"For saints have hands that pilgrims hands to touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers kiss " However Romeo talks about her lips being sins act 1 scene 5 line 108 and 109.
"Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg 'd. Give me my sin again. "
They both talk religiously but Romeo talks about the bad things and Juliet the good. It could be that Shakespeare is trying to show Romeo's family as bad and Juliet's as good. However we do know that the Elizabethans were very religious people so this is the reason for Shakespeare to use this. There is also some use of metaphors and similes in the same set of speech. The metaphor is act 1 scene 5 line 43.
"O she doth teach the torches to burn bright"
It tells use the first reaction of Romeo to Juliet and on line 45 he uses a simile
"As a rich jewel in an ethiop 's ear- "
These help to show his astonishment at Juliet's beauty. The speech in which he says these is also a
soliloquy. This is to keep the audience interested as now they know something that others do not.
All the language techniques used in this scene helps to show the special first meeting of Romeo and Juliet.
The next scene I have chosen is act3 scenel. In this scene Tybalt gives Romeo a written challenge, and mercutio is outraged at that he didn't accept, so he draws his own sword and in the fighting that follows both he and Tybalt are killed. Romeo is then banished from Verona.
At first the talk in this scene is quite civil with very little language techniques used. Act 3 scene 1 line 21-22 is a simile
"Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat"
This helps to show the casualness of their talking. But after a few minutes, Tybalt enters and the talk, as it progress it gets more serious. Act 3 scenel lines 107-115 Shakespeare uses the language of revenge tragedy, which was a type of play popular in 1590's when he was writing Romeo and Juliet. Also in this scene when the fighting is over and Romeo has fled Benvoilo has to tell the story to the prince. In his speech he uses metaphors such as
"Piercing steel" and "cold death "
There is also use of soliloquy in this scene act 3 scene 1 line 105. The setting of this scene is also important because it creates tension. They are fighting in a public place but there are not many people around and if there had been more would have been done to stop the fight and the death of mercutio and tybalt In this scene there is not a lot of language techniques used but those that are all help to create a threatening atmosphere when the fight takes place and for the consequences afterwards.
In act 3 scene 5 Romeo has spent the night at Juliet's consummating their marriage. Their parting is interrupted by the nurse, warning them that Juliet's mother is coming. When lady Capulet, does arrive she tells Juliet the news of her arranged marriage to Paris. In this scene there is an immense use of imagery e.g. act 3 scene 5 line 7-10
"... Look love, what envious streaks
do lace the severing clouds in yonder East.
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops"
Romeo is entranced by the thought of even the sun being happy for he and Juliet after their marriage and the happy nature imagery is of even the sun ("jocund day") playing about on tiptoe on the tops of the distant mountains.
However, in contrast to this there is also tension in this scene. Tension is initially created through Romeo and Juliet's discussion about leaving one another. Leaving in daylight will be disastrous for Romeo as he has been banished and will be put to death if seen in Verona again
"/ must be gone and live, or stay and die." Tension is added by the nurse's comment that Lady Capulet is approaching:
"Your lady mother is coming to your chamber";
This makes us feel concerned that the pair will be caught. Tension is next used when Lady Capulet misunderstands Juliet's weeping for sadness at the death of Tybalt. Tension is built up through Lady Capulet's discussion about Romeo, and Juliet's double meanings in everything she says. She tells the truth but manipulates the language she uses so that she deceives her mother. The news that she must marry Paris in just a few days time increases the tension in the scene, Juliet is outraged, and her parents are furious with her disobedience, Capulet's words, in particular, are fierce and aggressive. In those times a daughter was her
father's property until she married, and for Juliet to defy him like this would be unthinkable. In contrast with his anger we have Juliet's pleading, desperate even for a little time before marrying Paris. Even the trusted Nurse urges Juliet to marry Paris at the end of this scene. At this point the mood becomes much quieter, but more ominous. The threat of death or suicide is always present.
For my final scene I have chosen act 5 sceneS. In this scene Paris is praying at Juliet's tomb, encounters Romeo, they fight and Paris is killed. Friar Lawrence is too late to save Romeo, who swallows the poison he bought in Mantua, and when Juliet sees his body she kills herself. Friar Lawrence is left to explain what happened to the prince. This scene is set in the Capulet's tomb where Juliet has been "laid to rest". Romeo comes and out side the tomb, most of his comments to Balthasar in this speech are instructions on what he wants his servant to do, such as deliver a letter to Montague in the morning and to never tell what he has seen that night. He also tells Balthasar to go and not return upon pain of death. He then lies to him when he asks what he is going to do. The lie he tells is that he is going into the tomb to take his ring from Juliet's finger. He justifies this by saying it is a 'precious ring'. The reason he lies is because if Balthasar had known Romeo's real intention was to commit suicide, then he would have acted to prevent him from doing it. Romeo doesn't want anything to stand in his way, and lying is the best way of getting rid of Balthasar, who, as Romeo's servant, would be with his master almost constantly.
When Romeo enters the tomb he finds Paris mourning over the loss of his wife to be. When expressing his feelings Paris uses very formal language and elaborate imagery. His speech implies that whilst he is showing respect and honor for Juliet, he is not showing the same depth of love as Romeo has for her.
Romeo's speeches are almost the opposite of Paris'. His emotions are very much from the heart, broken into small segments to express his grief, rather than in fall flowing lines. His use of questions shows his complete disbelief in the situation: he cannot believe that she is actually dead. The detailed observations of her appearance again stress his love for her, as is his determination that he will stay with her. He uses far less imagery than Paris; his main comparison being that death is like a monster keeping her there to be his love and Romeo's mourning is far more intense, to the point where he actually takes his own life:
'Eyes look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips, Oyou
the doors of breath; seal with a righteous kiss
a dateless bargain to engrossing death!'
There is absolute determination that he will die with her and that they belong together, whereas Paris was merely there to express his respect for the lady that should have been his wife.
When Romeo and Paris encounter each other they fight and Paris is killed. When Romeo has slain Paris he has a very long soliloquy in which he expresses his undying love for Juliet and says his last words to her. This helps to show you just how sad the character is in this scene and how much he really loved Juliet. In this there is a mistake because Romeo says
"Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks "
But the friar said earlier that "the roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade " so is Juliet already recovering or is this just a mistake? This might be said as malapropisms.
Shakespeare maintains his audience's interest by using popular language techniques like imagery and puns to capture the audience's attention. He holds on to this by farther use of language but also use of tension and other feelings to make you want to find out more. I think his techniques were very effective and could be used in other forms of writing as well.
