What are some metaphors and similes in Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet?

There are many metaphors and similes in the first act of this play. While both are examples of figurative language, a simile is when the writer compares one thing to another using "like" or "as" while a metaphor is a means of describing something by applying a description of something else to it. For example, when Romeo says "love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs," he is using a metaphor to better convey his opinion through imagery. Later, in discussing Paris as a marriage prospect for Juliet, Lady Capulet and the Nurse describe him as "a flower," another metaphor.

Benvolio uses an example of simile when he describes a Cupid "scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper." More romantically, when Romeo first sees Juliet, he says that she "hangs upon the cheek of night / Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear." The use of metaphor and simile is a means of illuminating a character's language by providing the audience with a visual image for comparison; here, Romeo is suggesting that Juliet glows and stands out among her peers in a way he cannot help but notice.

What metaphor from Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet continues in Act 2?

The strongest metaphor used in Romeo and Juliet has to do with light and dark.

Romeo compares Juliet to the moon, the source of light in the darkened sky, though not to burning torches and to the sun rising in the morning.  She is the source of light, or hope, in his world, which in a time of "ancient grudge" and "new mutiny" must be a struggle to find.

“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
Oh, that she knew she were!”

For Romeo, good things seem to happen in the darkness; it is where he meets Juliet at the ball, and again at the balcony.  He spends the night with her after killing Tybalt.  However, when daylight breaks, things don't tend to go so well.  He kills Tybalt in the daytime, and he hears of Juliet's "death" during the day also.

When Romeo is to leave Juliet's bedroom in the morning they have a prolonged discussion of how they wish to change night and day, or light and dark:

Jul. Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day:
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear;
Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree:
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

Rom. It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops:

I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

Jul. Yon light is not daylight, I know it, I:
It is some meteor that the sun exhales,
To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,
And light thee on thy way to Mantua:
Therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone,

Rom. Let me be ta'en,, let me be put to death;
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.
I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye,
'T is but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;

Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat
The vaulty heaven so high above our heads:
I have more care to stay than will to go:
Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so,
How is't my soul? let's talk; it is not day.

Jul. It is, it is; hie hence, be gone, away!
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.
Some say the lark makes sweet division;
This doth not so, for she divideth us:

Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes;
O! now I would they had changed voices too,
Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,
Hunting thee hence with hunt's up to the day.
O! now be gone; more light and light it grows.

Rom. More light and light; more dark and dark our woes.”

What metaphor from act 2, scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet is relevant to the entire play?

When Juliet speaks to Romeo from her balcony, she professes her love for him, but she expresses hesitation for overhasty promises due to the suddenness of his appearance and the tenuous nature of his secretive visit to enemy territory. In lines 116–122 of Act 2, Scene 2, Juliet sums it up thusly:

Although I joy in thee,

I have no joy of this contract tonight,

It is too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden,

Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be

Ere one can say it lightens. Sweet, good night!

This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath,

May prove a beauteous flow’r when next we meet.

Juliet uses two metaphors in this segment: she compares his promise of love to lightning* because it has been made so quickly. And she compares his love to a bud, which needs time to reach the full beauty of a bloom. 

But although she's telling him to slow down, they end up moving quickly to marriage, and in less than a week, both will be dead. Her comparison of their love to a flower has an ironic double meaning, because summer flowers are a temporary beauty; they fade less quickly than lightning, yes, but they fade nevertheless, showing their beauty only briefly during their short lifespans. These metaphors are both appropriate to the play at large because their love, like lightning and wildflowers, encompasses a few moments of splendor followed by nothingness.

*Juliet's comparison uses the word "like," making it a simile. Many students think that metaphors and similes are opposites or separate categories. In fact, similes are a type of metaphor, so this example fulfills the requirement of the assignment.

One of the best metaphors in Act 2, Scene 2 can be seen in Romeo's opening speech. In his third line, he compares Juliet to the sun in the line, "It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!" (3). Since the sun is bright, radiant, and glorious, the metaphor serves to illustrate Juliet's beauty as equally radiant and glorious. The metaphor serves to appropriately characterize Romeo as one who is not only captivated by Juliet but also fixated on physical beauty.

A second appropriate metaphor can be found later in the scene. After Juliet says, "'Tis almost morning. I would have thee gone--" (189), an extended metaphor is drawn likening Romeo to a pet bird whom she wishes she could "pluck" back into her palm with a "silk thread," keeping him prisoner the way a "wanton," or spoiled child would. In other words, Juliet is likening Romeo to, and wishing he was, a prisoner. The metaphor is further extended when Juliet says that if he were her pet bird she "should kill [him] with much cherishing" (197). In other words, her affection shown through hugs and petting and kissing would be so overwhelming for Romeo as a little bird that she might smother him to death. Likening Romeo to a prisoner pet bird is very appropriate in how it captures the love the couple shared. Because the couple was divided and suffered a great deal of sorrow, their love felt more like a prison than an uplifting element. Not only that, the further extended metaphor of likening Romeo to a smothered pet bird also appropriately captures both their feelings toward each other and their pending doom. Romeo did indeed die as a result of the love he felt and received from Juliet.

