Images Of Light And Darkness In Romeo And Juliet Essay, Research Paper
In his play, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare weaves a timeless tale. Although it is over 400 years old, Romeo and Juliet, is as interesting today as it was at its inception and my guess is that its appeal lies in its subject matter.
Shakepeare picked a theme that s been known to cause indigestion and sleep loss for centuries. And yet, regardless of the ills associated with it, it remains a topic of worldwide interest. And that is simply, love.
My mother says that love is one of the most overused, misunderstood words in the English language. Over time, I ve asked friends what they thought it was. I ve always received differing answers. It s when he opens the door. It s when she does the laundry. It s that thing that causes insanity. It doesn t exist. It existed only in the middle ages. It s what everyone is hunting for and no one can find. Forget about it.
Merriam Webster s Collegiate Dictionary (Tenth Edition) defines it as: 1. (1): strong affection for another rising out of kinship or personal ties. 2: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion. 3: unselfish loyal and benevolet concern for the good of another. 4: to thrive on.
Spiritual masters say that love is all there is. They also say in order to truly know something, one must know it s opposite. To know hot, one must experience cold. To know sorrow, one must have known joy. To love, one must hate. (Or at least come pretty damned close to it.) Without darkness, one cannot appreciate light.
Professors of English say that the greatest writers are those who can hook their readers. Those who can propel a story forward. Divide and contrast. Divide and contrast, they say. Friction produced by opposing forces creates great drama. Shakespeare is a great dramatist.
In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare opens with a prologue that basically outlines the entire play. After finishing line fourteen, the reader isn t required to continue reading because he/she knows the outcome. Shakespeare has given the reader the end. There really is no reason to read on. And yet they do.
The reader continues because Shakespeare was a genius at creating dramatic tension. In Romeo and Juliet, he uses two main vehicles to do so. One is the theme of love (Romeo and Juliet) versus hate (The Montagues and the Capulets). The other is the theme of darkness and light.
For purposes of this paper, I will look briefly at the use of light and dark imagery as it is associated with the two main characters, Romeo and Juliet.
When we first meet Romeo he is a stereotypical lover: cherishing solitude and night, pensive, pale and sad. He is rejected. And he assumes the attitude of a rejected suitor. He writes poetry, his speech is a series of contradictory exclamations. As is evident in Act I at the end of Scene II, Romeo is in a very, very dark mood. At this point, Romeo s character, symbolizes darkness. He is dismal, gloomy, and lacking color.
Juliet is introduced in Act I, Scene III. Shakespeare initially presents what appears to be a somewhat docile young girl. It isn t until later in the scene that we see Juliet take on a bit of life. When Lady Capulet asks her daughter how she feels about marrying, Juliet replies, It is an honor that I not dream of. Later upon Lady Capulet s urging Juliet to consider marrying Paris, Juliet answers, I ll look to like, if looking like move.
We see by her comments that Juliet is certainly not docile, nowhere near a pushover. By the end of the scene Shakespeare introduces a spice to Juliet s character. We begin to see her as lively, independent, and cocksure, it is obvious that she inhabits a much lighter emotional world than does Romeo.
By introducing Romeo in darkness, and Juliet in light, Shakespeare sets the stage for a contrast that he utilizes throughout the play. Romeo s darkness doesn t last long however.
In Act I, Scene IV, Romeo is still moping about lost love. Even though he s on his way to a dance, Romeo claims he wants to carry a torch, he has no interest in dancing. Mercutio, his witty friend, continually prods him until Romeo begins what becomes a playful and witty exchange of words. Although Romeo claims that he is still suffering over the loss of his great love, we begin to see a lighter side of his nature. However, before the scene ends, Romeo tells Mercutio about his bad dream, and says that he is filled with premonitions of something about to happen that can only lead to his death. Again, Shakepeare is employing the technique of divide and contrast to build tension and move the play along.
After two scenes of preparation, we come to the party at Lord Capulets. Romeo is there to see lost love, Rosaline, and Juliet to consider marrying Paris. But, the moment Romeo sees Juliet, he praises her: O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright (light) Beauty to rich for use, for earth too dear. Romeo s speech contains images of Juliet as a jewel in the ear of an Ethiopian and as a dove among crows, is strong. He immediately places her in the context of whiteness, purity, and light amidst darkness.
Tybalt overhears Romeo s speaking, becomes immediately furious, calls for his sword, and prepares to fight. Again the idea of light is quickly overshadowed by Tybalt s reaction to Romeo s voice. By introducing the threat of violence (darkness), Shakespeare intensifies the emotional effect of this, and actually many moments, by quickly changing the pace and contrasts inherent in the setting.
Before the scene is over, Romeo and Juliet have met, fallen in love, and discovered the nature of each other s familial backgrounds. Again, love (light) is contrasted with anger and violence (darkness), having the offspring of two ancient enemies meet and fall in love heightens the contrast and catapults the story line forward.
Beginning in Act II, Scene I, we are introduced to a new Romeo. Gone is the sorrowful young man he once was. Even Mercutio s constant ribbing about the easily forgotten Rosaline, stirs no anger. Romeo has been transformed.
