Romeo and Juliet Group

Question:

jemmamcgarrity09
jemmamcgarri...
Student
High School - 11th Grade

Can anyone help with contrasts on romeo and juliet?

I am doing a higher essay on the contrasts of Romeo and Juliet, and I dont have a clue of what to write. Could anyone help?

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Posted by jemmamcgarrity09 on Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 10:37 AM and tagged with contrast, romeo and juliet.

Answers:


  1. santari

    eNotes Editor

    There are many different contrasts you could talk about; I think one of the most interesting is the contrast between light and dark in the play.  Before Romeo meets Juliet he is associated with darkness, and to him light is ponderous:

    Give me a torch. I am not for this ambling.
    Being but heavy, I will bear the light.
    (Act I, Scene iv)

    Immediately upon meeting Juliet, his appreciation for light as it is associated with her is established:

    O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
    (Act I, Scene v)

    And of course, the famous line:

    But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
    It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!
    (Act II, Scene ii)

    But in the play, light is not always good, because it as night that Romeo and Juliet can be together. During the day, destruction and violence occurs.  For example, the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio takes place during the day.

    For Romeo and Juliet, light is both good and bad, perhaps best illustrated by Juliet's line:

    Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
    Take him and cut him out in little stars,
    And he will make the face of heaven so fine
    That all the world will be in love with night
    (Act III, Scene ii)

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/romeo/light-dark-romeo-juliet

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    Posted by santari on Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 11:19 AM