antithesis romeo and juliet

Love and Hate in Romeo and Juliet

By Chris Nayak Globe Education Learning Consultant

I love you! I hate you!

Have you ever said those words? Did you mean them? Have you had them said to you? How did that make you feel?

In Romeo and Juliet, the emotions of love and hate are the lifeblood of the play. Everything that happens seems to be caused by one, or both, of these two forces.  Shakespeare frequently puts them side by side: ‘Here’s much to do with love but more with hate’ , ‘my only love sprung from my only hate’ . Such juxtaposition of conflicting ideas is called antithesis, and Shakespeare loves using it. In every one of his plays, this clash of opposing ideas is what provides the dramatic spark to make the play come to life.

But in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare makes frequent use of a particular type of antithesis: the oxymoron. This is when two conflicting ideas are contained within a single phrase, maybe in just two words.  We use oxymorons in everyday speech:

‘Act naturally’, ‘organised chaos…’

Romeo uses many of them:

‘Cold fire, sick health…’

Later, Juliet joins in:

‘Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical…’

But this play has many more oxymorons that any other Shakespeare play. Why does he choose this literary technique for Ro meo and Juliet ?

For me, it’s the perfect way of capturing how you feel when you’re young. The extremes of new and worrying feelings and the fact that you can flip from one emotion to the opposite in a heartbeat.

How can you in one moment having  carefree and happing conversation with your parents, brother or sister or friend and then because of a look or a comment, you are filled with anger and hatred for people you know that you love/ Although it was a long time ago, this is exactly how I remember being as a teenager. And an oxymoron is just that – two extremes expressed in a second. Adults tend to qualify, quantify, and have more shades of grey. Perhaps they grow out of having feelings like this. But for some young people, this is how life is experienced.

Romeo shares this last viewpoint. When the Friar tells Romeo to see the positives in his banishment, Romeo attacks him, saying ‘thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel’ . And why doesn’t the Friar feel this way? Because he’s old, says Romeo. ‘wert thou as young as I…then mightst thou speak’ .

The type of love and hate that Shakespeare is depicting in this play belongs to young people, and oxymorons are the way to show it. Of course, some of the older characters feel their version of these emotions (Lord Capulet and Lord Montague join the brawl in the first scene), but Shakespeare’s focus is on the younger generation.

But are love and hate really opposites?

Even though Shakespeare sometimes places them in opposition, maybe they are not as different as we might think. In the play, there seem to be a lot of similarities between people when they are full of love, and when they are full of hate.

Romeo’s describes the hate he feels when Tybalt kills his friend Mercutio as a fire raging inside him. ‘Fire-eyed fury be my conduct now’ he says. The Prince is similar, ordering the families to ‘quench the fire of your pernicious rage’ .

But Romeo uses similar imagery when burning with passion for Juliet. ‘She doth teach the torches to burn bright’ , he says. ‘Juliet is the sun’ , a ‘bright angel’ . Juliet also expresses her love in the same way: Romeo is her ‘day in night’ .

The author Elie Wiesel once said that ‘the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference’ . Despite all the opposites and contrasts in this play, maybe Shakespeare thinks the same.

What do you think?

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List of characters

The house of Capulet

JULIET CAPULET her father LADY CAPULET her mother TYBALT her cousin NURSE to Juliet PETER the Nurse’s servant COUSIN CAPULET Juliet’s kinsman SAMPSON servant to Capulet GREGORY servant to Capulet CLOWN servant to Capulet PETRUCHIO Tybalt’s friend

The house of Montague

ROMEO MONTAGUE his father LADY MONTAGUE his mother BENVOLIO his friend BALTHASAR his servant ABRAM Montague’s servant

ESCALES Prince of Verona MERCUTIO his kinsman, Romeo’s friend PARIS his kinsman, suitor to Juliet PAGE to Paris

FRIAR LAWRENCE Franciscan priest FRIAR JOHN Franciscan priest

Musicians, Gentlemen and Gentlewomen, Maskers, Torch-bearers, Citizens and Officers of the Watch, Captain of the Watch

An apothecary

The Play is set in Verona and Mantua

Chorus (a narrator) gives a preview of the play: the bitter quarrels of the Montagues and Capulets are ended only by the death of their children, Romeo and Juliet.

1 What began the feud? (in small groups)

But why were the Montagues and Capulets such bitter enemies? Shakespeare never tells us and no one really knows. Talk together about why you think these two families should have been at each other’s throats for so long. Prepare a short scene to show what long-ago incident sparked off the age-old hatred (‘ancient grudge’) between two of Verona’s leading families. Present your scene to the class.

2 Oppositions – antithesis

Romeo and Juliet is full of oppositions: Montagues versus Capulets, parents versus children, for example. The language reflects those oppositions by the use of antithesis (opposing words or phrases, see also p. 216), as in line 3 where ‘ancient’ is set against ‘new’. Identify the opposition in line 14, and look out for other oppositions as you read through the play.

