Essay On Light And Dark In Romeo And Juliet

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is one of the greatest love stories ever told. This is evident in today’s society, with the story being retold again and again in theatre productions, books, and movie spinoffs. The story is of two lovers, whose love was doomed from the start due to their disputing families, the Capulets and Montagues, who would never see a marriage between the two. Romeo and Juliet eventually take their own lives, ceasing their families’ fighting. William Shakespeare, the playwright who wrote Romeo and Juliet and likely the most famous playwright ever, uses light and dark imagery within the story to highlight the lovers’ affection for one another against the backdrop of their lives. The motif of light and dark is used, with

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – popularly considered by many to be the quintessential love story of all time – is a play that we are all familiar with in one way or another. Whether it be through the plethora of portrayals, adaptations and performances that exist or through your own reading of the play, chances are you have been acquainted with this tale of “tragic love” at some point in your life. Through this universal familiarity an odd occurrence can be noted, one of almost canonical reverence for the themes commonly believed to be central to the plot. The most widely believed theme of Romeo and Juliet is that of the ideal love unable to exist under the harsh social and political strains of this world. Out of this idea emerge two

Romeo and Juliet first met each other at a party at the Capulets house. They fall in love with each other at the first sight without knowing that they are from families who hate each other, and when they do learn about it, it is too late. Juliet realizes that it was a mistake to fall in love with Romeo, because he is one of the people she should watch out for. He is her first and only love, but he is an enemy of her family. Lucky for Romeo, Juliet is smart, and such dumb thing as hate between their parents wouldn't stop her from loving Romeo and getting married with him. She is sorry that their families are enemies, though, because everything would be much easier if they weren't. So this is the first time when the hate between Capulets and Montagues becomes problem to Romeo and Juliets happiness. Only after their children die, the Montagues and Capulets come to their senses. The Prince accuses them of killing Romeo and Juliet. The Prince makes them see how wrong they were all the time, that all because of their hate, because they couldn't let their children love each other, Romeo and Juliet died. After that, Capulets and Montagues decide to call it quits. No more fighting, and Montague even says that he will make a gold statue of Juliet, but what is that going to do? It is too late, nothing will bring them back. It is totally Capulets' and Montagues' fault that Romeo and Juliet died. If they didn't hate each other so much,

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet discusses the many challenges the ‘star crossed lovers’ face. It is their own deceptive actions that ultimately lead them to their untimely end. However Romeo and Juliet are forced to be deceptive due to their fate and misfortune, the ongoing feud in Verona, and the misleading guidance they receive from others; which also contribute to their deaths. Romeo and Juliet focuses on the theme of love and hate, this theme is interweaved throughout the play.

Shakespeare understood that with young love came rebellion, (which upon Juliet’s marriage to Paris being advanced ahead of time), made the lovers more determined to defy their scorning families and the chain of being. Had their families ceased their feud and with time, let their children get to personally know each other, their young love might’ve extended into true love. Shakespeare presents the complexities and faults with young love in the play with rebellion and time as catalysts in their downfall, suggesting a negative view of the human nature.

Light is usually associated with the image of happiness while the opposite, dark, is associated with the image of evil and loneliness. I believe that this is true in almost all cases. However, Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet is filled with oppositions and contrasts; one of the most significant and repeated motifs is this contrast between light and dark. These images of light and dark are used to describe a character as well as set the scene.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy that involves young lovers, their “untimely death,” and a feud between their two families. The Capulets and the Montagues war against each other. The feud continues to escalate and provides the background for the story of these “two star-crossed lovers.” This literary masterpiece is still relevant today since it involves parental ambition, family fighting, and young love.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet contributes a portion of its prosperity due to it’s almost exaggerated use of dramatic irony and Light and Dark Imagery, which introduces an almost eccentric way for Romeo and Juliet to express their newfound love. Imagery, perhaps the most common example of any literary devices, is the articulate formation of words to develop a vivid “scene” in the reader’s mind. There are many subcategories of imagery, albeit this particular essay will specifically cover his continuous usage of “Light and Dark Imagery”, which are forms of imagery that reference nouns resembling literal “light” objects in conjunction with being “good” objects, and “dark” objects being “bad” objects. Interestingly enough, just how Light and Dark imagery are polar opposites, the family feud between the Capulet and Montague family compose of most of the conflicts in this play. However, Light and Dark imagery are also used to convey-and even exaggerates- Romeo’s love for Juliet, and Juliet’s love for Romeo.

