How does Shakespeare use imagery in his play Romeo and Juliet to intensify the drama create atmosphere and illuminate the central themes?

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Luke Beadle 11SDI

GCSE Coursework: Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet

How does Shakespeare use imagery in his play Romeo and Juliet to intensify the drama create atmosphere and illuminate the central themes?

In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare uses imagery to create atmosphere, intensify drama and illuminate central themes.  By using a variety of metaphors, dramatic irony, figurative language and by exploiting poetic forms, he conveys meaning and character excellently.  He incorporates all of these dramatic devices to convey the plot and reveal those things that were Elizabethan concerns.

In act 1, scene 5, Shakespeare uses a vast range of imagery to convey the meaning. Throughout this scene there is a very religious image coming across. Romeo talks of Juliet as if she is holy, as if he sees her as the Virgin Mary. Catholicism was illegal at this time and religion was an Elizabethan preoccupation, so suggestions that Juliet was like the Virgin Mary was not sacrilegious. Shakespeare uses metaphors to show this: “this holy shrine.” Shakespeare uses this to show Juliet’s beauty and to show Romeo’s admiration for her. He also uses effective personification, “patience perforce” to show the hatred of the two households as a person. The feud between the two families is a major issue in this scene and in the whole play. It can be seen as a reflection of the conflict between the two religions. In Shakespeare’s time, Catholics were prosecuted and Shakespeare was known to have sympathy for them. Romeo falls for Juliet not knowing she is his enemy. This is dramatic irony because the audience know that Juliet is his enemy but Romeo has no idea that she is his enemy.

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This is an example of the dramatic irony Shakespeare uses in this play. Not knowing how Romeo will react when he finds out Juliet is a Capulet keeps the audience in suspense. There is a joyful atmosphere, which is only spoilt by a threat from Tybalt. There is also an atmosphere of love, but the audience knows that this happiness will only be short lived because it was mentioned in the prologue. Shakespeare uses rhyming couplets to show Romeo’s love, creating a unique atmosphere of love. “Like a rich jewel In an Ethiop’s ear;… for earth to dear.”

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