In scene two of Romeo and Juliet, through the use of motif, Shakespeare symbolizes, light describes love and darkness represents hate: “Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face.” (p. 75 line 90). The word “night” in the line symbolizes darkness through night, creates a force consuming everything. But the word “mask” suggest light can therefore become hide through darkness, as a mask can endure to hide one’s self and one’s true intent. The words “mask of night” suggest deception through the veil of hate which consumes these two households. It additionally symbolizes the need for secrecy, as mask and night conceal one’s intent from others. Night represents hate therefore creating a mask of hate. The next word “face” shows the love revealed
During Shakespeare’s time, feasts and balls were very popular amongst the members of upper class. The masks worn to these festivities were often extremely detailed, fabulous, and expensive. The main component to make those masks catch people’s attentions is the colour. The background colour of the mask is purple, the symbol of power and wealth. In the play, Juliet is the daughter of a big family – the House of Capulet. The Capulet family is one of the Patriarch families of Italy, the other one is the House of Montagues. Recall that purple represents power and wealth, in Act I Scene V it shows how powerful and wealthy Juliet (and her family) is, because masquerades would only be held if nobility (the House of Capulet) could demonstrate their own wealth, status, and power. However, the mask is not painted all purple, because those wealth, titles are not all belongs to Juliet, it’s partly just because she’s born in this family, and she doesn’t contribute as much. Therefore, there is a space that is painted purplish-white.
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
Sense of Tragedy and Foreboding in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet In the play, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare creates an impending sense of tragedy and foreboding. He uses a variety of devices to provoke this, such as themes, language and tone. To begin the sense of tragedy and foreboding he introduces characters caught in a sensitive conflict. The audience of the performance are very aw are that the genre of the play is a tragedy; therefore they have expectations for something traumatic to happen, such as death, doom and a disaster. Shakespeare succeeds in meeting these expectations by including several parallels in his performance.
When working toward any goal, it is human nature to draw on the ideas of others; to consider the successes and failures of others to improve the chances of you succeeding. This is true in many different fields, but most frequently seen in literature. When writing new novels or plays, authors rely on the ideas and storylines of other pieces to give their piece more meaning or direction. This is no different from when William Shakespeare was writing his plays around the 1600’s. One of the more discernable examples of this is Shakespeare using the story of Pyramus and Thisbe when composing both Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer’s Night Dream, which are a tragedy and a comedy, respectively. In the time of publication, theater was a common form of
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
Scene ii:4-5) Juliet is very eager for night to come as she uses the word
The Moon and Sun begin a discussion about humans and the end they will bring amongst themselves, while they orbit preparing for a Full Moon. The Moon tries to lighten up the mood by telling the Sun about a fellow named Romeo who had mentioned them both in a conversation. The Sun soon forgets about his initial topic and intrigues himself in the love story of Romeo and
Light imagery is used consistently in the play to show the feelings of joy and love. During the balcony scene, Romeo is illuminating Juliet by light imagery, which was seen when he said “the brightness of her cheeks would shame those stars.” Here, light imagery was used to show Romeo’s strong feelings of love towards Juliet. Romeo does this by comparing and contrasting Juliet’s beauty to the stars, even claiming that they are brighter. This shows Romeo’s feelings of love towards Juliet because he is putting her on a higher pedestal than stars, which shine and illuminate the night sky by their beauty. In turn, Juliet also compares her love to Romeo with light in order to show how strong her emotions and feelings are towards Romeo. This is visible when Juliet says “come Romeo come thou day in night/ for thou wilt lie upon the wings of night/ white than new snow on a raven’s back.” (3.2.17-19). This metaphor is using light imagery to describe how powerful Juliet’s ...
Romeo and Juliet is a play filled with many hidden meanings that are shown through the characters action and words or have to inferred from these things. The play also has many themes such as love, anger or regret, but also more subtle ones, like the one talked about in this essay, understanding and more specifically how one should not speak about things that they don't understand. This theme is one of the less emphasized ideas in the play, but it is equally as important as many of the other larger ideas in the, like the ones mentioned above. This idea of understanding is significant not just to the play as a whole, but also to myself and everyone else.
