HOW SHAKESPEARE PRESENTS ROMEO’S FEELINGS IN ACT 1 SCENE 1 AND ACT 2 SCENE 2
Love is an important theme in most of Shakespeare’s play, including in Romeo and Juliet because love is a stronger force than all the animosity and forces of fate in Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s play, Shakespeare explores Romeo’s change in attitude to love between Rosaline and Juliet. In Act 1 Scene 1 Shakespeare introduces us to Romeo’s passionate desire towards Rosaline through the use of oxymoron, monologues and vivid imagery. In contrast, in Act 2 Scene 2, when Romeo is addressing Juliet, his language shifts through the use of light, religious and mythical imagery to reflect his newly found romantic love to Juliet.
In Act 1 scene
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This notion is furthered through the use of binary opposition throughout Romeo’s oxymoron ‘O brawling love, O loving hate’. This monologue of strong contrasting images of love and hate in one sentence suggests that Romeo finds the intensity of his emotion towards Rosaline destabilising and his emotion is not calm and peaceful. Indeed, the deployment of oxymoron throughout Romeo’s speech such as ‘heavy lightness’ or ‘cold fire, sick health’ suggests that the character so overwhelmed by his feelings that he loses the sight of his common sense and spins and turns into mad love towards Rosaline.
In Act 2, Scene, 2 Romeo’s attitude to love shifts from an infatuated love towards Rosaline to more true and youthful love he feels for Juliet. When Romeo sets his eyes on Juliet for the first time, he uses light imagery to express his feelings ‘Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon’. For Romeo, Juliet is the sun who has brought brightness into his life like the sun that brought brightness to people’s lives. This beautifully romantic imagery highlights the purity of Romeo’s feelings and underscores to the reader the powerful force of love that Romeo is now entangled in.
Moreover, Shakespeare uses religious imagery to strengthen Romeo’s feelings. He refers Juliet as a ‘bright angel’, who is ‘a winged messenger of heaven’ .This religious imagery highlights the perfection of Romeo’s love to Juliet
In the ‘timeless classic’ Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the author brilliantly utilizes several literary devices to convey the motif that true love cannot be stopped. He does this by using many opposing ideas such as love vs. pain, day vs. night and
During the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare manages to effectively depict the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. One way he achieves this is by creating sympathy for Romeo and Juliet, which consequently affects the reader and audience of the play. Three ways in which Shakespeare is able to create sympathy for them is through the general setting and plot structure, the language used, and also the characterisation of Romeo and Juliet.
With the idea of light representing love already established, Shakespeare uses it reinforce the impossible odds the lovers are facing. Romeo and Juliet constantly talk of and call on astronomical and light emitting objects to change the dark world they live in. Romeo says when he encounters Juliet on her balcony, “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,” (2.2.5). The courses of all of these celestial objects is set in stone and is celestially difficult to change, and yet Romeo and Juliet nonetheless constantly call on these forces to do the impossible. They do the same with their love, too. The lovers believe that their love and light can indeed destroy the corruption and dark of their society even though they know it is astronomically arduous to accomplish. Romeo and Juliet’s love, they hope, will shine out the dark, letting them live together in a world that accepts them.
In William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare presents characters in difficult situations in Romeo and Juliet through various language techniques and structure. Romeo and Juliet were star-crossed lovers. Both Romeo and Juliet were from feuding families that would not approve of their marriage. In the play they are presented with many difficult circumstances. The play was set in the Elizabethan era; there was a significant change in religion, family and politics. Attitudes and key scenes highlight the theme of love in difficult circumstances and prepare the audience for Romeo and Juliet’s suicides at the end of the play. In this essay I will be exploring the ways Shakespeare presents characters in difficult situations.
