Examine some of the language in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - especially focusing on Act 1 Scene 5 where Romeo and Juliet first meet and fall in love.

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Romeo and Juliet

In this essay I am going to examine some of the language in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. I will especially focus on Act 1 Scene 5 where Romeo and Juliet first meet and fall in love.

In Act 1 Scene 1 Romeo is talking about love to Benvolio. He tells him how love confuses people. From lines 167  - 172 Shakespeare uses oxymorons. For example

Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health.”

Oxymorons are a word or phrase that puts two opposites together. It shows that Romeo is madly in love with Rosaline. Shakespeare uses oxymoron’s to show that Romeo is confused in his head. Oxymorons are designed to show what it is to be in love.

When Romeo first sees Juliet he quickly falls in love with her. We know that he is a romantic boy. Romeo meets Juliet in Act 1 Scene 5 when him and his friends have gatecrashed the Capulet’s party. Romeo sees a strange girl and doesn’t know who she is. Her beauty entrances him. He falls in love with her at first sight.

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When he first describes feelings for Juliet he uses contrasts between light and dark. Some of these examples are:

“O she doth teaches the torches to burn bright,

  It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night,

  As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear.”

The first line of this quote:

O she doth teaches the torches to burn bright.”

O really isn’t a word; it’s a cry of love. This tells us Romeo is thinking about love. Romeo is making Juliet seem brighter than fire and this makes the fire seem dull.

“It seems ...

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