Romeo is as love-sick as Mercutio teases him for being, but in a new and different way, and with a different woman. Throughout the scene we see Romeo listening with mixed emotions to comments that have lost their sting and yet offend his newfound passion. It is this that elicits his retort to Mercutio, you joke about old, healed scars of love, but you never even felt a wound such as I now have to suffer with. (Even in the light, Romeo is still haunted by things dark).
As Mercutio s laughter echoes down the street, Romeo sees a light coming from a window in Capulet s house. And there on the balcony, stands Juliet. Romeo is struck by Juliet s loveliness. But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Romeo is enraptured. He compares her eyes to stars, saying if they were set in heaven, birds would think it was daylight by their brightness.
Romeo s speech draws on images that express light. The sun. The moon. The stars. Juliet becomes light in the middle of Romeo s perceived darkness.
When Juliet finally speaks, she is mournful. Why must she love Romeo? Why a Montague? How can she love the enemy? Romeo s light stands on the balcony wrapped in mournful darkness.
Standing in the dark, so to speak, thinking she is alone, Juliet admits her love for Romeo. After realizing that she is not alone, that she is in Romeo s company, Juliet is overcome with feeling. She compares love to a brief flash of lightning in the darkness, a short brilliance in the night.
Romeo, in turn, blesses the night, for it has brought him joy. Both Romeo and Juliet love the night because it lets their love shine out, but they sense a menance in it as well. It is here that Shakespeare brilliantly begins to contrasts darkness and light.
Romeo and Juliet stay with each other almost until the dawn. During the night they are able to display their love, but with the coming dawn, the drudgery of the workaday world must be resumed. It is during this light, the light of day, that the darkness which accompanies all those involved in the Capulet and Montague feud reigns.
No sooner does Romeo leave Juliet than does he run to speak to Friar Lawrence. The Friar, being a very sound and philosophical man, knows that this love cannot last. The Friar agrees to marry the two young lovers, however, his feelings about the union are described in his following words: These violent delights have violent ends/And in their triumph die, like fire and powder/which as they kiss consume.
Friar Lawrence marries Romeo and Juliet. But he knows that the marriage is but a calm before the storm. The Friar s words are a prophecy. By its very nature, the love which Romeo and Juliet have chosen cannot last. Their love is not moderate and longlasting. It can only be as Friar Lawrence warns: lit up in a brief but brilliant flame, consumed by itself, and in the end, by death. (Darkness overtakes light).
The day that Romeo weds Juliet should bring lightness, and joy, however, the lightness, is not sustained. Soon after the wedding, Mercutio fights Tybalt. As Mercutio dies, Romeo stands stunned, muttering to himself at the indignity he feels over what has happened. Romeo loses his lightheartedness, and can see nothing but the blackness of the day. The blackness of many days to come.
Avenging Mercutio s death, Romeo kills Tybalt. This scene marks the turning point in the play. It turns it from high romance to tragedy. In a matter of hours, Romeo has been hurled from his position of new found ecstacy to one of misery. Here Shakespeare, utilizes the contrast between light and dark, to push the drama forward. What better way to snag an audience than to offer them a hint of romantic bliss, a bit of lighthearted happiness, and then, swiftly steal it from them by means of death, darkness, and murder.
Romeo is having a bad day. But what a day for Juliet. We forget about her, waiting at home, yearning to consumate the marriage, until we read her famous soliloquy.
Juliet yearns for her Romeo. She invokes night, and she invokes Romeo, the lover who is day in night, and who will glide on the wings of the night like new snow on a raven s back. All Juliet asks is that this night bring Romeo to her. The only light she needs is Romeo himself. After that, even if he dies, the night may take him back, may set him in the heavens with the stars. Night blesses her love with its darkness and silence and lets that love shine out. In this soliloquy, Juliet uses many images, but the interesting thing is that they are based on unifying images of day and night. Darkness and light. Shakespeare s uses the images of darkness and light in this scene to foreshadow the mixed emotions Juliet will have when she finds out that her cousin, Tybalt is dead, and that her Romeo has been the one that slayed him.
After the nurses brings news of Tybalt s death, Juliet plummets into her own misery. The scene has moved from Juliet s anticipation of her wedding night to the gloom of Romeo s banishment and the threat of death. Everything that once seemed joyous (light) is now evil (dark).
Moving right along, we know that both Romeo and Juliet feel doomed. They are enveloped in darkness. The thought of Romeo s banishment creates panic in them both. However, Romeo knows he has to leave. Before he does, both he and Juliet will find a way to spend the night together.
The night that Romeo and Juliet spend together proves to be filled with joyous love. Only daylight brings cruel light. As the light increases, the darkness of the pain inherent in their inevitable parting also increases. Daylight not only brings separation, but, as we have seen in Juliet s last words, death.
Romeo and Juliet live in darkness; the day and the parting seem to make the life of their love impossible, seem to threaten to replace the love that they find in the darkness of night, with the eternal darkness of death.
The imagery of light and dark, so played upon in their courting, has begun to take shape and effect the action. Evil, fate, and the realities of the outside world are becoming connected to the daytime. Love, or, light, is possible only at night, and stands opposed to all other elements in the play.
In the end, Shakespeare utilized the images of light and dark, as well as the themes of love and death, to illustrate that essentially all contraries become one. I believe that that was the point of the play, it was Shakespeare s way of saying all is all, and that s all there is.
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