Jacob Nef

Mrs. Balka

Pre-AP English 9

30 November 2017

Romeo and Juliet Essay

Love is widely known as a feeling of joy or happiness, but it can just as easily be

described with words like sorrow and pain. The play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by

William Shakespeare touches upon this concept. Romeo and Juliet love each other, but as it says

in the title, their love ends in tragedy and they both die. At one point in the book, Juliet finds out

that Romeo, her husband, has killed her own cousin, Tybalt, in a duel. Juliet uses imagery to

convey her powerful love for Romeo before she finds out he killed Tybalt, and then proceeds to

use imagery to display her betrayed feelings and anger towards him after she is informed of

Tybalts death.

Juliet portrays a strong love for her husband Romeo before she knew that he had killed

her cousin. While in her room, Juliet talks to herself about her husband, who will make the face

of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with the night, (3.2.24-25) if he were stars,

demonstrating her deep passion for him. Juliet uses the metaphor with Romeo, stars, and heaven

to highlight the religious or celestial motif in this scene. The reference exhibits just how much

she loves Romeo. In a religion, people worship someone or something. Many religions believe

heaven and stars to be holy or sacred in some way, therefore the love Juliet has for Romeo is not

unlike the saint worshipping his god, or the way a priest sees his bible. Juliet uses imagery to

portray Romeo as almost sacred and holy, like the heavens. She then compares herself to an

impatient child that hath new robes and may not wear them, (3.2.31-32) revealing her childlike
impatience about the night. A child with a new robe or toy is eager to play with it or wear it for

the first time. Juliets love for Romeo is like unto the child and the new toy. She has gotten it by

marrying Romeo, and now she is excited to actually experience his love. She wants to wear her

metaphorical new robes as soon as possible. She uses this imagery to exhibit how she loves

Romeo to the point that she cant wait for him to arrive.

Juliet uses more imagery to express her feelings towards her husband now that she knows

he killed her cousin. Juliet describes Romeo as a damned saint, (3.2.84) after she is informed

of Tybalts murder, displaying her new confusion and anger concerning Romeo. She refers to

Romeo as a saint and made many comparisons between him, god and angels earlier in the play.

To say that he was a damned saint is to say that he wasnt what she thought he was. She thought

of him as celestial, holy like a saint, but after she knew of his deeds, he changes in her eyes.

Juliet saw Romeo as a killer, so his saint like appearance is blotted out with the sins she knew he

had committed, and that was when she made the comparison of a damned saint to Romeo. When

Romeo killed Tybalt, the fact that Romeo, her husband, had done it, likely confused and angered

her. In her same fit of anger over her lover, Juliet likened Romeo to A book containing such vile

matter so fairly bound, (3.2.88-89) showing how she now feels betrayed and tricked. In this

metaphor, Romeo is the book, and he is fairly bound. In other words, he appears amazing and, in

Juliets eyes, almost perfect. However, he contains such vile matter as Juliet put it. She thought

him perfect, but he then reveals his true colors when killing Tybalt. Juliet has been tricked and

feels betrayed because Romeo isnt who she thought he was when she married him. This imagery

can contribute to Juliets rage and feelings of betrayal towards Romeo.

Juliet comes to realize that she still loves Romeo and expresses her romantic feelings for

him through imagery and figurative language. While her maid calls shame to Romeo, Juliet
objects and says that upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit, (3.2.99) revealing the love she

still has for her husband, despite his crimes. Juliet uses this personification of shame to display

how she believes that Romeo does not deserve to have shame. She protects his name still from

her maid when she called for shame to come upon him. By protecting her husband, she shows

her affection for him. Juliet then learns of Romeos banishment and shows how she feels by

comparing that one word, banished, and how it would be the same as if Romeo slain ten

thousand Tybalts, (3.2.120-121) exhibiting how she loves Romeo even though he killed her

cousin. She is essentially saying through this imagery that banishing Romeo is much worse than

Tybalts death. To say that means that she obviously still has a powerful love for her husband.

Juliet uses imagery to develop her feelings for Romeo even after she knows that he killed Tybalt.

Juliet uses imagery and figurative language to display her deep affection for Romeo, and

then uses imagery again to demonstrate her newfound rage and betrayal. She then goes to reveal

how she still loves her husband with more figurative language. The figurative language she uses

is important because it is how she shows her feelings about her situation. It shows the drastic

change in Juliets feelings for Romeo from before she found out about Tybalts death and after,

and then once she realizes she still loves him.