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- Night is a key symbol in the play because it protects the characters. When Romeo is in Juliet’s garden he tells her 'I have night’s cloak to hide me from their sight'. Night makes him feel safe. We also see Romeo sneaking into Juliet’s room at night time to consummate their marriage.
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What does light and dark imagery symbolize in Romeo & Juliet?
What is light and darkness in Romeo & Juliet?
What does dark mean in Romeo & Juliet?
What does Romeo's statement about light and darkness mean?
Light and dark imagery can symbolize many different things in Romeo and Juliet. Literary critic Clifford Leech argues that the contrast between light and dark imagery shows that, since their...
- The Motif of Light and Dark in Romeo and Juliet
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- Ending Darkness
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The images of light and dark are one of the most constant visual motifs in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Characters such as Benvolio, Juliet, and Romeo, who exhibit goodness, innocence, and love, are often seen giving off light, discussing light, or in the presence of light. Characters who exhibit violence, evil, and death are often assoc...
Associations almost instantly follow the very first mention of Romeo in the play with light and with darkness. After Montague’s wife asks Benvolio whether or not he has seen Romeo, he responds with, “…an hour before the worshipped sun / Peered forth the golden window of the east,…so early walking did I see your son” (I.1.117-22). After this, Montag...
Juliet is almost always associated with light. Almost immediately before Romeo meets Juliet, there is a foreshadowing by Romeo of his meeting with Juliet. “Give me a torch. I am not for this ambling. / Being but heavy, I will bear the light” (I.4.11-12). Not only is this a pun on the word light, but it is also a foreshadowing of Romeo’s bearing the...
Darkness is a perpetual presence in the final scenes of the play. When Paris is traveling to Juliet’s grave, he has a torch indicating that it is night (V.3.1). This is one of the darkest scenes in the play, both figuratively and literally. Finally, after Romeo and Juliet’s death, Prince Escalus gives a final speech saying, “A glooming peace this m...
Throughout the play, light and dark are almost as large of a presence as some of the characters. Light is seen when there is love, hope, and joy; darkness is present when hatred and death are afoot. All of these light and dark images foreshadow what is going to happen by the end of the play. Just as night swallows the day, so does darkness swallow ...
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Light/Dark Imagery. One of the play’s most consistent visual motifs is the contrast between light and dark, often in terms of night/day imagery. This contrast is not given a particular metaphoric meaning—light is not always good, and dark is not always evil.
The light versus dark in the play deals with marriage, thumb biting, poison, death, sunlight, nighttime, sex, and last but not least plants. Light is presents as darkness is to hope, love, and purity. Darkness is the symbol of evil, death and fear. Light in this play refers to happiness, future, and true love.
But darkness (not night) brings negativity in the play. Darkness is traditionally linked with evil and death. Lord Capulet only talks to Juliet about Paris when it is dark outside. Romeo and Juliet both commit suicide when they are in the dark tomb in Act 5.
In Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", Romeo's statement about light and darkness signifies the growing danger and sorrow he and Juliet face with the arrival of daylight....
In this simile, Romeo compares Juliet’s radiant beauty against the backdrop of night to an earring sparkling against the dark skin of an Ethiopian person. But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
