Religous and Light and Dark Imagery

RELIGIOUS IMAGERY

The imagery of religion is often used in the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’. It is always found within the theme of love. Firstly, it is associated to Romeo's first love Roseline. And further on to Juliet Romeo's second and most important love.
In act 1, we find religious imagery related to Roseline. ‘ ..Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold..’ here Romeo is talking to Benvolio about his rejection by Rosaline and is saying that she will not let herself be seduced by him and his gold who would seduce even a saint. '. Then, when Romeo tells his friend that he cannot teach him to forget, Benvolio replies, "I'll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt . The use of religion imagery here is meant to accentuate Romeo’s feelings for Roseline. Before knowing Juliet , Romeo thought that his feelings for Roseline were strong and pure. He was infatuated. He uses religious imagery to describe he in order to show how true and strong his love for her was. Even if later on in the play, we realize that it was not the case.
’Perhaps the most obvious religious imagery in 'Romeo and Juliet' comes in Act I, Scene 5, when Romeo and Juliet meet at the ball at her home. This time it is obviously associated to Romeo’s second love, Juliet. They start to talk to each other about love, but they do so in very religious terms. Romeo: ‘If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand.’ During this passage, Romeo compares Juliet to the statue of a saint, and himself to a religious pilgrim. I think this is a way of showing the reader that their love is pure and good and also that love is blind like faith. The whole conversation is an extended Christian metaphor and by using it Romeo ingeniously manages to convince Juliet to let him kiss her. Furthermore, he compares Juliet to an image of a saint that should be worshiped, a role that Juliet is willing to play. At the time this religious imagery could be seen as a blasphemy from the Anglican and puritan church who saw this worship of saint's image as a kind of idol worship, and were extremely against it.

LIGHT AND DARK IMAGERY

One of the play’s most important is made between light and dark, often in terms of night/day imagery. The opposing of light and dark in the play is generally used to underline the contrast between two things, ideas, or people. Throughout the play this imagery is associated to love and to Juliet’s mental and sexual evolvement .

When Romeo first sees Juliet he describes her beauty using light and dark imagery. 'O she doth teach the torches to burn bright' Romeo thinks that Juliet shines brighter that any torch because of her beauty. Then Romeo continues saying 'It seems she hangs upon the cheeck of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear' I think this contrast is used to make Juliet's beauty shine even more compared to the blackness of night and of an Ethiope. During the balcony scene Romeo compares Juliet to the sun and then compares her eyes to stars. Both things that have to do with light. He also defines her as the moon's maid and as a bright angel. Here the imagery is used to emphasize Romeo's deep and true love for Juliet, it is also making Romeo's speech more poetic and romantic.

When Juliet meets Romeo she is still a child. She has never been in love before and hasn’t had any experience with men. When her mum asks her what she think about marriage Juliet answers that it is not something she thinks about. This shows us that Juliet is a naïve child who hasn’t thought a lot about love and marriage before meeting Romeo. She says she wants the world to love ‘night’ and in saying so, she wants the world to know what it is to love. I think she also wants to know what it will be like to physically love Romeo and she is using the contrast of ‘night’ and ‘day’ to show her desire to grow up quickly and fully commit to an adult life . She has had enough of the "garish sun" and really wants to experience "night", she wants to experience what love really is , let herself go to Romeo and the strong feelings she has for him. She wants day to draw to a close, and with this close, she also wants to put an end to her child-like existence.