3 Perform the whole play! (in groups of six or more)

The Prologue gives an outline of the play. Work out your own short drama to show all the action described. One person reads the Prologue aloud, a line or section at a time. The others mime what is described. Each group shows its Prologue in turn.

4 Write your own sonnet

The Prologue is in the form of a sonnet (fourteen lines). There are several sonnets in Romeo and Juliet . Turn to page 217 to learn more about sonnets, and try your hand at writing one.

The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

The prologue

Enter CHORUS.

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona (where we lay our scene), From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes        5 A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife. The fearful passage of their death-marked love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage,        10 Which but their children’s end nought could remove, Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. [ Exit ]

Capulet’s servants, Sampson and Gregory, joke together and boast that they are superior to the Montagues. Suddenly two of Montague’s servants appear. Sampson urges Gregory to pick a quarrel with them.

1 Brave or cowardly? (in pairs ã as Gregory and Sampson)

Read lines 1–36 aloud together several times, changing roles. Try to emphasise all their wordplay of puns and double meanings. For example, in lines 3–4 Sampson’s ‘we be in choler, we’ll draw’ means ‘being angry, we’ll draw our swords’. But Gregory’s reply, ‘draw your neck out of collar’, turns the meaning into ‘pull your head out of the hangman’s noose’ (‘choler’ = anger, ‘collar’ = noose).

   After you have spoken the lines, talk together about these two characters. Are they really as brave as they brag they are?

2 What do you think?

Here’s what one student wrote about Sampson and Gregory:

Times never change! Like typical men these boneheads boast about their sexual prowess and turn everything into a sex-joke (‘stand’, ‘thrust’, ‘maidenheads’, ‘tool’, ‘weapon’). Why on earth did Shakespeare put such crude characters and language into a play that’s about love, not sex?

Write your reply to her question.

3 Set the scene

At the beginning of each scene, a location is given (here it is ‘Verona A public place’). But in Shakespeare’s theatre the action took place on a bare stage, with little or no scenery. Suggest a simple way in which you could convey to the audience that this scene takes place in the open air in Verona.

Act 1 Scene 1

Verona A public place

Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY , with swords and bucklers.

SAMPSON    Gregory, on my word, we’ll not carry coals.

GREGORY     No, for then we should be colliers.

SAMPSON     I mean, and we be in choler, we’ll draw.

GREGORY     Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of collar.

SAMPSON     I strike quickly, being moved.      5

GREGORY    But thou art not quickly moved to strike.

SAMPSON    A dog of the house of Montague moves me.

GREGORY    To move is to stir, and to be valiant is to stand: therefore if thou art moved thou runn’st away.

SAMPSON A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague’s.     10

GREGORY    That shows thee a weak slave, for the weakest goes to the wall.

SAMPSON    ’Tis true, and therefore women being the weaker vessels are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push Montague’s men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall.      15

GREGORY        The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men.

SAMPSON    ’Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I have fought with the men, I will be civil with the maids; I will cut off their heads.      20

GREGORY    The heads of the maids?

SAMPSON     Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads, take it in what sense thou wilt.

GREGORY    They must take it in sense that feel it.

SAMPSON     Me they shall feel while I am able to stand, and ’tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh.      25

GREGORY    ’Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou hadst been poor-John Draw thy tool, here comes of the house of Montagues.

Enter two other SERVINGMEN, [ one being ABRAM].

SAMPSON     My naked weapon is out. Quarrel, I will back thee.

GREGORY     How, turn thy back and run?      30

Sampson and Gregory begin a quarrel with the Montagues. Benvolio (a Montague) tries to make peace, but Tybalt (a Capulet) adds flames to the fire, seizing the opportunity to fight.

1 Where would you set the play? (in pairs)

The American musical film West Side Story was based on Romeo and Juliet . It was set in modern New York, with the lovers belonging to opposing gangs, the Jets and the Sharks (see picture below). Baz Luhrmann’s film William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet sets the action in Verona Beach, a mythical modern Hispanic-American city (see pictures on pp. vi, xi and 225).

   Talk together about other possible settings where the quarrels (that Shakespeare set in Verona) could take place. Look through the illustrations in this edition and decide which location and period you prefer. Set out the reasons for your preference in writing.

2 Tybalt – what’s he like? (in small groups)

Tybalt speaks only five lines (lines 57–8 and lines 61–3), but they tell a great deal about him. Choose one word from each line and work out a short mime using those five words to show Tybalt’s character.

SAMPSON    Fear me not.

GREGORY    No, marry, I fear thee!

SAMPSON    Let us take the law of our sides, let them begin.

GREGORY    I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it as they list.

SAMPSON    Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them, which is disgrace to them if they bear it.   35   

ABRAM    Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

sampson    I do bite my thumb, sir.