What are examples of metaphors in Act II, Scene II of Romeo and Juliet?

In the infamous balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet, a number of metaphors emerge. A metaphor is when two seemingly unlike things are being compared in order to reveal something about the subject.

Upon seeing Juliet in the window, Romeo says:

But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief,

That thou her maid are far more fair than she:

Be not her maid, since she is envious;

Her vestal livery is but sick and green

And none but fools do wear it; cast if off.

In this example, the word Juliet is being compared to the sun. Romeo arrived to her balcony late in the evening, but (figuratively) it’s no longer dark outside since Juliet is full of light. If she were to come out or “arise,” the moon would no longer be out. Romeo then describes how the moon is jealous of Juliet since she is prettier than it.

Once Romeo reveals himself to Juliet and attempts to swear his love to her, she cautions him:

I have no joy of this contract to-night:

It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;

Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be

Ere one can say ‘It lightens.’ Sweet, good night!

This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath,

May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.

In this example, there is both an example of a simile and a metaphor. As Romeo pushes to swear his love to her, she stops him and compares his words or “contract” to “lightning.” She worries that his words are like lightning, meaning they will come and go fast and not really mean anything. She then refers to their love as a “bud.” She uses this metaphor in order to slow down their relationship, expressing that the bud will grow into a flower; in other words, their entire relationship doesn’t need to develop that night - it can develop over time.

What is a metaphor from act 2, scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet?

A metaphor is a comparison that does not use the words like or as. Romeo, ever the wordsmith and in love with love, has fallen so head over heels in love with Juliet that he scales the high walls of her home in search of her. He sees her on her balcony, and before she knows he is there, speaks to her in the language of love. Never one to hold back from his exuberant emotions, Romeo immediately uses two metaphors as he compares Juliet to the sun and to an angel. To him, everything else fades to darkness against her:

Juliet is the sun.

O, speak again, bright angel!

When Juliet does become aware that Romeo is on the grounds of her home, she becomes nervous that he will be discovered by one of her male relatives and killed. She also wonders how he ever scaled the high wall surrounding her home. He compares himself to a creature with wings which allowed him easily to get over the wall. In other words, love gave him the needed strength to do this:

With love’s light wings did I o'erperch these walls.

Never at a loss for words, Romeo compares the moon to a painter who tips or puts silver paint on the tree tops, describing what they look like in the moonlight--they look as if they were painted by the moon:

Lady, by yonder blessèd moon I vow,

That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops

Act 2, Scene 2, of Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous scenes in all of theater history. It is the balcony scene, where Romeo and Juliet become infatuated with one another. There are many metaphors in this scene. I will list two of the famous metaphors and give a description of what they suggest.

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? / It is the East, and Juliet is the sun! (II.ii.2-3)

In this line, Romeo proclaims that the light breaking in the window is "the East," and Juliet is "the sun." This is a metaphor, as he is describing Juliet as the sun. In this metaphor, Juliet is given natural, dynamic qualities. Furthermore, the sun was an important image in Renaissance times, and comparing Juliet to it is a high compliment.

This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, / May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. (II.ii.127-128)

Juliet describes their love as a flower. In this meeting, their love is only a bud, but time will grow their love in the same way that summer ripens and opens the bud of a flower. 

In Act 2, Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet, what metaphor does Romeo use to express his feelings?

Romeo uses two metaphors together:

I'll tell thee, ere thou ask it me again.
I have been feasting with mine enemy,
Where on a sudden one hath wounded me,
That's by me wounded: both our remedies
Within thy help and holy physic lies:

The bolded metaphor compares his experience with Juliet to an eating experience. Eating involves consuming and digesting. Each of these great actions make clear the connection to a love relationship. Romeo demonstrates the internal fulfillment he is getting from the connection to Juliet, although he has yet to reveal which enemy he has been feasting with.

Then, the italicized portion--which I believe is the greater metaphor--compares their love connection to the connection between two enemies. Enemies hurt each other. Using the sense of wounding each other, Romeo asks the friar to remedy the wounding of each other by marrying them. This wounding rings true with love because a cancelled love, or love that cannot be fulfilled physically, hurts. For Romeo the only solution will be a full and complete commitment, just like marriage can provide.

What are all the metaphors in Romeo and Juliet, act 2, scene 3?

As Scene 3  of Act II begins, Friar Laurence gathers herbs with which he makes potions and medicines. While he gathers these flowers and plants, the priest appreciates the beauty of the sunrise.

