and law, love versus hate, and young versus old. The uses of crime & violence versus peace and law are demonstrated in Act 3, Scene 1.
For my first scene I have chosen act 1 scene 5 in which Romeo meets
Importance of Language in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet "What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all
Understanding the Romeo and Juliet’s contrasting natures, love and hate, life and death, at last but not least, missions and reality provides greater insight into how Shakespeare dominate the history of world’s literature culture and serve as a international icon for the past 500 years. If one of the two is missing, then the other one would not exist. Vivian, “There isn’t growing without battles; there isn’t light without darkness; there isn’t freedom without chains; there isn’t happiness without sorrow. That’s life, a bittersweet melody.” March 27, 2011, Comment.
In the Elizabethan time, Shakespeare uses language that was considered educated and proper in the things he wrote. One of his famous pieces, Romeo and Juliet, stands as one of those examples. In one of the best strategies Shakespeare wrote, Romeo and Juliet's story line and language conveys different scenes and diverse character personalities that capture the relation of the characters and the story itself. Romeo and Juliet's story is about a romance which lead into a tragedy. For this essay, I chose to write about Juliet's "traditional" and "rebellious". Juliet is traditional since she decided to wait to have sexual intercourse with Romeo until they are married, she also had a traditional marriage, and got married when she
At the start of the play, in Act 1 Scene 1, there is a theme of
Juliet is very pragmatic; rather than swooning over Romeo when he intrudes on her property, Juliet is appalled considering “The orchard walls are high and hard to climb” (II, ii, 63). Juliet is not a blind fool; she is conscientious of the dangers that accompany falling for her family’s mortal enemy.
Friar Lawrence is a humble and holy who is respected by the other characters. Figurative language and dramatic conventions give a well-grounded understanding of his motives, traits and values. His main motive is peace between the families he “All I had wanted to achieve was peace.” As a friar he respects the Montague’s and Capulet’s. The quote represents his motive that he wanted the feuding to stop. When he married Romeo and Juliet he wished for more then their happiness. He hoped that the marriage would bring families together. When witnessing the deaths he says in sorrow, “I’m a friar holy and peaceful.” “Oh lord the poor deaths that lie in front of me. Are due to my greed to resolve the feud.” The term friar represents his traits, being
She also uses sayings such as "cut out in little stars" and "unmann" blood, which makes us think of conflict and blood. When you bring together all these negative words and phrases, you think that Something bad is going on but Juliet is actually talking about her love for Romeo, making her whole speech completely contrasting. Characters are another thing Shakespeare likes to contrast. For example, Mercutio and Benvolio. You would not expect these two.
It is fascinating how the most famous plays in history have the most tragic endings. They are not what we would imagine a normal fairy tale ending to be like. In the play, Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet are portrayed as star-crossed lovers. In the opening scene, the chorus states that Romeo and Juliet are two young lovers from opposing families who were destined to fall in love and eventually die together. Juliet’s parents have the perfect life planned for Juliet. She has the perfect fiancé, she was going to have a great family, and live happily until the day she died. But then it was love at first sight for Romeo and Juliet. They both know it was the wrong thing to do, but they went with it. Despite their best intentions to be together and to change their fate, the play proves that there destiny’s are predetermined.
Throughout Romeo and Juliet we can see that hate and love are very significant themes in the play and often occur alongside each other. Although love is vital, it wouldn’t be so major if it weren’t for the elements of hate, which intensify the love by contrasting against it.
Romeo uses oxymorons such as "Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!" (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 101) This shows how he is confused by his relationship with Rosaline as she does not return his love. Romeo continues to speak about the pain of love as he says he has been "Shut up in prison, kept without my food, / Whipped and tormented." (Act 1, Scene 2, Line 31, 32).
'Romeo and Juliet' is a play written by William Shakespeare that teaches current and future generations important lessons about love and vengeance. Hatred and revenge is a key theme throughout the play as everyone is blinded by pessimistic opinions and ideas about their enemies. Although their pride and passion for violence is extremely overpowering and demeaning, there is a small seed of hope and love (Romeo and Juliet) beginning to grow in the immense darkness. By analysing these themes, it helps to enlighten and strengthen your knowledge of the consequences of forbidden love and assists the reader in becoming more optimistic.
William Shakespeare has written numerous poems and plays, but one of his most popular works is Romeo & Juliet. With several different themes and motifs, love and hate is a prominent aspect of the play. In Romeo & Juliet, the twin forces of love and hate both destroy and create, as evident in the family feud, friendship and the love story. Shakespeare often presents these ideas very clearly and obviously, and sometimes he makes them hard to find and identify.
William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet The two chief families in Verona were the rich Capulets and the Montagues. There had been an old quarrel between these families, which was grown to such a height, and so deadly was the enmity between them, that it extended to the remotest kindred, to the followers and retainers of both sides, insomuch that a servant of the house of Montague could not meet a servant of the house of Capulet, nor a Capulet encounter with a Montague by chance, but fierce words and sometimes bloodshed ensued; and frequent were the brawls from such accidental meetings, which disturbed the happy quiet of Verona's streets. Old lord Capulet made a great supper, to which many fair ladies and many noble guests were invited. All the admired beauties of Verona were present, and all comers were made welcome if they were not of the house of Montague. At this feast of Capulets, Rosaline, beloved of Romeo, son to the old lord Montague, was present; and though it was dangerous for a Montague to be seen in this assembly, yet Benvolio, a friend of Romeo, persuaded the young lord to go to this assembly in the disguise of a mask, that he might see his Rosaline, and seeing her compare her with some choice beauties of Verona, who (he said) would make him think his swan a crow.