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Theme Of Duality In Romeo And Juliet

Decent Essays

Duality is when one thing or idea contains two conflicting sides. Duality is a theme seen in both Jekyll and Hyde and Romeo and Juliet. In both of these works of literature there are many different ways that the theme of duality is displayed. There are also many instances in which duality is used in modern literature and entertainment, the movie Split for example. In these stories the duality of human nature is displayed by the characters and situations that are included. In the Shakespearean play named Romeo and Juliet duality is displayed mainly by quotes and situations. At the end of the play prince escalus says “A glooming peace this morning with it brings”(V iii 316). This quote shows duality when it describes peace with glooming. This is an adequate example of duality because while describing peace, which has a positive connotation, the word glooming, in which a negative connotation is used. Another quote that displays duality is what Friar Laurence says near the beginning of the play “Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied,/ And vice sometime by action dignified” (II iii 21-22). Obviously vice and virtue are opposite in nature, vice meaning something that is immoral or wicked, and virtue being something that displays high moral standards. Comparing these two very different things gives an idea of the dual nature of man. Duality is also used as a literary device that relates to irony. Irony is when the expectation of something is different than the reality. Although irony and duality are not the same thing, they are closely related as to how they are used, and in what situations they are used. The following quote is an example of dramatic irony and duality, “O son, the night before thy wedding day/Hath Death lain with thy wife. There she lies,/Flower as she was, deflowerèd by him./Death is my son-in-law; Death is my heir” (IV v 41-44). This quote shows dramatic irony because Lord Capulet believes that Juliet is dead even though we know that she is not; in addition it represents the theme of duality because it is saying that juliet is married to death. Marriage is being represented as a good thing, but turns into a bad thing when she is said to be married to death itself. In Romeo and Juliet there

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