Metaphors

•  The friar describes the sun as "Titan's fiery wheels." This metaphor compares the sun to the mythological representation of it.
• "Revolts from true birth" is metaphoric for turning away from its true function.
• "Two such opposed kings encamp them still" is metaphoric for the plants and herbs possess beneficial and harmful characteristics.
• "What early tongue" is a metaphor for who is speaking.
• "Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye" is metaphoric for worry and stress keep old men awake.
• "And where care lodges".... is a metaphor for where care exists.
• "unbruised youth" is a metaphor for a perfect youth.
• "golden sleep" is restful sleep as a metaphor.
• "I have forgot that name..." is a metaphor for having forgotten about Rosaline.
• "The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears" is metaphoric for time has hardly passed.
• "Thy old groans ring yet in mine ancient ears" is metaphoric for the old complaints against Rosaline still are in his memory.
• "And bad'st me bury love" is a metaphor for getting over it.
• "Wisely and slow.  They stumble that run fast." Friar Laurence's concluding passage is about the dangers of being impetuous-

What's a metaphor in Act 3, Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet?

There a few examples of metaphor in act III, scene iii of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. One of the most recurring uses of metaphor in this scene is personification, in which inanimate objects are metaphorically compared to humans. (We should note that not everyone considers personification to be a form of metaphor, but I think one can make the argument that it is.) In Friar Lawrence's opening lines, the Friar personifies both affliction and calamity, and in Romeo's response, Romeo personifies sorrow:

FRIAR LAURENCE

Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man:
Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts,
And thou art wedded to calamity.

Enter ROMEO

ROMEO

Father, what news? what is the prince's doom?
What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand,
That I yet know not?

All of these inanimate qualities and emotions are imbued with will and desires by the figurative language employed in these lines.

Another use of metaphor occurs a few lines later, when Romeo says,

Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe,
And smilest upon the stroke that murders me.

Obviously the Friar is not literally beheading Romeo in this moment; instead, Romeo is comparing the Friar delivering what he perceives to be devastating news and calling it mercy to an executioner smiling as they put someone to death. Ouch!

Another example, later in the scene still, can be found in Romeo's lines:

Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy
With blood removed but little from her own?

The metaphor here is "the childhood of our joy." By this, Romeo means that he and Juliet have only recently married and is comparing their short joyous time together to childhood. This metaphor is telling because it implies not just a short time span but also a quality of innocence which Romeo, in killing Tybalt, has destroyed.

What are some similes in Romeo and Juliet?

In act 1, scene 4, Mercutio and Benvolio try to convince Romeo to go with them to the party at the Capulet house. Romeo is still feeling melancholy because the girl he thinks he loves, Rosaline, does not reciprocate his love. He has not yet met Juliet. Mercutio, trying to convince Romeo to stop sulking and go to the party, says: "We waste our lights in vain, like lamps by day." This simile suggests that Romeo is wasting his time—and his youth—by obstinately sulking over one girl, when he could be enjoying himself at a party. Wasting his time like this is, Mercutio says, like burning a lamp during the day. In other words, it is futile and unnecessary.

In act 2, scene 3, Juliet worries that the intensity of her first meeting with Romeo might not augur well. She worries that the love they feel for one another might be too intense and too violent. She says that it is "too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; / Too like the lightning." This simile, comparing their love to lightning, suggests that their love will be intense but short lived. This proves of course to be a tragically accurate prediction.

In act 2, scene 6, Friar Laurence echoes Juliet's concerns about the love between her and Romeo when he says that it is "like fire and powder." The "powder" referenced here is gunpowder, and the "fire" is the spark that lights the gunpowder. This simile thus suggests that Romeo and Juliet's love will burn brightly for a short while before ultimately ending in an explosion—that is to say, tragically.

My favorite simile quote from the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is when the author has Romeo compare Juliet to something richly-colored, sparkling, pricelessly valuable and ornamental:

"like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear"

The whole image is richly exotic and underlines the glamorous surroundings of the play's setting (when compared to muddy, grey smelly old Shakespearean London!) The Italian city night-time scene is wonderfully evoked by the image Romeo paints in our minds of a warm, scented dark evening, with sweet music, torchlights, dancing and everyone in their prettiest colored clothes. And the central star (for Romeo) is Juliet. We can imagine the size and priceless value of the glittering stone (it must be quite long to hang down from ear to cheek) and can also imagine the softness of Juliet's cheek, as well.

Simile is used in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the beginning of Act 1.4.

Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio (of the house of Montague) and others are in the process of entering the house of Capulet to join a party.  The boys, who are "crashing" the party, are joking about whether they should be announced or should just enter without apology.

Benvolio says:

We'll have no Cupid hoodwinked with a scarf [no blind Cupid introducing them--the presenter at events like this would sometimes be dressed as Cupid],

Bearing a Tartar's painted bow of lath [a bow shorter than the traditional English long bow],

Scaring the ladies like a crowkeeper,...

