William Shakespeare 's Romeo And Juliet

What I feel is one of the most important aspects of the play is the

SAMPSON A dog of that house shall move me to stand. I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague’s.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet are a pair of star-crossed lovers who had an unfortunate fate throughout the story. The theme of light and darkness in the play symbolizes that their love story is just a fairytale, it is unreal.The theme gives Romeo and Juliet characterization, Not to mention that the constant use of light and darkness foreshadows the story’s outcome.

His family’s feud with the Capulets is Romeo’s labyrinth, his love for his family is the sea, and his love for Juliet the sun. This parallel is emphasised even more when Romeo says “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” (2. 2. 3).  Both men are trapped in the middle ground, hovering between these two great forces, warned not to venture too close to either, lest it cost him his life. Where Icarus’s amazement at the sea’s beauty is what almost pulls him under, for Romeo it is his need to avenge his cousin Mercutio’s death that nearly does him in with his duel with Tybalt, Romeo saying “Mercutio’s soul is but a little way above our heads, staying for thine to keep  him company: either thou, or I, or both, must go with him." (3. 1. 88-91). When Icarus flies higher and higher still to bask in the sun’s warm rays, it is Romeo’s impulsive, wholehearted need to be with Juliet, his longing to be ever nearer to her, that dooms him. For both men, it is the need to be as close as possible to the heavenly warmth and beauty of these loves that spirals both heroes into the cold embrace of Death’s

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.

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

Romeo is the one of the only characters in this play that would kill himself because he is too romantic. At the beginning of the balcony scene Romeo says when, hiding in the Capulet orchard after the feast, he sees Juliet leaning out of a high window. Even though it was late at night, Juliet’s beauty makes Romeo imagine that she is the sun, "transforming the darkness into daylight.” Romeo on the other hand personifies the moon, calling it “sick and pale with grief”, and that Juliet, the sun, is “far brighter and more beautiful.” Romeo then compares Juliet to the stars, claiming that she “eclipses the stars as daylight overpowers a lamp”and that her eyes alone “shine so bright that they will convince the birds to sing at night as if it were day.”

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,

Despite their families being life long enemies, he felt that his love for the fair Juliet could quench the rising flames of their parent's “ancient grudge”(prologue). He slipped away from his friends and stumbled across a great stone wall. Pulled by the string of destiny to make his way over the wall, he lands in a strange place he would soon recognize as the Capulet’s orchard right in front of Juliet’s balcony. Juliet soon emerges and Romeo can not help but fall in love with her all over again. As he gazes at her from below, the glimmer of her eyes enrapture her and he sighs to himself: “Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, having some business, do entreat her eyes to twinkle in their spheres till they return. What if her eyes were there, they in her head? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars as daylight doth a lamp” (2.2.16-22). Since Juliet’s eyes seemed to twinkle and shine under the pale moonlight, the stars would’ve asked them to take their place in the sky temporarily as they go elsewhere. However, upon their return, the stars would be ashamed to find that her eyes had burned brighter than themselves. Moreover, the rosiness and shine of Juliet’s cheeks were enough to shame all things that claimed to be bright. Such as the light from a lamp cannot compare to sunlight, nothing would have surpassed the brilliant light of Juliet’s eyes and face overall. As his eyes flit upwards towards her brightly lit balcony, Juliet makes her way further into his sight. Romeo, hidden in the shadows, silently watches as she relives the precious four minutes that the two lovebirds had shared. However, Romeo can no longer stay in silence and jumps into her view to confess his love back to the fair Juliet who in turn had been confessing to him without even realizing it. As expected, Juliet is taken aback by his sudden appearance but is even more shocked at

William Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the play of which was so elaborated that it could have infinite central ideas. The author’s great use of word choices and literary terms helps readers better understand the play. The play utilized many different motifs but light vs. dark stuck out to me the most. The things that people you care about the most do, can affect you a lot. Love can put you in serious situations that require serious decisions. The motif light vs. dark in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is developed by figurative language and imagery to prove how love can make people do crazy things.

The key point of light and darkness in William Shakespeare’s classic, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet accentuates how the mystery of prohibited love has consequences. Shakespeare uses imagery of light and darkness to express the uncontrollable love between the two. In the beginning of the play, the subject of light and darkness signifies new upcoming adoration. Amid the beginning meeting of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo exclaims,” The torches to burn bright(1.5.42).’’Shakespeare utilizes light in this statement by expressing the sudden love he first experienced while meeting Juliet.

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare continually uses the contrasts of dark and light to signify the love Romeo and Juliet had for each other. The day is described using the sun while the moon is used to describe the night. Using the light and dark imagery Shakespeare expressed the feelings and emotions of love that coursed through Juliet as well as Romeo. The night represents a burning passion. Juliet awaits the night as she will give herself to her husband.

For years, people have argued whether or not to modernize Shakespeare’s plays into modern English or keep the original version. This idea is explored in the articles “Why We (Mostly) Stopped Messing With Shakespeare’s Language” by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, “Shakespeare in Modern English?” by James Shapiro, and the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. In an article by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, called “Why We (Mostly) Stopped Messing With Shakespeare’s Language”, the article talks about how the Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced that they will modernize thirty-six playwrights into today’s words. The article supports neither modernize or not modernize Shakespeare’s plays. In an article by James Shapiro called, “Shakespeare in Modern

Power is one of the most important, as well as disputable, concepts regarding how particular facts in the social world are related. To clarify: power does not have various meanings, but is shown in various examples. In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the story talks about love and tragedy that is ruled by two… separate households (Capulet and Montague). In Addition, the source Meditations states that becoming a good person is to be able to get power and control power to a certain standard. In The Prince, it shows to be a good leader, that one must not let others take advantage, so a leader will have to be cruel at times, so others can take you seriously. The Art of War is an engrossing book from Sun Tzu that presents us

“O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies ' midwife, and she comes, In shape no bigger than an agate-stone,On the fore-finger of an alderman,Drawn with a team of little atomies, Athwart men 's noses as they lie asleep. Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub, Time out o ' mind the fairies ' coachmakers. Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners ' legs, The cover of the wings of grasshoppers, The traces of the smallest spider 's web…” (I.iv.53-95)