Romeo and Juliet Group

Question:

gerardlivermore
gerardlivermore

What language devices and techniques are used in act 1, scene 2, lines 7-43  of "Romeo and Juliet"?

Rate question:

Posted by gerardlivermore on Sunday June 28, 2009 at 5:24 AM and tagged with figurative language, juliet, language devices/ techniques, lord capulet, romeo and juliet.

Answers:

  1. mwestwood
    mwestwood Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    But saying o'er what I have said before;/My child is yet a stranger in the world;/She hath not seen the change of fourteen years,/Let two more summers wither in their pride,/Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride. (I,ii,7-11)

    In his conversation with Paris who wishes to wed his daughter, Lord Capulet uses metaphors of Nature in his references to his daughter.  In Act I, Scene II of "Romeo and Juliet" he refers to her as a fruit that has not yet ripened as on a tree that needs to be "two summers" older before it will bear good fruit.

    In lines 13-34, Capulet furthers also the theme of the impulsiveness of youth as he warns Paris, "And too soon marr'd are those so early made."  The light/dark imagery prevalent in the play emerges in lines 24 as Capulet invites Paris to attend the celebration for Juliet:

    At my poor house look to behold this night/Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven light:/

    And, again, Capulet returns to the theme of the need for caution in youth, a theme reinforced later by Friar Lawrence in his "violent delights have violent ends" speech to Romeo:

    Such comfort as do lusty young men feel/When well-apparell'd April on the heel/Of limping winter treads, even such delight/Amon fresh female buds shall you this night/Inherit at my house; hear all, all see,...Which on more view of many, mine, being one,/May stand in number, though in reckoning none, (I,ii,25-32)

    In addition to the age/youth, caution/impulsiveness theme, Capulet in the above lines continues the extended metaphor of youth being like Nature:  Young men are like April, the virginal girls like flowering buds.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/romeo-and-juliet-text

    Rate answer:

    Posted by mwestwood on Sunday June 28, 2009 at 12:23 PM