Romeo and Juliet: Figurative Language Analysis

Literary Devices and Figurative Language

• The phrase 'star-cross'd lovers' uses metaphorical language to describe Romeo and Juliet's ill-fated love.
• In the line 'Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean', the literary device of oxymoron is used to highlight the contradiction between civil (peaceful) and blood.
• The line 'The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love' employs the literary device of metaphor to describe the perilous nature of Romeo and Juliet's love.
• In the line 'With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls', the literary device of metaphor is used to describe the power of love to overcome obstacles.
• The line 'And what love can do that dares love attempt' employs rhetorical question to emphasize the limitless power of love.
• The line 'The orchard walls are high and hard to climb' uses hyperbole to emphasize the difficulty of overcoming obstacles.
• In the line 'For stony limits cannot hold love out', the literary device of personification is used to describe love as an unstoppable force.

The Prologue and Character Insights

• The prologue serves to introduce the conflict and tragic fate of the two main characters, Romeo and Juliet.
• Juliet's quote 'What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, / Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part / Belonging to a man' highlights her perception that a name does not define a person's identity.
• Juliet's figurative language in lines 25-26 'What’s in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet' uses metaphor to emphasize that a name does not change the essence of a thing, relating to the theme of appearance vs. reality.

This quiz contains excerpts from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, including the prologue and the famous balcony scene. The reader is asked to take notes on how the figurative language used in the passage contributes to the themes of the play.