Light and darkness alternate on a twenty-four hour period, where light represents life and darkness is a time of rest. However, in Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, the alternating roles of light and dark impact more that just the characters’ patterns of sleep. Romeo and Juliet, the main characters, are star-crossed lovers from opposing households who hide their love from their disapproving families. From the moment they meet, every situation they encounter is influenced by light and dark forces which take on different roles to trace their motives and actions. Thus resulting in emotional development over the course of the play. The relationship between light and dark and the various scenarios of the play is a key component …show more content…
After Romeo is warned of his banishment he meets with Juliet and tells her that because “night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops,” he “must be gone and live, or stay and die”. She replies that the “light is not daylight” but rather “some meteor that the sun exhales”. They beauty of the morning, as illustrated by light imagery, is negated by Romeo’s need to leave or face death and by Juliet’s comparison of morning light to a catastrophic meteor. Dark imagery allows the reader to imagine the swift act of candles ceasing to burn, and how visualisation enhances the negative connotation of the phrase “burnt out”, which is attributed to their anguish over the end of night. By stressing the adverse nature of light, imagery contributes to the couple’s strong desperation for each other, and dark’s continued protection. Once Juliet caves in and accepts that Romeo must leave, they bid their final goodbyes with Romeo agreeing that “more light and light- more dark and dark our [their] woes”. The pair’s pain increases the brighter it gets because the rising light is casting a shadow over, or darkening, their emotions. Dark and light imagery are used in conjunction to reveal how the role of light has become dark and Romeo and Juliet’s dislike towards this change. To Romeo and Juliet’s pleasure, darkness maintains its role in easing their love, while only for the duration of this scene, light becomes an obstacle impeding their
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
There are many metaphors in the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare relates Romeo to the theme of light and darkness. He first states, “Under love’s heavy burden do I sink. A torch for me. Let wantons lights of heart tickle the senses rushes with their heels.” When Shakespeare writes this he shows how depressed Romeo is. Romeo is sorrowful, because he loves Rosaline, but she does not love him. He is telling his friends to go have fun, and he will hold the torch to light their happiness. He believes he cannot be happy without her, so he is willing to illuminate other’s happiness. Shakespeare also shows the aspect of light connected to Romeo by saying, “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright.” Shakespeare portrays
In the beginning of the play, the motif of light vs. dark is displayed through imagery. “But all so soon as the all-cheering sun should in the farthest east begin to draw… away from light steals home my heavy son... and makes himself an artificial night.” (Montague, 1.2.127-128 130&133). This quote shows that the happy sun does not affect Romeo and the sad night is how he feels because of the darkness of the night. The quote also reveals that his depressed state is represented by darkness. This reveals a central idea that love will overpower all feelings, because he is sad that his love did not work out and caused him to be depressed.
In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare reveals the plays turning point of light and dark, day and night, comparing it to good and bad throughout the plot. IN the beginning Romeo compares Juliet to the sun, and kills the darkness with light. He says “Arise, fair sun and kill the envious of the moon.”(2.2.1) Romeo is comparing Juliet to the sin because he wants to see her so the day time is better then the night. As the play continuous Friar Lawrence talks about the night turning into day, saying “The grey-ey’d morn smiles in the frowning night, chequering the eastern clouds with streaks of light...” (2.3.1) This is referring to that the sun kills the darkness of night and makes the earth happier, after this is
A lantern, slaughtered youth, for here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light.” Light and dark imagery is used to describe Juliet as she acts as a source of light in the darkness of the tomb. The idea of light and dark imagery suggests a spiritual light that may surround the couple beyond death and deepens the dramatic impact. The audience is further positioned to see through the use of a metaphor, how Juliet’s beauty lights up the tomb. Clearly, Shakespeare wants Romeo to feel struck by the way Juliet’s beauty appears to defy death, as she still looks alive.
Representing the fact that Juliet is struggling with her interpation of Romeo character after he killed Tybalt. She thinks he may have the same traits as the devil such as cruelness and wickedness. But her love for him makes her find it hard to belive that that can be possible. She thinks of an angle in their love. Pure and happy is what she sees him as and subconciously wishes he was.
Love is another key theme within the narrative of the Shakespearean tragedy, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, and Baz Luhrmann's modern appropriation. The most famous scene that represents the depth of the characters love is the Balcony scene, and the 1996 appropriation proves greatly effective for a modern audience. A metaphorical comparison within the original play is used to represent Juliet as the ‘Light’ of Romeo’s life. “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun”. Luhrmann’s modern take on this sees the use of lighting when Juliet descends from an elevator, supplementing Romeo’s comparison to the sun as she is the light of the scene. A wide shot is used when both characters are seen,
Whenever the light is mentioned in the story there is always darkness to go hand in hand with it. The light equals to positive relief whereas the darkness exemplifies the dread and misery that always threatens to extinguish those encouraging things. These references to the light and darkness give the reader a sense of the mood and tone of the story. These symbols make the story an important part of
Juliet’s state of mind at this point in the play definitely revolves around this idea of light vs. dark – her fears and hopes. After hearing about the loss of her cousin, Tybalt, she faces the obstacle in which she is forced to choose which path to take. Friar Lawrence gives Juliet the opportunity to run away with Romeo, but in order to do so; she must leave behind her remaining loved
In act 1 scene 5 as Romeo breaks out into a rhyming sonnet that are often well known in Shakespeare’s plays as a way to empathize any important situations of love or any arguments. During this sonnet, there is use of light lexis. First of all, Romeo describes Juliet as a source of light, as he states in an oxymoron, “o she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” By using
Another utilization of light symbolism utilized by Romeo is, "The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, as sunlight doth a lamp." (2.2.19-20) This line implies
Unintentionally, Romeo brings an absurd amount of suffering upon himself caused by his own actions which were driven by his insane amount of love for Juliet. Romeo’s love is clearly exhibited through many textual references, but one of the most renowned quotes of Romeo professing his love is, “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!”(II.ii.2-3) The irony hides in the fact that everything he did was to satisfy the love that he had for Juliet, but instead he succeeded in driving the ultimate barrier between them.
“More light and light, more dark and dark our woes.” (page 58). Here, Romeo is explaining how he has brought his lover light from the darkness she had settled in, and that essentially, though as the sun rises, the darkness will come back due to the fact he has to leave, he has brought her a glimpse of the light that could be, even temporarily. “O she doth teach the torches to burn bright” (34). Romeo is talking of how Juliet is the one who can teach the worst situations to look positively, and that her touch can make all hardships
Romeo and Juliet was Shakespeare’s most famous play which is about love of two teenagers of two rival families. Since Romeo’s family and Juliet’s family are rivals, their families don’t agree with the marriage of their children to each other. However, Romeo and Juliet despite the opposition of their families secretly get married at church and insist on reaching their goal of being together. The whole story is played in the theatre style of the Renaissance; audiences could see violence, young boys are playing female rolls without wearing masks, many scenes and time change. However, if it was played in Greek theatre style, the audience could see a different style of performance and there would be a different effect. In Greek Theatre we would
The life-death theme of the story can also be shown as a light-dark or love-death relationship. Romeo talks about Juliet as a bright angel shining in the darkness of night, "bright angel, for thou art As glorious to this night, being o'er my head, As is a winged messenger of heaven Unto the white upturned, wond'ring eyes"