SAMPSON    [ Aside to Gregory ] Is the law of our side if I say ay?      40

GREGORY    [ Aside to Sampson ] No.

SAMPSON    No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.

GREGORY    Do you quarrel, sir?

ABRAM    Quarrel, No sir      45

SAMPSON    But if you do, sir, I am for you. I serve as good a man as you.

ABRAM    No better.

SAMPSON    Well, sir.

Enter BENVOLIO.

GREGORY    [ Aside to Sampson ] Say ‘better’, here comes one of my master’s kinsmen.      50

SAMPSON Yes, better, sir.

ABRAM    You lie.

SAMPSON    Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy washing blow.

BENVOLIO    Part, fools!      55

Put up your swords, you know not what you do.

[ Beats down their swords. ]

Enter TYBALT .

TYBALT    What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.

BENVOLIO    I do but keep the peace. Put up thy sword, Or manage it to part these men with me.      60

TYBALT    What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.Have at thee, coward.

[ They fight .]

A furious riot develops. Capulet and Montague join in. Prince Escales, angry and exasperated, stops the fight. He rebukes Montague and Capulet, and threatens death if they fight in public again.

1 A snapshot at the height of the riot (in large groups)

Each group member takes a part. There are at least eleven speaking characters so far. You can add as many other servants and officers as you wish. Use the hall or drama studio if you can, but it will work well in the classroom if you clear some space.

   Each group prepares and presents a snapshot photograph (a ‘tableau’ or ‘frozen moment’) showing the height of the riot at line 72, ‘Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace’.

   Your group ‘snapshot’ shows precisely what each character is doing at that moment. This means thinking carefully about what your character has said so far, then ‘freezing’ as that person at this moment in the riot. Remember, each character is doing something in relation to other characters, so try to show those relationships. For example, both Lady Capulet and Lady Montague seem to rebuke and mock their husbands. It takes time to think out, experiment and then present the most dramatic picture.

   Hold your ‘freeze’ for at least sixty seconds – with no movement whatever. The other groups watch for that time. They identify exactly who is who.

2 The all-powerful Prince (in groups of four)

The Prince holds the power of life or death over his subjects. He uses elaborate language (e.g. bloodstained swords are ‘neighbour-stainèd steel’). Read the speech aloud, each person reading just one line at a time. Read it again around the group, with a different person beginning the speech. After your readings, write notes advising an actor playing the Prince how to speak the different sections of the speech.

Enter [ several of both houses, who join the fray, and ] three or four Citizens [ as officers of the Watch, ] with clubs or partisans .

OFFICERS    Clubs, bills, and partisans! Strike! Beat them down! Down with the Capulets! Down with the Montagues!      65

Enter old capulet in his gown, and his wife [LADY CAPULET].

CAPULET    What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!

LADY CAPULET    A crutch, a crutch! why call you for a sword?

CAPULETM    My sword, I say! old Montague is come, And flourishes his blade in spite of me.

Enter old MONTAGUE and his wife [LADY MONTAGUE] .

MONTAGUE    Thou villain Capulet! – Hold me not, let me go.      70

LADY MONTAGUE    Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.

Enter PRINCE ESCALES with his train .

PRINCE Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, Profaners of this neighbour-stainèd steel – Will they not hear? – What ho, you men, you beasts! That quench the fire of your pernicious rage      75 With purple fountains issuing from your veins: On pain of torture, from those bloody hands Throw your mistempered weapons to the ground, And hear the sentence of your movèd prince. Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,      80 By thee, old Capulet, and Montague, Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets, And made Verona’s ancient citizens Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments To wield old partisans, in hands as old      85 Cankered with peace, to part your cankered hate; If ever you disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. For this time all the rest depart away: You, Capulet, shall go along with me,      90 And, Montague, come you this afternoon, To know our farther pleasure in this case, To old Free-town, our common judgement-place. Once more, on pain of death, all men depart. Exeunt [ all but Montague, Lady Montague, and Benvolio ]

Benvolio recounts the story of the riot. He tells Lady Montague how Romeo has avoided meeting him. Montague confirms that Romeo has been keeping to himself, preferring night to day.

1 Show Benvolio’s story of the riot (in small groups)

Take each moment in the developing fight as Benvolio tells it (‘Here . . . adversary’; ‘And . . . approach’; ‘I . . . them’; ‘in . . . prepared’, and so on). Notice how Benvolio mocks Tybalt’s style of fighting in lines 100–3.

   Present a slow-motion version and a fast-motion version of the story, showing each action described in lines 97–106. It helps to appoint a narrator who speaks the words as the other group members present the mime.

   As you watch other groups presenting their mimes, see if they perform every incident that Benvolio mentions. You’ll have to watch the fast-motion versions very carefully!

