Be Careful With Love: Themes Through Figurative Language in Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare was a 16th century poet and playwright who wrote many famous plays, poems and sonnets. One of the most famous of these is Romeo and Juliet. In the play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare uses foreshadowing, metaphors, hyperbole, personification, and other literary devices to prove that love is unstable and can be hazardous. In the play Romeo and Juliet, two young people fall in love, however they are from rival families and are supposed to hate each other. They go on nevertheless with the help of the local priest, Friar Lawrence, hatching plans to get married in secret and be together, even when Romeo gets banished from their home city of Verona. They try to get back together, but it leads to both of their suicides. The theme of this play is the instability of love and that it is sometimes perilous to get caught up in obsessing about love. The author of this play shows this through figurative language like foreshadowing, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification. One of the ways William Shakespeare proves that love is risky is through foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is implying or insinuating what will happen later in the story. Throughout the play, Shakespeare hints that the play will end tragically because of love. In the beginning of the production, Romeo is sad because his love, Rosaline, has sworn to chastity. Lord Montague, Romeo’s father, says “Black and portentous
In this essay, I will take a gander at the play of Romeo and Juliet. I will examine how Shakespeare has utilized dialect in the play for symbolic impact. I will also see how Shakespeare has displayed love and the path in which Romeo and Juliet converse with each other, I might choose whether their affection was genuine and discuss their parents differentiating perspectives and conclusions. I will likewise remark on the play's pertinence today and perceive how Shakespeare has utilized dramatic devices and structures to improve the discussion between the youthful lovers. All throughout the play, there is a consistent theme of love and destiny, I will be dissecting this subject and show how it influences Romeo and Juliet.
How effective is Luhrmann’s film Romeo and Juliet as a modern day appropriation of Shakespeare's play you ask? Baz Luhrmann's appropriation of the original play of “Romeo And Juliet” is highly effective as it is modernized to meet the interests and expectations of a 20th century teenage audience. Throughout the original 16th century play, Shakespeare develops the themes of family rivalry and love. The theme of family rivalry has been implemented into the original play through the conflict between two powerful families in the city of Verona. Throughout his appropriation of the play, Baz Luhrmann successfully preserves the same concept of family rivalry but modernises it by portraying the two families as two large business corporations and brands who are constantly in competition with each other. Shakespeare implements the theme of love through main character Romeo being made to resemble and fulfil the role of a typical "Petrarchan lover". Luhrmann also effectively integrates the theme of love through his successful use of filmic techniques to illustrate the unbreakable love between Romeo and Juliet whose love resembles and portrays the characteristics of a 20th century relationship. Using these modern elements, Luhrmann’s film effectively appeals to the contemporary teenage audience whilst powerfully conveying the themes of family rivalry and love. These adaptations made by Luhrmann in his film create a more comprehensible meaning as teenagers can relate to the film with a
The importance of having an audience connect with characters in literature is how the audience can understand what language the characters are using to convey what they are trying to say about someone or a general theme in an emotional way. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the point of the plot in the passage is that it takes place in the time Romeo is expressing his emotions when he meets Juliet in the masquerade party for the first time. Shakespeare incorporates figurative language to portray how Romeo shows his feelings for Juliet by comparing and personifying her to other objects by using simile and personification. Shakespeare uses figurative language to enhance Romeo’s feelings for someone else by using precise word choice to convey his meaning behind how the
The play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ written by William Shakespeare is a story about love and hate that teaches us about the consequences of extreme passion. Throughout the play Shakespeare has explored the themes of love, hate and loss. With these themes Shakespeare shows us how love, hate and loss can be so tragic. Love plays a major role in William Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ as it demonstrates to readers just how far someone will go just to be together with the one they love.
Anais Nin once said, “You don’t find love, it finds you. It’s got a little to do with destiny, fate, and what’s written in the stars”. It is believed by numerous people that fate determines everything that happens in their lives, and they have no control over it, because their fate is already written in the stars. Fate is a somewhat controversial topic, but in the love story, Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, fate is looked upon as inalterable, and isn’t influenced by the person themselves. In this tragedy, the idea, fate is written in the stars, is shown through the literary devices, foreshadowing and symbolism, which shows readers that, everything happens for a reason, and fate is beyond their control.
William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, elicits sympathy from the reader through the theme of how love can kill. Shakespeare’s use of many literary devices such as metaphor, imagery and symbolism causes this theme to be evident. Therefore, the beauty of love disguises the violence or death it may also cause. The powerful nature of love throughout the poem is easily interpreted through Shakespeare’s use of metaphors.
Shakespeare thus portrays Romeo and his love as an infatuation. This infatuation is evident in how instantaneously Romeo falls out of love with Rosaline and into love with Juliet. At one stage, Rosaline was the “precious treasure of his eyesight”, yet Romeo’s embodiment of perfection was, a few scenes later, his notion of defectiveness. This therefore reveals to the audience the instantaneous and reckless path of the two lovers, as well as the fickleness of adolescent “love”, diminishing at the sight of
Many themes are explored however the theme of love and death is far the most prominent throughout William Shakespeare’s best known play, Romeo and Juliet. The theme is explored through the language techniques Shakespeare used, for instance the oxymoron’s and motifs, and the characterisation, being the characters Paris and Capulet.
In Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, two star-cross’d lovers of enemy households are no longer entities, and cascade into each others souls, and more specifically, fall deeply in love. They develop an obsessive relationship with their feelings for one another; they have a constant desire to be together, even though their emotions are based on sight alone. The addiction was so enslaving, that their only solution to their family fued was to turn to their one and only lover. Romeo and Juliet’s addictive relationship has lead to their unavoidable departure, because it has caused their secret marriage, failed Mantua escape plan, and suicide.
Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare depicts a troubled couple and their never ending battle with love. Love, although not directly characterized within the play, is instrumental in orchestrating many of the relationships that moved the plotline of the story. Romeo credits love to parts of Juliet and his relationship, by proclaiming that “he [love] lent me counsel and I lent him eyes./ I should adventure for such merchandise” (II. ii. 86, 89). Shakespeare uses personification and motifs to portray the idea of love as a forceful figure, which reinforces the theme that love can cause one to make brash decisions.
Shakespeare develops the idea that love can have a negative side throughout the play. The two main characters, Romeo and Juliet, start out happily in
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
William Shakespeare is widely known for all of his literary works; one of his most famous love tragedies being 'Romeo and Juliet'. A Shakespearean definition of tragedy exemplifies the sense that human beings are inevitably doomed through their own failures or errors, the ironic action of their virtues, or even through the nature of fate and destiny (Sayour, Susan, 2007). Romeo and Juliet is a tragic tale based on two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. Throughout the play, Shakespeare intentionally draws on text structures and language features in order to replicate the attitudes, values and beliefs of Elizabethan audiences and intertwine it into his
It is human nature to be attracted to love, but often love fails. Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet demonstrates this perfectly. However, although this play is said to be one of the greatest love stories of all time, it most certainly is not. This is true for many reasons including, the different types of affection, the lust-based relationship, the tragedy that love inspires, and the speed at which Romeo and Juliet's feelings develop.
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.