Explain how the idea of antithesis is central to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Dan Chudley

Explain how the idea of antithesis is central to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

In this essay I am going to look at how antitheses are a big part and how they are central to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. There are many antitheses and oxymorons in the play and I will be examining how they are used and how they drive the play on, entertaining and involving the audience.

There are so many examples of opposites in the play, covering language, characters, scenes and backgrounds, focusing in the main on the central theme throughout the play of love and hate.

The first and main opposite we encounter in the play is love and hate, in act 1 scene 1 although a trace of all the opposites are always present throughout the play. ”my only love sprung from my only hate.” Romeo is miserable because of all the people in the world; he has fallen in love with someone from the only family he hates. Fate and freewill could also be linked to love and hate as Romeo and Juliet discovered. “Is love a tender thing? Is it too boisterous, and it pricks like a thorn” Romeo is saying here that love is painful and painful pleasure is another oxymoron used to describe pleasure in a painful sense. This quote is linked to fate and free will as well as love and hate. There are many antitheses in the play but the main opposite must be love and hate. Without each other there is no opposite.

Romeo and Juliet found that fate was not on their side as the hate between the Capulets and Montagues eventually led to the death of them both. But as they struggled to bring the two families together, they used their free will and strength to prove their love and bring the two families together. “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life” this quote describes how Romeo and Juliet are meant to meet- it’s their destiny. Once they marry they believe they are at the peak of the wheel of fortune, until fate closes in and makes havoc upon the couple, in the form of Tybalt's anger. 'Therefore do nimble-pointed doves draw love, and therefore hath the wind-swift cupid wings.' This shows us that the roll of fate between Romeo and Juliet is expected to turn love into death. Romeo does not want to follow fate and tries to escape it. “Then I defy you stars”. He is displaying his free will and going against fate but in the play nearly always fate wins over freewill, for example the last scenes where Romeo and Juliet eventually die. Fate has overpowered their freewill no matter how strong they might be.

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Another opposite which features throughout the play is youth and wisdom. For example in act 2 scene 5 between Juliet and the nurse “I would hadst my bones and thy news, nay come I pray thee speak” Juliet displays her youth and her naivety. She is almost begging for the nurse to speak. This sort of language you would expect from a young girl who is impatient and “in love”. It gives out an image in which you can see two people bickering away at each other. Shakespeare may have used the youth of the character to make a stereotypical young person which enlightens the play up, giving a kind of humorous outcome to the scene because of the differences between a wise and mature woman and a young, impatient girl. The nurse uses her power, wisdom and age to tease Juliet as Juliet cannot wait and yet the nurse can, although she is old and has less time than Juliet. “Sweet, sweet, sweet Nurse tell me what says my love?” this also shows Juliet’s impatience. She just cannot wait to hear what the nurse has to say. This humorous opposite could have been used to lighten up the play, as a contrast to the rest of the play which contains the plays darkness and all the fighting and arguments in. A good play needs a contrast between the two sides; in this case love and hate, patient and impatient, and light and dark

Already all the opposites link together cleverly in the language itself and the scenes. A fierce quote of love and hate- Tybalt speaks “what drawn and talk of peace? I hate thee word, as I hate hell, all Montague’s and thee: have at thee coward” Tybalt has a very high temper here as the scene builds it up slowly; this fight at the end was almost predictable. The quote clearly shows his hate for the Montague and is a good example of hate as it uses very strong language which puts across the hate that drives the plot and this scene. Tybalt, although quite a young man already has made up his mind about the Montague. He has everything against them and does not appear to ever change his mind. He doesn’t, although he doesn’t give much of a chance for the Montague to try and make peace. So the main antithesis in this scene is love and hate once again.

Light and dark are another familiar opposite in the play. Dark is represented by the constant feud between the families. Light is mostly represented as the love between Romeo and Juliet, being so young and yet so in love. “Blind is his love and best befits the dark” Benvolio is saying that the love he can see between Romeo and Juliet is so strong, that he is blinded and stunned by it. The love that is shown as light is so bright, it shines out beyond the arguing between the two families which is represented as the dark. The opposite light and dark entertains the audience as the love stands out and enlightens the play and gives a contrast between the dark feud and light love. This has an impact on the audience as they are watching because it was not known of, when the play was about, of this kind of situation or storyline, therefore giving them a new experience, which is entertaining and gripping. This is all down to the antitheses in the play, the main one being love and hate in Romeo and Juliet.

“With Rosaline my ghostly father no, I have forgot that name woe” This quote by Romeo shows his naivety. He has suddenly forgotten about his true love Rosaline in scene 1 and set his sights on Juliet. You would expect this from a young, naïve person and it would come no surprise to you when this sudden change in who Romeo loves happens, whereas it would be surprising if an older, mature person did this. Shakespeare has incorporated another character which has stereotypical features(being young and naïve). This also shows Romeos youth, as someone old and wise would not act so impulsively. Another way that Romeo and Juliet's naivety is shown is by the way they act, for example them secretly meeting up and running off to get married together. This would again, be a surprise to you if an older couple did this. Yet again, to make this exciting feature of the play (being the change in who Romeo loves); you need opposites or, Antithesis. In this case the opposite being youth and wisdom; which drives this part of the play.

The public scenes are usually violent, or in the case of the ball near the beginning of the play, narrowly managed to avoid violence. It is only in the private scenes that people are able to speak freely and confess their love. The audience don’t know it, but Shakespeare has cleverly chosen and incorporated another opposite- Public and private. A lot of the rest of the play relies partly on public and private to make the private encounters with the characters to see the other side of them.

Oxymorons play a big part in the play because they are hidden in the language and are used effectively throughout by Shakespeare. “Loving hate” “feather of lead” and “brawling love” are examples of oxymorons. I think they are in the play as Shakespeare refuses to make his plays too stereotypical and does this by making Romeo, the lead character different to lead characters in conventional plays, but still having some stereotypical characteristics. Shakespeare makes Romeo different by using oxymorons to make him seem confused, shy and withdrawn in the early part of the play; and not heroic or brave as conventional lead characters are.

The central opposite has to be love and hate. This is because the play is based upon two people who are in love but who are from two different families who have hated each other for generations. The other opposites in the play are directly linked to this theme. Without one, the other is not as effective or does not exist.

The audience would have enjoyed the idea of a young couple fighting against fate, using their strength and freewill to try to bring the two families together, and holding on to their love. This idea again, relies on the antitheses integrated in the play, and the oxymoron's used in the play to create a sense of confusion, happiness, love or hate about the character or scene

Antitheses are central to Romeo and Juliet because if they weren’t there then the dramatic contrast of love and hate and the other opposites would not exist and the play would be totally ineffective to the audience.

The way the theme of opposites is used throughout this play ensure that the audience is kept entertained and on the edge of their seats due to the dramatic impact. It is the use of these opposites which keeps Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet entertaining and amusing.