Identify and explain a simile used by Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, act 1, scene 5.
Romeo compares Juliet to a jewel.
Romeo is quite smitten with Juliet, the girl he meets at the ball. He shows this by using figurative language. One type of figurative language is a simile . A simile is an indirect comparison that usually uses the words “like” or “as” and...
See This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this answer and thousands more. Enjoy eNotes ad-free and cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
is often used in poetry. You can often use it to woo a girl (or boy)!
When Romeo first sees Juliet, he describes her with simile.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear (Act 1, Scene 5)
An “Ethiop” is an Ethiopian. Ethiopia is a country in Africa. The natives there would have been known for wearing earrings. He is basically saying that Juliet is just as beautiful. Actually, Romeo puts a simile on top of a metaphor here, because he added that to the “cheek of night” metaphor. He goes on to say she is so beautiful that she is too good to belong to this world. Yes, Romeo seems to believe in love at first sight!
When Romeo and Juliet finally do meet, they share a sonnet’s worth of metaphors, comparing their lips to pilgrims, for example. It may seem as if Romeo and Juliet fall in love quickly, but this exchange shows that they are intellectual equals as well as equally attracted to each other.
ROM:
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
JUL:
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.(Act 1, Scene 5)
The value of the simile, and the metaphor, to the audience is that they show that Romeo and Juliet are deeply in love, and also deeply committed. It is easy to dismiss their romance as love at first sight or a quick, childish fling. Remember, though that Shakespeare tells us in the prologue that they were star-crossed. Both of them seem to have a deep, almost spiritual connection.
Identify an alliteration and a simile in Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5.
It is easy to find a simile in Act 1, Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet. A famous one is Romeo's reaction to Juliet's beauty when he sees her for the first time.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear—
That is, like a precious stone attached to the ear of a person with a dark skin. The simile may seem far-fetched, but a lot of the poetry in this early play of Shakespeare does not come up to what is found in his greatest plays, such as Hamlet and Macbeth.
As far as alliterations are concerned, there are only a few. For example, Tybalt says:
TYBALT
Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe;
A villain, that is hither come in spite
To scorn at our solemnity this night.
Tybalt's vicious nature makes him seem to be hissing with the "S" sounds at the sight of his hated enemy. His rancor is in strong contrast to the rhapsodic reaction of Romeo at his first sight of Juliet. Juliet thinks he is moving too fast when he offers to kiss her hand and compares his lips to pilgrims.
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.
In other words, it is all right to hold her hand but not to kiss it. But in a few moments he will be kissing her on the lips!
After being severely reprimanded by his uncle, Tybalt is still hissing when he speaks to himself:
I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall,
Now seeming sweet, convert to bitt'rest gall.