In this essay I will be looking at how Shakespeare presents love in Act 2 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet from lines 18 through to 127. After reading the majority of act 2 scene 2 we are now able to understand and interpret Shakespeare’s language and language devices further. Act 2 Scene two is set in the shadow beneath Juliet’s bedroom window, with Romeo hiding in the darkness. Romeo listens on as Juliet speaks of her love for Romeo to what she thought was the darkness however as we as the audience know Romeo is able to hear everything she is saying. Once Romeo has revealed he is below Juliet in the garden the two begin to exchange expressions of devotion for one another, this is what we will be unravelling in this essay to understand and
In Act 2 scene 2 shows us what real love is and how we are so capable on doing everything for that person just like Romeo is willing to marry Juliet, so in that way they could be together and make peace between their families. Some emotions that I felt while we were reading this scene was more challenge to read because you are not just reading what Juliet and Romeo say but at the same time you are trying to figure it out what are they feeling, for me it’s a little difficult because they are talking about love and love at first sight and I haven’t really been in love, I don’t think I’m, I like someone but there is a difference on love and attraction/like. One of the emotions that really represents this scene is love, because you can see how
In this essay I will address how conflict is successfully used in Act 1 Scene 1 to prepare the audience for the rest of the play. It will firstly show how Shakespeare uses physical conflict between the two feuding families. Secondly I will demonstrate the idea that Shakespeare introduces emotional conflict through the character of Romeo, and his outpourings of love for Rosaline. Finally I will show that the character of Romeo demonstrates both physical or external conflict and emotional or internal conflict. The purpose of the prologue is to clearly outline the plot of the whole play in fourteen lines and it also allows the audience to be settled before the actual play
During some of part one, and two, we slowly learn about Romeo and his dilemma. He has fallen in love with beautiful Rosaline and all of his heart is crying out to her. He vows to never see a beauty as fair as her, and complains about the rudeness and pain of love. He allows himself to go to the party with Mercutio and his friends, but remarks he won't have a good time. "I'll go along, no such sight to be shown, But to rejoice in a splendor of mine own." That is until he sees Juliet. Instantly he forgets all of his lamenting for Rosaline love, and proclaims Juliet is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. "O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright. It seems she hangs on the cheek of night, like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear; Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows. The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."
The previous passage was Romeo describing Juliet as beautiful as the sun, and professing his love for Juliet . At this point, Romeo is in the garden speaking to Juliet on the balcony. He refers to Juliet as the light of his world, and uses colorful imagery to describe her looks. This is one another example of the false love that exists. In addition to this quote, the narrator of the play describes Romeo and Juliet as “star-crossed lovers”. Another quote by Juliet describing Romeo in a sexual, lustful way is as follows;
Romeo is using a metaphor to compare Juliet’s voice to lovely music. In Romeo and Juliet states, “How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night,/ Like softest music to attending ears”(2.2. 167-168). As a result from this metaphor the reader can fully grasp an image of Juliet and Romeo’s affection towards her. In the same scene Romeo says that with her beauty she will kill the envious moon. In the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet states, “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,/ Who is already sick and pale with grief”(2.2. 4-5). In other words Romeo has illustrated the beauty of Juliet and the inclination he has for his lover, Juliet.The reader can illustrate Juliet because of the personification and metaphors that Romeo
In the tragedy 'Romeo and Juliet', Shakespeare presents the inner struggles of Romeo and Juliet, the two protagonists as one of the main themes. This is clearly shown at the end of Act 3 Scene 2 when Juliet receives the news that Romeo has been banished and Tybalt has been killed. Juliet is distraught at the conflict of her loyalties. Should she express love for her family or should she express love for Romeo? By using many different language features, such as oxymorons, paradox, antithesis and dramatic irony, Shakespeare effectively displays Juliet's conflicting emotions. Later in the play, Shakespeare uses the betrayal by adults to again show the inner struggles of Romeo and Juliet.
In Act 2 Scene 2, Romeo uses imagery and metaphor to describe “Juliet [as] the sun” who is bright, good, and pure (2.2.3). On the other hand, Juliet says that their love is “too rash, too unadvised, too sudden...like lightning”, this suggests three things: to her, their love is rushed, just like lightning, it happen all too fast (2.2.125-127). Moreover, the comparison between lighting and Juliet, reveals more about her
Through terms of contrast, Shakespeare characterizes Romeo as emotionally complex because two emotions are always inside of him. Romeo describes love as “heavy lightness” (1.1.171) to show what it feels like to love and not be loved back. Romeo juxtaposes his emotions by comparing heavy to lightness to show how he is always full of many emotions. Romeo’s emotion is shown when he says that to love and not be loved back is like “loving hate”(1.1.169). Two emotions always exist within him and he juxtaposes them by comparing his love and passion to his hatred. Romeo thinks mostly about the good and thinks little of the
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
In the early stages of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare conveys love in many different ways. Love is shown as being imperfect, such as bawdy love, unrequited love and fatherly and maternal love, this contrasts greatly to Romeo and Juliet’s pure, perfect and requited love, and makes it seem all the more true before it is shown to be deadly.