Does Shakespeare Use Soliloquies In Romeo And Juliet

Explore the ways that Shakespeare uses soliloquies to express the emotions of Romeo in the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Shakespeare uses many literary devices such as imagery, personification, antithesis, dramatic irony as well as rich vibrant adjectives and nouns, to make the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ emotive and powerful. All of these are employed in the prologue as well as in soliloquies of Act 2 Scene 2 and Act 5 Scene 3 to express the emotions of Romeo.
In the prologue the context of the story is set describing the love between the children of two feuding families. Thus preparing the audience of the woeful end through negative adjectives and nouns: 'misadventure’, ‘piteous’, ‘death’ ‘bury’, ‘strife’, ‘fearful’, ’death-mark 'd’, ‘rage '. Similarly throughout the play Shakespeare uses antithesis of opposing nouns and adjectives 'ancient..new ', 'bright..night ', 'fair sun…envious moon ' thus sparking the interest of the audience whilst representing the turmoil of the story.
In Act 2 Scence 2 Shakespeare shows Romeo overcome with intense youthful love through his repetitive use of the possessive pronoun 'my ' thus declaring ownership of
his love. As Romeo gazes up at Juliet 's room she appears through the illuminating light of her room and Romeo proclaims 'Juliet is the sun '. This metaphor indicates she is the centre of Romeo 's universe and all other heavenly bodies revolve around her. He continues to use celestial hyperboles to highlight her beauty and his adoration of her 'eyes in heaven ' would 'stream so bright ' that birds 'would think it not night '. Furthermore the rhyming couplets ‘….. so bright’, ‘…..were not night’ reaffirms the the joy of the couple while indicating to the audience the finality of the scene. The difference in the use of heavenly imagery in the prologue compared to Romeo 's soliloquy is that the former conveys the message of ill fated love whereas in the portrays the immense admiration that Romeo feels for his beloved. Additionally Shakespeare uses the simile ‘as daylight doth a lamp’ to emphasise how Juliet’s beauty over powers the stars like the brightness of daylight overpowers the lamp.
In Act 2 Scene 2 Romeo was in love, young and hopeful however by Act 5 Scene 3 the language in his soliloquy becomes dark exemplifying the depths of his sorrow’. Some words have been used in both soliloquies but carry very different meaning from each other. For example the word ‘light’ is common in both however in the latter it is used to explain that Juliet’s beauty cannot be conquered by death. Similarly ‘stars’ has a very different connotation to it’s use in the previous soliloquy as it comes with negative adjectives ‘inauspicious’ resembling in effect to ‘star-crossed’ in the prologue; a doomed love.
Moreover Shakespear personifies ‘death’ not as a state but as a being that has the capacity to do actions ‘death that hath sucked’.
Romeo refers to death as a military being 'conquered ', ‘Death’s pale flag ' and states ‘Death is amorous’ and it is a ‘monster’ which covetously ‘keeps’ his Juliet. Here the audience senses that Romeo feels inclined to battle 'death ' for taking away his Juliet. Romeo speaks of entering into ‘bargain’ with Death. Romeo also addresses death and describes the pair as on a metaphorical journey ‘thy seasick weary bark’ which will inevitably also be his end. References to death show it as a being to be contended with and not just an inevitable state. By these words the audience realises Romeo 's abject sense of despair will spur him on into a contract with death which can only mean impending
suicide.
Throughout the play Shakespeare involves the audience in the overall plot and events that individual characters are not aware of. This creates a sense of dramatic irony and an internal struggle in the audience, especially in Act 5 Scene 3 as the audience knows Juliet is alive and only in a drug induced coma nevertheless Romeo commits suicide needlessly and thus Juliet follows. The audience helplessly watches the love story come to its inevitable tragic end as was foretold in the prologue.