Figurative Devices In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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“Don't waste your love on somebody, who doesn't value it.” - William Shakespeare. This is a powerful Shakespearean quote with almost universal validity. In the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, a pair of star-crossed lovers meet and fell in love. This ill-fated love led to insurmountable problems, and finally, a tragic end. The feeling of sadness in this passage is shown through figurative devices such as metaphors, personification, Irony, and oxymorons. The theme of this story is vividly portrayed throughout the play: love is more powerful than hatred. Metaphor is used to create a sense of loneliness and sadness. “A pair of star-cross’d lovers” creates a sense of distance like the stars being far from each other, yet looking so close. …show more content…
Romeo and Juliet’s deaths “bury their parents’ strife” is simply saying that their demise ended hatred and showed a sense of loss and sacrifice. At the end of the story in which both the young teens die, their parents realize their mistake and stop the feud and then become united as a symbol of their children’s deaths. Burying their parents’ strife is also ironic because the teens are the ones buried since they have killed themselves. Both Romeo and Juliet are portrayed as martyrs who sacrificed themselves to end the feud, which could have killed more than just two people. In this sense Shakespeare is showing how the love between Romeo and Juliet solves their family’s hatred. Shakspeare uses oxymorons to show contrasts in his sonnet. An example would be “civil hands unclean”; civil is supposed to mean good will, while unclean means stained with blood in this case. This shows the influence that hatred can have over who we are. Another example is “death-mark’d love,” which shows another oxymoron contrasting death, a sad thing, and love, a happy thing. Arguably the greatest playwright to ever live on earth, Shakspeare in the final scene leaves us a question: is love stronger than hate? From analyzing all the events that happen in Romeo and Juliet, the audience has to decide whether true love will prevail. Personally, I believe that Shakespeare is saying that love from the heart will always be stronger than unrelenting
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