Crowkeeper is simply a scarecrow.  Thus, Benvolio says that the boys will not be introduced at the party by a presenter dressed like Cupid, carrying a small bow, who will scare the ladies like a scarecrow scares crows.  That is a simile. 

The presenter scaring the ladies is compared by the use of the word, like, to a scarecrow scaring crows. 

One of my favorite similes in Romeo and Juliet occurs in the balcony scene (act II, scene ii):

ROMEO:
A thousand times the worse, to want thy light.
Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from
their books,
But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.

The comparison occurring here states that two people in love are drawn to each other as strongly as school children are drawn away from their studies. This is said as the two are saying their goodbyes and begin to make plans for their next meeting. It is saying that their desire to return to each other is be powerful, at least according to Romeo.

What makes this a simile is the comparison between the longing for love, and the lack of longing for school. It also uses the word "as."

As I am sure that you know, a simile is when someone compares one thing to another and does so directly.  So it is like when someone says "my love is like a red, red, rose."  They are comparing their love to a rose and they are clearly doing so, using the word "like."

Romeo uses a simile in Act I, Scene 4 when he is talking to Mercutio.  He compares love to a thorn.  He says

Is love a tender thing? it is too rough,
Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.

Then, when he sees Juliet at the feast at her house, Romeo starts to talk about how beautiful she is.  He uses another simile.

It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear

In Act II, scene 2 (the famous balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet), there are several similes. For example, Romeo says, "bright angel! for thou art/As glorious to this night, being o’er my head/As is a winged messenger of heaven/Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes/ Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him" (lines 26-30). In other words, Romeo compares Juliet, who is standing on her balcony above him, to an angel who people fall backwards to gaze at in the heavens. Later in the scene, Romeo says, "Yet, wert thou as far/ As that vast shore washed with the farthest sea,/ I would adventure for such merchandise" (lines 82-84). Here, Romeo says that were Juliet as far away as the farther shore, he would still try to reach her. 

Later, in Act IV, scene 3, Juliet uses similes when she speaks about her fear of being closed in a tomb to fake death. She describes the yells she might hear while in the tomb as, "shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth" (line 48). In this line, she is comparing the screams of the dead to the supposed screams of a root called a mandrake, which, according to legend, was supposed to yell when it was torn from the earth.

What are two examples of metaphors in Romeo and Juliet?

William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet is fraught with metaphors! A metaphor is a form of figurative language which applies non-literal descriptions in order to draw comparisons between two otherwise unrelated things. We see many metaphors in the first few acts of the play as Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in love. One might argue that the use of this kind of language is more artful, more poetic, and heightens the emotional and dramatic stakes of the dialogue. 

In Act One, Scene Five, Romeo has crashed the Capulet family's celebration. It is here that he first sees the lovely Juliet and remarks:

...It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night

Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear..."

Romeo uses this metaphor to compare Juliet's appearance to that of beautiful jewelry, rendering her as exotic and mysterious with his reference to Africa.

When Romeo and Juliet finally do meet later in this same scene, Romeo proclaims:

If I profane with my unworthiest hand

This holy shrine, the gentle is this:

My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand

To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

Again, Romeo uses metaphor to compare Juliet's hand to a holy place (implying that touching her is a spiritual experience) and to identify his lips a"pilgrims" (a word which refers to a person who travels to a sacred location).  The impression that this leaves us with is that Romeo and Juliet's connection is almost religious or a matter of destiny. 

What are some metaphors in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and what do they compare?

A metaphor is a type of figurative analogy. Analogies compare two things to show their similarities. Metaphors are very specific analogies in that they don't merely say that something is like something else in the way that similes do; instead, metaphors say that something is something else in a figurative sense, meaning not literally. Dr. Wheeler gives us Martin Luther's example of a metaphor, "A mighty fortress is our God" ("Literary Terms and Definitions: M"). In this line, the metaphor is comparing God to a fortress by saying that God is a fortress. However, of course, God is not literally a fortress; therefore, this is a figurative analogy. Many different metaphors can be found all throughout Shakespeare's plays, especially Romeo and Juliet. Below is an idea to help get you started.

One very interesting metaphor can be found in Prince Escalus's speech in the very first scene:

... you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins! (I.i.79-81)

Even though the phrase "purple fountains issuing from your veins" does not contain the verb is, we know it is a metaphor because veins don't literally emit purple fountains. Instead, Shakespeare is using this metaphor to describe the vicious blood letting being caused by the feud between the Montagues and Capulets. What Shakespeare is comparing here is the blood that can spill from a flesh wound caused by a sword to a fountain pouring fourth purple liquid. Since a fountain pours forth much more fluid and much faster than just a vein, the metaphoric image is showing just how much blood the Montagues and Capulets are spilling.