Romeo And Juliet Symbolism Essay

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Romeo and Juliet is a play written by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare uses symbolism to depict the theme of love. Firstly, Shakespeare uses poison to symbolise the theme of forbidden love. For instance, when Romeo arrives at Juliet’s tomb and finds that she ‘dies’, he drinks the poison, and says "Here's to my love! O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus I die with a kiss (5.3.119-120)”. This establishes that Romeo killing himself symbolizes love because when he drinks the poison, it shows that he truly loves Juliet, as he would rather die than live without her. Furthermore, the poison is also a symbol of love because after Romeo and Juliet die, the poison heals the rivalry between the families. The families realize how pointless their feud is, as it has …show more content…
Secondly, Shakespeare uses the imagery of light and darkness to symbolise the theme of love. For example, when Romeo sees Juliet for the first time, he gets mesmerized by her beauty as if she is “a snowy dove trooping with crows (1.5.46)”. This establishes that Shakespeare uses the contrast between the dark feathers of a crow and the light feathers of a dove to show Romeo’s attraction towards Juliet, as Romeo chooses Juliet out of all the other girls he could have chosen from. Furthermore, Romeo describes Juliet as “a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear (1.5.43-44)” because of how she shines and stands out in the dark night like how the rich jewel would sparkle on the dark skin of an Ethiop. Moreover, light and darkness also symbolises love as darkness gives the lover’s privacy. When Romeo gets banished, he says “more light and light, more dark and dark our woes! (3.5.36)”, which shows that Romeo and Juliet see each other as ‘light’, and for them to shine, they would need the contrast of darkness in the night. Lastly, Shakespeare uses the symbol of the star to develop the theme of
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