In Act 1,scene 1 Romeo speaks of his love for Rosaline. His speech is full of oxymorons, especially love and hate. ‘ To do with hate, but more with love’ and ‘O brawling love, O loving hate’. The effect of this is to relate the two intense emotions together and express that they conjoin, hate is not without love and vice versa. There are many more oxymoron’s in this particular speech, ‘ heavy lightness’, ‘ feather of lead’, ‘cold fire’, and ‘sick health’. The effect of juxtaposing all these opposites is to show that Romeo is distressed and confused, he knows not what exactly he is feeling.
The hatred within the play is expressed strongly by Tybalt and his anger at Romeo’s presence at the feast. Tybalt repeatedly refers to Romeo as a ‘villain’. This language implies Romeo has come under bad intentions, it is not a favorable adjective to describe a gentleman. Tybalt believes the Capulet’s honor to be at stake from Romeo’s presence, ‘stock and honor of my kin’. He sees it as justified to kill Romeo. ‘To strike him dead, I hold it not a sin’.
Act 3,scene 1 also demonstrates the hatred of the two families, it holds the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt. The men speak politely to each other at first, Tybalt addresses Mercutio as ‘sir’ which is respectful. However Mercutio later asks ‘Tybalt you rat-catcher, will you walk?’ which is certainly not a polite form of address. Mercutio mentions the word ‘ dishonorable’, which suggests that the fighting has a lot to do with maintaining their honor. To oppose this violence and bad feeling is Romeo’s struggle to maintain the peace, which he does out of love for both his friend Mercutio, and enemy Tybalt. Romeo declares he loves Tybalt ‘better than thou canst devise’. He also says ‘good Capulet’, which is a praise, directly contrasting against the view that each other are bad. However Romeo’s attitude towards Tybalt soon changes when he kills Tybalt in revenge for Mercutio. The language uses words such as ‘furious’, ‘villain’ and ‘wretched’ to portray the anger and resentment of the characters.
Romeo speaks of the day’s ‘black fate’. This language has the effect of expressing the way the events are out of control, under an omnipotent power, namely ‘fate’. Black is a word used to express all things bad, it speaks of doom and sorrow.
There are two types of love within ‘Romeo and Juliet’. One is more widely found and that is romantic love, the other is sexual love, which is evident in the crude sexual innuendo of Mercutio. An example of these innuendoes can be found in Act 2,scene 1. Mercutio makes reference to ‘Venus’ who is the goddess of love. He jests at Romeo in good nature, whilst Romeo is not with him. Mercutio calls him a ‘homours, madman, passion, lover’. He talks of Rosaline, of whom he supposes Romeo to love, in a sexual manner, describing her body parts. ‘Scarlet lip…fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh’. Mercutio refers to Rosaline as Romeo’s ‘Mistress’ which insinuates she is Romeo’s kept women.
Mercutio makes many sexual insinuations in Act 2, scene 4, in which he mocks Juliet’s nurse. He is not respectful to her in the slightest. Mercutio first jokes than she needs a fan to hide her face. ‘Her fan’s the fairer face’. Mercutio also claims that the nurse wants her wicked way with Romeo, that she is a prostitute. He calls her an ‘old hare hoar’, which is a very derogatory term to use for a lady.
Juliet’s monologue in Act 3,scene 2 also includes many sexual innuendoes. She is waiting for her wedding night to come whence she will lose her virginity to Romeo. Language such as ‘love-performing night’, and ‘amorous rights’ hint at what she is disclosing. This language would be found to be very sexually insinuating at Shakespeare’s time. Juliet uses many oxymorons in her language, for example ‘Thou day in night’. This means that her day, when she is normally active will this time be at the time of night. The phase ‘whiter than new snow upon a raven’s back’ is very effective. It compares two opposites, the whiteness, which stands for the lover’s purity and brightness against the blackness and dark of night.
Romantic love is found in many scenes. Act 2,scene 2 is packed deep with romantic language, which is very exaggerated and expressive to show their almost overpowering love for each other. An example of this language is; ‘This bud of love by summer’s ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet’. It basically means that their love, which has just began, may grow greater by the next time they meet. Romeo has ‘love’s light wings’; meaning love has made him happy and free, as though he can fly. The lover’s believe each other to be the most amazing perfect persons. Juliet speaks of Romeo retaining his ‘dear perfection’. Romeo relates Juliet to all things as great as can be, such as the sun and stars. He calls her an ‘Angel’, a ‘winged messenger from heaven’. There are many promises of love and the language is very idealistic. Juliet claims that she loves Romeo so openly only because she is ‘too fond’.
Act 3,scene 5 demonstrates the power of romantic love Romeo and Juliet hold for each other. The language is very poetic and meaningful. They talk of not wanting to leave each other but do so in an indirect way, using birds to ponder the time. ‘ It was the lark, the herald of the morn’. This has the effect of making the language sound soft and beautiful like their love. The words seem to sound musical, and they roll off your tongue as they are spoken. Some of the lines rhyme with each other to produce such an effect. ‘ I have more care to stay, than will to go: Come death and welcome, Juliet wills it so.’
