Literary Devices In Romeo And Juliet

Shakespeare uses many literary devices in Romeo and Juliet. One example of this is his use of paradox, a type of figurative language, which is a contradictory statement that is true. Shakespeare uses paradoxes to add to the play Romeo and Juliet by building on the plot and adding to the themes.

The main feature of all drama is conflict and Shakespeare uses oppositions in literary devices to create it. Romeo and Juliet starts off with the feuding families fighting, already setting the mood and creating a separation, forcing us as the reader to pick a side. Through the play, puns and other literary devices are used to establish oppositions between love and hate to create conflict and tension.

Dramatic irony is a literary technique by which a character’s words or actions are clear to the audience although unknown to the character. Shakespeare uses this technique in Julius Caesar

Few stories are as renowned and appreciated as those written by William Shakespeare. His many plays have survived the centuries, and one of his most well-known plays, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, tells the story of two-star crossed lovers as their lives are lead to tragedy because of a feud between their families. Fate works against them, and they both end up killing themselves thinking they can not live without the other. One of the qualities of this play is it recurring use of foils to highlight the attributes of another character.. Mercutio serves as a foil for Romeo to help built both characters by their view of love, how they showcase one another’s flaws, and how Mercutio’s death motivates Romeo fro the purpose of giving the audience a deeper understanding.

Juxtapositions are prominent throughout many pieces of literature. Juxtapositions such as oxymorons and paradoxes force the reader to infer important information about the characters they are reading about. One good example of this is William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet play. Shakespeare uses juxtaposition in the drama Romeo and Juliet to indirectly characterize the complexity of their relationship.

Another literary device that shakespeare uses is Indirect Characterization throughout Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet.In Scene 5 Shakespeare does an effective job at using indirect characterization on Romeo to inform the audience on how Romeo fell in love with Juliet and how nothing else mattered to Romeo except Juliet. “ Romeo: Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheeks of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear, beauty too rich for earth to dear. So snows a snowy dove trooping with crows As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows. The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand, And touching hers make blessed my rude hand did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I he’er saw true beauty till this

Just like in the story of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, there are actual true events very simaler to some of the parts in the story. In 2005, 2 families by the name of Soliz and Ortiz had a violent breakout including guns, injuring 6 people. You will find that the story of Romeo are relateable to the article, “Six Wounded in Fla. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Firefight”.

Shakespeare uses words to describe to the audience his undying love for Juliet before they have even met so the audience builds excitement for their first encounter. Then after they have met Shakespeare uses words to literary techniques like metaphors and sonnets to flirt with Juliet so she falls in love with him. For example, in Act 2, Scene 2, Romeo says, “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” With this statement, Romeo is comparing Juliet to the light dawning on his dark night. This is significant because up until Act 2 Scene 6 they haven't seen each other in the light of day and their moments of happiness and love are in the darkness. Shakespeare continues when Romeo describes is with Juliet just before they meet, "she doth teach the torches to burn bright”. Here, Shakespeare uses words to build anticipation in the audience for the moment when Romeo and Juliet first meet. Another way he develops anticipation and excitement is by delaying their meeting until the end of Act 1. At this point, Shakespeare turns their conversation into a string of Christian metaphors in the form of

Symbols and motifs are proven to be significant. They are a key element to understanding William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet play and the 1996 modernised version by Baz Luhrmann. Both texts are about a long feud between the two richest families in Verona, the Capulets and Montagues. Along the way, a misunderstanding leads to their star-crossed lovers children's death, reconciling the two families. Throughout the film and the play, recurring symbols and motifs helps the audience understand the deeper meaning of the texts and the ideas presented, therefore making it significant. Luhrmann uses the recurring motif of water in the film, contrary to Shakespeare's. This further extends significant themes and ideas in the original play. The reoccurring motif of light and dark images through Romeo and Juliet show the contrast of light and dark imagery. Both Shakespeare and Luhrmann use Religious symbols to reinforce the idea of fate and it's major role in society both in the modern and ancient time.

Oscar Wilde, one of the most popular playwrights of the 1890’s, once said, “Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.” In Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet, one night at a party Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, meet and fall in love at first sight. They get married in secret by Friar Lawrence, but after the marriage, Romeo is banished for killing Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin. Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a potion that will make her look dead as part of a plan to get her out of the city to Romeo, but when Romeo sneaks into the tomb, not knowing the plan, he kills himself because he sees Juliet and thinks she is dead. Juliet awakes and sees Romeo dead, so she stabs herself. Friar Lawrence should have stopped the marriage because it was so rushed. Also, Nurse betrays Juliet when she needs her most. Friar Lawrence and Nurse should both be held accountable for the death of Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespeare’s work is among the hardest to read because of its supposed complexity and sophistication. The language used in the Early Modern Era is different than that of the Post Modern Era. Audiences that saw the performances were aural learners and were able to pinpoint certain tones and facial expressions that readers may not detect through words. Watching the plays performed provided better feedback than readings do (Palfrey 10-11). Metaphors, implicit or explicit, are figures of speech that help compare two unlike things and are not designed for literal intake. Yet, with Shakespeare’s work, metaphors should be taken literally. According to George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, however, this technique of comparison allows metaphors to simultaneously highlight and hide certain attributes and/or qualities about the thing(s) being compared to (12-13). The highlighting and hiding of metaphors gives readers more insight into what Shakespeare may have meant at the time or even more so in what context did the people of the Elizabethan Age use language (Palfrey 11). Two important components of metaphors that do the highlighting and hiding are the vehicle and the tenor; each can be implicit or explicit as well. The metaphor in question emphasizes both the importance and unimportance of Lavinia’s character.

One may think Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story, while others may think the play was written as a warning to Queen Elizabeth (Bearman). One can understand William Shakespeare’s ideas for his plays by exploring his influences for Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth, and Hamlet. Shakespeare wrote many plays, one of his more famous one being Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was inspired by English poet, Arthur Brooke’s renowned long narrative poem. Shakespeare’s most famous play took after The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562) which itself, took inspiration from an Italian tale written by Matteo Bandello in his book Novelle, written in the early 16th Century. However, Bandello’s tale was not the original source of text, being derived from Luigi da Porto’s ‘Guilietta e Romeo’ which was believed to be written around 1530. Like most stories passed on over time, Brooke’s version of Bandello’s tale had some notable changes, such as the nurses character being developed much further and the final scene being noticeably different. Due to these changes being included in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it allows us to believe Brooke’s poem was the primary source of inspiration for Shakespeare, rather than Bandello’s or Porto’s stories. The biggest difference between Shakespeare and Bandello’s stories is the pace at which the events take place. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet fall in love, become wed and die for each other within just days of meeting, which contrasts to Bandello’s prolonged tale of young star-crossed lovers who run away for a number of months together and then decide to be wed.

All of these life experiences rise up when comparing the text of Shakespeare’s source material for Romeo and Juliet, and the text of the play. It is not know for sure when

In the romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses words to create emotions, specifically love, between the two main characters. He also uses words to craft several scenarios where a lack of communication between various characters ultimately ends in tragedy. When Shakespeare uses words in both these ways the tragedy and sense of despair the audience has for the main characters is heightened because the audience cares so much more about the love between the characters.