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.
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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.
What are some similes in Romeo and Juliet?
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...
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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.
What are some similes in Romeo and Juliet?
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.
What are some similes in Romeo and Juliet?
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 fromtheir 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."
What are some similes in Romeo and Juliet?
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
What are some similes in Romeo and Juliet?
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?
Shakespeare is a wordsmith for the ages. He is the master of figurative language—metaphors included. Metaphors often get confused with similes. Remember that smilies compare two seemingly unlike things or ideas with the words "like" or "as." A metaphor makes a comparison without using these words. One example of a metaphor is when Juliet waits for Romeo to come to her on the wedding night. She compares the darkness of night to a woman:
"Come, civil night,Thou sober-suited matron, all in black" (III.ii.11-12).
As shown above, the night is a woman dressed in black. Again, notice that she doesn't say that the night is like anyone; rather, she calls it a "sober-suited matron." Thus, this is an example of a metaphor, not a simile.
Another possible example of a metaphor in Romeo and Juliet might be when Lord Capulet tells the Friar that his daughter is dead. This line is mostly personification—a type of metaphor that gives human characteristics to something not human. Capulet personifies Death by assigning human roles to it:
"Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir" (IV.v.40).
As shown above, Lord Capulet sees Juliet's death as the future that he has lost. For example, he will not have Paris as a son-in-law, and he will not have a grandson because death has taken their places.
What are two examples of metaphors in Romeo and Juliet?
William Shakespeare's tragedyRomeo 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 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.