Light & Dark
When Romeo and Juliet first meet they use a lot of lightness imagery to describe each other. At the ball when Romeo first sees his love he shoots images of brightness into the minds of the audience using some famous quotes “o, she doth teach the torches to burn bright. As a rich jewel on an Ethiops ear. So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows.“ the audiences at once see Romeo’s image of Juliet through nothing but words. When there is a death in the tragic play the imagery gives the audience dark images of mourning such as “this days black fate on mo days doth depend” were Romeo’s words just before he murdered Tybalt for the sake of his dead friend Mercutio. Throughout the play this imagery is used – light coinciding with love and good fate but darkness coinciding with the complete opposite of these two.
Natural World
Imagery of the natural world is probably the most frequently used out of the three types of imagery I am investigating. When Juliet is confused and feeling betrayed, she has many different opinions on him, one of her most contradicting phrases was “O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face”. This shows that Juliet is still in love with Romeo although she thinks he is a back stabber and betrayer. For this bit of imagery you can imagine a snake hiding behind a flower waiting to strike when an unsuspecting victim stops to admire it. The probable reason why the natural world has a lot of imagery related to it is probably the fact that it is such a wide category to fall into. Another time when Juliet uses the natural world’s imagery is when she is telling Friar Laurence of the things she would do to prevent herself from committing adultery with Paris. “O, bid me leap, from off the battlements of any tower. Or lurk where serpents are. Or hide me nightly in a charnel house” was the imagery used when Friar Laurence had told her to say yes to the marriage proposal of Paris. The imagery used helps us to see to the extent what a stubborn and strong personality Juliet has since meeting Romeo.
Religion
The Catholicism of Italy (The Roman Empire) at the time the play was written was very strong, and in England the Protestant era had just evolved after Henry VIII and his divorce had disgraced the Catholic church. When characters are happy or sad, rude or polite, religious imagery has something to do in the plot whether it be “Thy hand of a pilgrim” during the first kiss or “Fire eyed fury be my conduct now” just before Romeo slayed Tybalt religion plays a part. Religion is a main factor of the play, especially exaggerated in Baz Lehrmanns version of the film when crosses can be seen in almost every scene. In “Romeo and Juliet” religion has a strong connection to love and life. One quote that stuck in my mind was when Romeo said “With loves light wings did I o’erproach these walls.” Meaning that he had the help of the angels and love to get him over the wall to Juliet. “O speak again bright angel” is a quote Romeo mentions when nobody is listening to him although he means it for Juliet. He wants Juliet to compliment him some more as though she is the greatest being alive. This bit of imagery also has a touch of the light and darkness category as well. Friar Laurence is quite religious, and Shakespeare leads us to believe this by giving him religious imagery such as when he was speaking to Romeo about the his banishment he used darkness as evil and explained as a wise man would “And turned that black word death to banishment”
Without imagery it is doubtless that this ply would have given Shakespeare his name as the worlds best bard ever. Could anyone imagine a world without Romeo and Juliet? What would David Beckham have called his son … Casanova?!? So the imagery in Romeo and Juliet really did change the world, as we know it. As I said earlier the characters need the imagery to express themselves and their behaviour. The imagery also had a big part to play on the current issues at the time such as religion and death. All in all I am glad imagery was a crucial part of the plot of one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, and arguably the worlds best ever romantic tragedy – “Romeo & Juliet”
