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Handout #8
Romeo and Juliet
Oxymorons/Metaphors/Similes
Background:
An oxymoron is a rhetorical figure in which contradictory terms are combine to create a particular effect
for the reader.
Some examples are:
Act naturally Clearly misunderstood –
Pretty ugly Pure evil Small crowd –
Example:
In Act 1.1.171-177 of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo speaks to Benvolio about Rosaline. Romeo says,
“…Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate.
O anything of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep that is not what it is!
This love feel I that feel no love in this…”
Shakespeare uses oxymorons in this passage to convey to the reader just how “lovesick” Romeo is. He is
very emotional and overly dramatic about his feelings for Rosaline. Later, Romeo discovers that this love”
was not true.
Practice #1:
Almost at the end of Act II, scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet says to Romeo,
“…Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”
1. Circle the oxymoron in this passage.
2. What is Juliet saying to Romeo?
Practice #2:
In Act III, scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet speaks to Nurse about Romeo. She says,
“O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face.
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical,
Dove-feathered raven, wolfish-ravening lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st!
A damned saint, an honorable villain!
O nature what hadst thou to do in hell
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?
Was ever book containing such vile matter
So fairly bound? O, that deceit should dwell
In such a gorgeous palace.”
1. Circle the oxymorons in the above passage.
2. What is Juliet saying in this passage? How does Shakespeare’s use of oxymorons help convey Juliet’s
message to the reader?
Handout #8
Romeo and Juliet
Oxymorons/Metaphors/Similes
Background:
A metaphor is a language trick that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things without
using like or as. A simile is a language trick that makes a comparison using like or as.
Example:
Metaphor: In Act 1.1.185 of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo says the following about love:
“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs;”
Simile: In Act 1.1.144-148 of Romeo and Juliet, Montague says this of Romeo:
“But to himself so secret and so close,
So far from sounding and discovery,
As is the bud bit with an envious worm
Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air
Or dedicate his beauty to the sun.”
Practice #3:
Explain Romeo’s metaphor in Act 1.2.55 when he says, “Shut up in prison, kept without my food.”
Explain Lady Capulet’s extended metaphor in Act 1.3.80-88.
In Act 2.2.119-120, why does Juliet compare her and Romeo’s declarations of love to lightening? What
does the metaphor in lines 121-122 mean?
In Act 2.2.133-135, Juliet uses similes to describe her love for Romeo. What does she compare her love
to and what does she mean?
Explain the metaphor in Act 3.2.102-104.
Identify the simile in Act 3.4.133-134.
In Act 3.5.54-57, identify the simile used by Juliet and explain what she means.