Romeo uses the oppositions of light and dark, ‘More light and light, more dark and dark our woes’. The purpose of saying this was to compare that as the real light grew from the day, the metaphorical darkness, which is a synonym for their sorrow, grew greater from their woes.
Death is a very prominent theme, undercutting the play alongside love. The love of Romeo and Juliet is one they are willing to die for. We are told in the prologue that is what will come in the end. Romeo and Juliet die as a direct result of hatred in their society. Through their death they become an everlasting mark of power and love that triumph through all misfortune. They are destined to eternally symbolize the terrible waste in all divided societies.
Death is presented within the play in many different ways. The spirit of it surrounds every scene of the play. Even in the most romantic scenes, such as in Act 2,scene 2, when Romeo professes he would rather end his life than ‘death prorogued wanting of Juliet’s love’. Act 3,scene 5 also expresses Romeo’s wish that he would happily die for Juliet. ‘Let me be put to death, I am content’. This constant reminder that the lovers are prepared to sacrifice their lives for each other demonstrates how strong and powerful their love is, and also how romantic. The theme of death is a direct opposition to their love, which is so alive and new. Paris also expresses these oppositions of love, life and death when he finds Juliet dead. ‘O love, O life, not life, but love in death’.
Tybalt, Mercutio, Paris, and Romeo and Juliet all die of violent deaths. The 1st three die in sword fight. They are willing to risk their lives in fight, and their deaths do not hold as much meaning as Romeo and Juliet’s death, which is more tragic. In a way their death could have been avoided, despite the conflict, but it was a result of misfortune and serendipity, such as the letter not reaching Romeo. It seemed it was destined to be because earlier in the play Romeo had premonitions of the fate that awaited him. The way in which they do not hesitate in killing themselves at each other’s loss demonstrates their burning love and true romance.
The idea of Death being Juliet’s bridegroom is strongly lead throughout the play. Juliet first mentions this just after she has met Romeo. ‘My grave is like to be my wedding bed’. The contrasting ideas of a grave, which symbolizes the end of life, and a wedding, which is the beginning of a new life, are brought heavily into Act 4,scene 5. In this scene Juliet is found dead on her wedding day. There is much talk of her death, but also of the marriage that she was to have had. Capulet declares ‘ Death is my heir’. He means that death will inherit. ‘My daughter he hath wedded. I will die’. The language in this scene is very dramatic. Many strong adjectives expressing the tragic situation.‘ Unhappy, wretched, hateful day’, ‘O woeful, woeful day’. The effect of this is to emphasize the distress Juliet’s family is feeling it creates a strong opposite to the joy of the wedding. Funeral arrangements were changed into from the previous wedding festivities. ‘ Turn from their office to black funeral’.
Romeo and Juliet are objects of fates cruel consequence. There is an apprehension of misfortune, a feeling of dread that hangs heavily over the play from the beginning. The prologue describes Romeo and Juliet as ‘star crossed lovers’. There are quite a lot of references to the stars in ‘Romeo and Juliet’; it could be perhaps that some people believe your fate to rest in the stars, and your destiny to be found in them. Romeo’s premonition in Act 1,scene 5,talks of the ‘consequence yet hanging in the stars’. Juliet also has a premonition in Act3, scene 5, ‘ Methinks I see thee now …as one dead…’ It seems Romeo and Juliet has to battle against something out of their control. They try to escape their doom but there are ill fortunes that fix the tragedy in place. For instance the letter failing to reach Romeo and Romeo arriving back before Juliet awakes. Romeo tries to defy his fate. ‘Then I deny you stars.’ But it seems fate has planned that Romeo and Juliet must die to end the feud between their two families. It works. At the end of the play the two families join together and decide to be friends at last. There is a big chance noticeable here in the language spoken between the two noble families. At the beginning of the play Montague says ‘ Thou villain Capulet’ which is an insulting word. But at the end Capulet uses language such as ‘O brother Montague’. ‘Brother’ is a term of friendship and respect.
Shakespeare’s uses much opposition throughout the play. He uses oxymoron’s a lot, especially when a character is describing their love for another. He also compares their love to things, such as ‘fire’ and then opposes them with a comparison to the ‘sea’. Innate objects, such as light are used a considerable amount within the play and usually compared to darkness. Many of these words are symbolic; for instance light represents the Romeo and Juliet’s love and what they see in each other. Darkness represents their sorrow and misfortune.
Love and Hate are strongly opposed in Romeo and Juliet and yet they run alongside each other closely and link to each other. ‘ My only love, sprung from my only hate’ Juliet says. The two families hate each other, but Romeo and Juliet’s love is innocent and good, so different to the evil and violence, which stems from their families’ hatred. This is effective because it shows that their love is powerful enough win in the end, even if it costs them their lives. The constant overhang of death provides a strong opposition to the bright joy and life, which their love entreats.
The passion and intensity of their love combined with the sexual innuendoes of Mercutio provide an effective comparison with Romeo and Juliet’s sweet and devoted love and innocence. The romantic language used by Romeo and Juliet is an effective opposition to Mercutio’s crude sexual jokes.
Romeo and Juliet’s courage and serious mindedness to work against everything that stands in their way oppose the unstoppable sense of foreboding and the working of fate. The power of their love has the effect of making them stronger.
