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Shakespeare uses the images of light and darkness for several reasons. One reason is to symbolize the sexuality that is a dominant theme. Romeo's feelings of sexual attraction for Juliet are ...
- The Motif of Light and Dark in Romeo and Juliet
- Romeo and Rosaline
- Juliet and The Light
- Ending Darkness
- Darkness Swallows Romeo and Juliet
- Comments
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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This passage represents Shakespeare’s inversion of common preconceptions about day and night, light and dark. While day and light are usually purifying, happy symbols, within the world of the play, the dawning sun is garish, draining, and loathed because it represents the end of Romeo and Juliet’s time together—and the threat of being discovered by their families in the harsh light of day.
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. On the contrary, light and dark are generally used to provide a sensory contrast ...
Juliet is the light that frees him from the darkness of his perpetual melancholia. In the famous balcony scene Romeo associates Juliet with sunlight, "It is the east and Juliet is the sun!" (2.2.3), daylight, "The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars/As daylight doth a lamp" (2.2.20-1), and the light emanating from angels, "O speak ...
Quick answer: 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. As the light increases (daytime), their troubles (darkness) also grow because Romeo, who has been banished, risks death if he is found in Verona. Therefore, the ...
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory. (Click the symbolism infographic to download.) Like a candle in the darkness, the imagery of light in dark comes up a lot in Romeo and Juliet. "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright," Romeo says when he first sees Juliet. "It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night / As a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear" (1.5. ...