Have you ever worn a mask before? Maybe the mask wasn't a costume mask, but it was a mask to make you seem happy, or seem cool, or anything that made you feel like something than you are not normally. Chances are you have. Trying to fit in with the crowd, a mask is used to obtain the things we cannot reach on our own. Masks are especially common today because of the pressures to belong to the 'in'; group, or the pressures to succeed. Books, using masks, commonly show the many connotations of masks. They are used to find out what people are for real, on the inside of the mask. The imagery of masks is used throughout the book of Twelfth Night. Shakespeare uses the imagery of masks to reveal characters true emotions and to express the power of raw beauty. Shakespeare uses this imagery through all of his characters in the play, but especially the two characters of Viola and Feste.
of Tybalt's death. He felt that he fell into one of fate's many cruel games
In Act 2 Scene 2, Juliet appears to be an angel shining like the sun in Romeo’s perspective. Their met near Juliet’s balcony leaves Romeo entranced by her beauty. Juliet is depicted as a rising sun that represents the light throughout Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. She wears a v-shaped golden ruff, a whIn Act 2 Scene 2, Juliet appears to be an angel shining like the sun in Romeo’s perspective. Their met near Juliet’s balcony leaves Romeo entranced by her beauty. Juliet is depicted as a rising sun that represents the light throughout Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. She wears a v-shaped golden ruff, a white corset embroidered in golden satin, and a beautiful farthingale of dark rich indigo with pink flowers blooming diagonally. Indigo and
“Dawn” can be used as a metaphor when reality becomes self-evident. When people reach a moment of clarity or awareness it can have a major impact on them and the decisions they make. Romeo and Juliet is a play written by William Shakespeare. Lines 1-64 are moments of clarity when a character realizes reality becomes self-evident “dawn”. When people reach a dawn or epiphany moment they become aware, but also discover a greater threat than the moment of clarity. “O God, I have an ill-divining soul! Methinks I see thee, now thou art below, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb. . .” (Romeo and Juliet. 1.5.54-56). Juliet comes to realize that she might not ever see Romeo again, but she comes to realize that if she were to ever see Romeo again he
Some instances where people have a moment of clarity and awareness when something becomes self evident is referred to with the metaphor of “dawn.” This “dawn” has the impact of changing a person’s whole mindset and how they feel about that thing from earlier. This affects them and the people around them in sometimes drastic ways. The play, Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare about two lovers from rival families. Romeo and Juliet love each other and face many trials trying to be together which eventually results in their suicides. In the play Juliet realizes Romeo must leave her, possibly for the last time and cries out, “‘It is, it is: hie hence, be gone, away! It is the lark that sings so out of tune,’” (3.5.26). Romeo had
The glowing sun above them empowers their love. Romeo and Juliet are centralised on this poster, emphasising the strength and importance of their love. However, Romeo and Juliet are ‘split’ in between the two halves of the heart, symbolising a potential barrier between them. Romeo and Juliet’s kiss is indeed the first image recognised by an audience. Afterwards, viewers see the conflict beneath Romeo and Juliet. The poster darkens as it goes down, guiding the audience from top to bottom. The bright lighting emphasises the peacefulness between Romeo and Juliet, whereas the darker lighting on the bottom symbolise danger and hints at death. The juxtaposition between bright and dark themes and the vector guiding viewers between them contributes to the drama genre by suggesting discord. Romeo and Juliet’s love is symbolised by a heart – the heart bleeds at its end, and the dark red blood drops symbolise malice, anger, and a life-threatening scenario. In this way, their love is portrayed as the provocation for the familial conflict. Tybalt and Benvolio are positioned beneath these drops of blood, emphasising that the conflict is indeed between families. Their body