Sunday, November 3, 2019

What are some language techniques in Romeo and Juliet that are about love?

When Romeo first sees Juliet and falls in love with her, he says,

If I profane with my unworthiest handThis holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready standTo smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.  (1.5.104-108)

Romeo says that his hand is unworthy of touching such a holy shrine, a metaphor for Juliet's hand.  Next, in another metaphor, he says that his lips are like two pilgrims, travelers who might journey to such a shrine, who can make things better with a kiss.
Then, once Juliet learns from her nurse that this man with whom she has fallen in love is a Montague, she uses a paradox to describe the strange situation, saying, "My only love sprung from my only hate!" (1.5.152).  How can it be possible that love can come from hate?  These two seem to conflict, not go together.  However, because we know that Romeo is the son of Juliet's father's great enemy, her love and her hate (theoretically) center on the same person: Romeo. 
Romeo steals into Juliet's garden, and, seeing her, he says, "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? / It is the East, and Juliet is the sun" (2.2.2-3).  Romeo compares Juliet, via metaphor, to the sun, making it clear just how important he feels she is to him now.  Just as we need the sun to sustain our lives, Romeo feels that Juliet has become necessary to him.  In another metaphor, he refers to her as a "bright angel" (2.2.29).  His overwhelming feeling of love for her prompts him to make these comparisons.

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