The ability to maintain the purity of love is a difficult idea when addressed through the love of allies, family, or lovers. No other work of William Shakespeare more accurately conveys this concept than Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy with numerous types of love and examples of impurities. Through the love of family and the love of allies, the reader sees how love is not respected in its own purity; instead, it is mixed with selfish purposes, thereby creating conflict. Although Romeo and Juliet manage to isolate their romantic love from their environment, they are ultimately unable to overcome its corruption.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” (Martin Luther King Jr.) Martin Luther King Jr. expressed his view of light carrying darkness out of darkness through the hard times he was facing when he spoke his mind in this quote. Shakespeare similarly develops the idea of light driving out darkness in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. This concept constructs understanding and the imagery of love within different characters throughout the play. This imagery exemplifies parallelism, portraying the primary example as the light and dark to represent Romeo and Juliet. This symbolization ultimately develops the depressing mood and foreshadows the doomed, tragic events of the two characters.

Act 2 Scene 2 Shakespeare uses lightness and darkness to show Romeo and Juliet’s love developing. The metaphor ‘Juliet is the sun’ is illustrating how much she means to Romeo, as without the sun we wouldn’t be able to live which is proposing Romeo needs Juliet to be able to survive. Shakespeare cleverly uses a metaphor to describe Juliet as the sun instead of a simile ‘Juliet is like the sun’, for example, as if she was like it this could mean many other people could be like the sun. However, saying she is the sun is implying that she is the only one, as there is only one sun, and she is the only one to Romeo who could make him feel this way. This shows us how much Romeo feels about Juliet.

In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, two paramours are intertwined in their love relating two opposites; light and dark. The most significant scenes between Romeo and Juliet are taken place either early in the morning or late at night. As a result, the time of day plays a part in their complicated love. By comparing these two opposites Shakespeare illustrates the relationship between these two young lovers. These two opposites are interpreted by Shakespeare to show the disconnection between Romeo and Juliet.

The word love can mean many things. Love can be an object, emotion, and a life. However, love could lead to a loss of power, prosperity, and status. In the literary work “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare, the readers are introduced to a tragic love story. In this play, readers are also shown the different perspectives of love and the many downfalls it could lead to. The central theme of this work is the recklessness of love. The theme is significant because it is shown throughout the whole story and it’s a strong force that takes place of all the other emotions and values. In this play, Shakespeare uses characters to present different aspects of love. In addition, Nurse, Mercutio, and Romeo completely show what actual love is and what it is like to lose it due to their experiences.

Plays are a unique means of story-telling in that they are not comprised only of language, but also of strong visuals. At the end of the day, a play is written to be performed. Shakespeare understanding this, writes many very visual cues into his text to marry these two aspects of the story. In Romeo and Juliet, the most notable of these cues in the contrast of light and dark to demonstrate joy and sadness or displeasure. Throughout the play, in scenery and in descriptions, this is repeated to re-enforce these themes for the audience.

“The course of true love never did run smooth,” comments Lysander of love’s complications in an exchange with Hermia (Shakespeare I.i.136). Although the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream certainly deals with the difficulty of romance, it is not considered a true love story like Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, as he unfolds the story, intentionally distances the audience from the emotions of the characters so he can caricature the anguish and burdens endured by the lovers. Through his masterful use of figurative language, Shakespeare examines the theme of the capricious and irrational nature of love.