Romeo and Juliet Light and Dark Essay
Jaida D. Cintron
Ms. Wilson English I Honors
8 June 2013
Loving All Five Sides
Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare is a drama based on love. The drama is about how two foes find love despite an old grudge. The two central motifs throughout the play are light and dark. In Romeo and Juliet the light and dark concepts also exemplify life and death. The two protagonists, Romeo and Juliet, portray the motifs of light and dark. The two motifs in the play emphasize the theme of how love conquers all the senses. The motif of darkness is expressed throughout Act I Scene I. From the beginning of the play, Montague compares Romeo to things of darkness or death, Montague says, "Many a morning hath he there been seen with tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew, adding to clouds and more clouds with his deep sighs; But all so soon as the all-cheering sun should in the farthest east began to draw the shady curtains from Aurora's bed, away from light steals home my heavy son and private in his chamber pens himself, shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, and makes himself an artificial night," (I.i.125-133) in this passage Montague is trying to explain to Benvolio and Lady Montague that whenever the sun comes up Romeo shuts the curtains so that he may create an "artificial night" but nobody has an understanding of why he must do this. The dark motif is also present throughout Mercutio's Queen Mab speech. Towards the begging of Act I scene IV, Mercutio tries to convince Romeo push his lovesickness over Rosaline aside and to come along to the Capulet feast. When Romeo says that he is depressed because of a dream, Mercutio begins his speech of Queen Mab and he implies that she is the "mastermind of dreams." Queen Mab is a fairy who brings dreams to sleeping humans and throughout Mercutio's speech of Queen Mab he rambles on about nonsense, he is trying to describe to us that Queen Mab and her carriage aren't just symbolizing the dreams of
Ms. Wilson English I Honors
8 June 2013
Loving All Five Sides
Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare is a drama based on love. The drama is about how two foes find love despite an old grudge. The two central motifs throughout the play are light and dark. In Romeo and Juliet the light and dark concepts also exemplify life and death. The two protagonists, Romeo and Juliet, portray the motifs of light and dark. The two motifs in the play emphasize the theme of how love conquers all the senses. The motif of darkness is expressed throughout Act I Scene I. From the beginning of the play, Montague compares Romeo to things of darkness or death, Montague says, "Many a morning hath he there been seen with tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew, adding to clouds and more clouds with his deep sighs; But all so soon as the all-cheering sun should in the farthest east began to draw the shady curtains from Aurora's bed, away from light steals home my heavy son and private in his chamber pens himself, shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, and makes himself an artificial night," (I.i.125-133) in this passage Montague is trying to explain to Benvolio and Lady Montague that whenever the sun comes up Romeo shuts the curtains so that he may create an "artificial night" but nobody has an understanding of why he must do this. The dark motif is also present throughout Mercutio's Queen Mab speech. Towards the begging of Act I scene IV, Mercutio tries to convince Romeo push his lovesickness over Rosaline aside and to come along to the Capulet feast. When Romeo says that he is depressed because of a dream, Mercutio begins his speech of Queen Mab and he implies that she is the "mastermind of dreams." Queen Mab is a fairy who brings dreams to sleeping humans and throughout Mercutio's speech of Queen Mab he rambles on about nonsense, he is trying to describe to us that Queen Mab and her carriage aren't just symbolizing the dreams of