At the start of the play Romeo’s unrequited love with Rosaline consumes him to a point of unhealthy obsession .The use of negative oxymoron’s such as ‘brawling love , O loving hate’ portrays Romeos chaotic state of mind due to his feelings for Rosaline . Romeo says ‘she hath Dian’s wit’. This refers to the goddess Diana who is chaste. Because of this Benvolio suggests that he should leave her but because his love consumes him Romeo says that he is ‘blind’ without her.
Shakespeare alludes to the lover’s fate by writing ‘winged messenger’ this could also be seen as irony as it refers to the Greek god of messaging Hermes.
In the poems ‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy and ‘Sonnet 43’ by Elizabeth Barret Browning, The poets both portray a range of male/female relationships through a variety of linguistic techniques.
Throughout the poem Duffy creates a pessimistic ambience which gives the reader the impression that Duffy is familiar with the negative side of romantic relationships and has experienced heartache before. It is also obvious that throughout the poem Duffy does not address her lover’s gender. This is because to some people amatory love has no gender .The phrase ‘wobbling photo of grief’ displays the unstable nature in a romantic male and female relationship .The line ‘I am trying to be truthful’ portrays the person as defenceless when juxtaposed with the use of imperatives throughout the poem.
By following the word ‘fierce’ by its antithesis ‘love’ Duffy emphasises loves unstable and aggressive nature. Imperatives such as ‘here’ and ‘Take it’ express the fact that the person (Duffy) is commanding them to take their love. The onions ‘platinum loops’ represent a strong circle of trust that cannot be broken and is sometimes never ending in a married relationship however , the fact that the poet gives gives an onion , a vegetable could represent that in life as well as marriage things may start of healthy but eventually they rot and die .
Browning uses a myriad of techniques to convey religious and pure love. The poet starts off by stating ‘how do I love thee’. This rhetorical question signifies the fact that something as natural as love needs no answer. However Browning then goes on to contradict this by saying ‘let me count the ways’ .By doing this Browning emblematizes the fact that love is capricious. The personal pronoun ‘I’ continuously repeated to convey the fact that love is unknowingly selfish. By repeating the phrase ‘How do I love thee’ the poet briefly comments in her past pains ‘in my old grief’s’ she uses contradictory words such as ‘old’ and ‘childhood’ to symbolise that love has no age .
