Romeo and Juliet

Jackson Mithen Year 10

William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet , written in 1597, is a famous romantic tragic love story that revolves around two “star-crossed lovers” torn apart by their rival families who inevitably die as a result of their undying love for one another. The play employs a variety of figurative language features and double entrendres to represent Romeo as impulsive and Juliet as dramatic to strengthen the purpose that love surpasses all boundaries.

Through imagery and a simile, the character of Romeo is represented as impulsive to convey that his love for Juliet surpasses all boundaries. Romeo’s impulsive tendencies are both openly and subtly hinted at from the play’s beginning. In act 1, scene 5, Romeo first sets eyes upon Juliet whilst attending a party on the Capulet estate. Romeo falls in love instantly and talks lovingly about Juliet which is overheard by Tybalt. Romeo is so smitten that he says “It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night, Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear”. Romeo referring to a jewel within this simile suggests Juliet’s superior beauty stands out from every other woman at the party. That this comment is made from the first time Romeo lays eyes on Juliet further strengthens his impulsive and spontaneous nature. A jewel has many positive connotations and to be described as one, means Juliet is more beautiful, more valued and more special than others, referring to possibly Rosaline, Romeo’s first love. For Romeo to say this, strengthens the idea of him being hasty as he has decided Juliet is better and as beautiful as a jewel immediately and yet he does not even know her. In the moment, Romeo does not consider the dangers or possible outcomes an ordinary person may think about when seeing or meeting someone for the first time. This displays the purpose that the love he already has for Juliet surpasses the emotional boundaries and is a direct result of his impulsiveness. The character of Romeo is further represented as impulsive through the language device of visual imagery. In act 2, scene 2, Romeo converses with Juliet after managing to reach her bedroom window, soon after leaving the party on the Capulet estate. Romeo, unable to leave Juliet behind, has climbed over the orchard wall and entered the garden of the enemy Capulets. He proclaims that “With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out”. Romeo mentions “love’s light wings” and “stony limits” creating the visual imagery of him flying over the barrier outsider her house. Even though this is metaphoric and he isn’t able to fly, love makes him imagine he can. Romeo is blinded by his love and thinks nothing, not even the stony orchard wall on the enemy Capulet grounds, will stop him from trying to see Juliet. Romeo rushes into this quite quickly in the short time after leaving the party which reveals he tends to act without careful thinking, thus creating that sense of impulsiveness in his character. The alliteration of the “l” sound, the first letter of “love”, also emphasises how Romeo surpasses this physical boundary of the wall due to his love of Juliet. Therefore, Romeo is represented as impulsive to strengthen the purpose that love surpasses all boundaries, even physical ones, via the language devices of simile and imagery.

The character of Juliet is represented as dramatic for the same purpose that love surpasses all boundaries, but instead through the language devices of an oxymoron and double meaning/ambiguity. In act 3, scene 2, Juliet learns that her cousin, Tybalt has been killed by Romeo, her lover. Juliet lashes out with descriptions like “Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! Dove-feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb!” as she finds it impossible to believe that Romeo, now her beloved husband, is a killer. She uses the oxymorons “lovely tyrant” and “fiend angelical” interchangeably to describe him, reflecting her own conflicted emotions. The words used within these oxymorons contain direct contrasts as “lovely” and “angelical” have positive connotations whilst “tyrant” and “fiend” have negative connotations. Juliet is blinded by her love for Romeo, and she can’t say anything bad about him without a positive term before or after. Her cousin has just been murdered which, for most person, would be a boundary to the love she has for Romeo. Yet Juliet cannot seem to be stopped by this, due to her immense feelings of love strengthening the idea that her intense feelings overcome any barriers. The character of Juliet is further represented as dramatic through double meaning and ambiguity. In act 5, scene 3, Juliet sits by Romeo’s dead body after she wakes from her faked death: “I will kiss thy lips, haply some poison yet doth hang on them, to make me die with a restorative.” These are Juliet’s last words before she dies from the poison left on Romeo’s lips. Juliet mentions the phrase “die with a restorative”. Restorative means having the ability to restore health and strength which is quite an ambiguous statement in this case as death and restoring health are opposing ideas. This phrase creates a second meaning, signally that when Juliet dies, she and her well-being will essentially be restored, as she cannot imagine living without Romeo. This strengthens the representation of Juliet as dramatic as she kills herself straight away after she wakes up, as she is so overcome with Romeo’s death. Juliet is so in love with Romeo and this love surpasses the biggest boundary of death. Thus, Juliet is represented as extreme in her emotional responses to strengthen the purpose that love surpasses all boundaries and this is shaped by the language devices of an oxymoron and double meaning/ambiguity.

Romeo and Juliet employ a variety of language features to represent the lead characters as driven by their emotions. Visual imagery and simile have been utilised to represent Romeo as impulsive while oxymoron and double meaning/ ambiguity have been utilized to represent Juliet as dramatic. Both these characters have been represented by William Shakespeare to strengthen the purpose that love surpasses all boundaries and demonstrate that two characters who are destined to love deeply are also doomed by their love.

A close reading of