2 Give Lady Montague a voice

Lady Montague speaks only two lines, then is silent. She never speaks again in the play. Her silence suggests the powerlessness of women in Verona. Step into role as Lady Montague and write an entry in her diary. In it she expresses her concern for Romeo and also says what she thinks about the feud and the fight she has just witnessed.

3 What’s the matter with Romeo? (in pairs)

Take parts as Benvolio and Montague and speak lines 109–33 several times, changing characters. Talk together about Romeo’s behaviour as described in the speeches. Why is he behaving like this? Suggest a number of possible reasons.

Home » Shakespeare's Works » Elements » Figures of Speech » Figures of Speech by Name » Antithesis

Figures of Speech by Name: --> Antithesis

Antithesis (an-tith'-e-sis) is the juxtaposition of contrasting or opposite ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction. “The evil that men do lives after them,  /  The good is oft interred with their bones;” Julius Caesar, 3.2.82 . Similar to alliosis , which presents contrasting ideas as alternatives or choices.

Comparison , Parallelism

Notes on antithesis, the architecture of sonnet and song.

Let’s begin by stipulating that Ira Gershwin is not William Shakespeare. However, despite the gulf that separates their talents, they share some writing techniques that are useful tools for aspiring writers. For example, Shakespeare’s sonnet, That Time of Year , and Gershwin’s song, They Can’t Take That Away from Me* , are variations on a common template, … continue reading this note

Seduction or Harassment?

Shakespeare delights in the seduction ceremonies of bright men with even brighter women. These dialogues, whether between adolescents like Romeo and Juliet, more mature characters like Henry V and Princess Katherine, or seasoned adults like the widow Lady Grey and the sexual harasser King Edward, in this scene ( 3HenryVI 3.2.36 ), give Shakespeare opportunities to employ dazzling webworks of rhetorical exchanges. … continue reading this note

Sexual Extortion

In Measure for Measure (2.4.95) , Angelo, the classic sexual harasser, adopts a method of sexual extortion similar to King Edward’s in Henry VI Part 3 (3.2.36) .  Both men begin with oblique insinuations about their desires, which can be innocently misread. When the women, Isabella in  Measure for Measure and Lady Grey in Henry VI, … continue reading this note

Quotes including the Figure of Speech Antithesis

Now is the winter of our discontent.

Now Hyperbaton is the winter of our discontent Metaphor Made glorious summer Metaphor by this son of York, Paronomasia And all the clouds that loured Metaphor upon our house Metonymy In the deep bosom of the ocean Metaphor buried Hyperbaton & Ellipsis . … continue reading this quote

Richard III

Deceit , deformity , false fronts , peace , war, alliteration , anaphora , anastrophe , antithesis , apostrophe , ellipsis , epistrophe , hyperbaton , metaphor , metonymy , paronomasia , personification.

Celia Let us sit and mock the good housewife Fortune from her wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally. Personification Rosalind I would we could do so, for her benefits are mightily misplaced, and the bountiful blind woman doth most mistake in her gifts to women. Celia ‘Tis true, … continue reading this quote

As You Like It

Celia , rosalind, fools , fortune , nature , wisdom , wit, anadiplosis , antimetabole , antithesis , metaphor , paronomasia , personification.

Queen Katherine , to the King I am sorry that the Duke of Buckingham Is run in your displeasure.

When these so noble benefits shall prove Not well disposed, the mind growing once corrupt, They turn to vicious forms ten times more ugly Than ever they were fair.

King It grieves many. … continue reading this quote

Henry VIII , Queen Katherine

Fall from virtue, antithesis , hyperbaton , metaphor , parenthesis , simile, we must not make a scarecrow of the law.

Angelo We must not make a scarecrow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, And let it keep one shape till custom make it Antithesis Their perch and not their terror. Metaphor

Well, heaven forgive him and forgive us all. Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall. … continue reading this quote

Measure for Measure

Angelo , escalus , provost, justice , law, alliosis , anadiplosis , analogy , antithesis , metaphor , rhetorical question , synecdoche, not for that neither. here’s the pang that pinches.

Anne Not for that neither. Anapodoton Here’s the pang that pinches: His Highness having lived so long with her Alliteration , and she So good a lady that no tongue could ever Pronounce dishonor of her— Parentheses by my life, She never knew harm-doing!—O, now, … continue reading this quote

Anne Bullen , Old Lady

Falling from fortune , hypocrisy, adynaton , alliosis , alliteration , anapodoton , anastrophe , antanaclasis , anthimeria , antithesis , aporia , apposition , ellipsis , hyperbaton , metaphor , metonymy , oxymoron , parenthesis , personification , pysma , simile , synecdoche.

Duke , as Friar So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo? Claudio The miserable have no other medicine But only hope. I have hope to live and am prepared to die. Antithesis

To sue to live, I find I seek to die, And seeking death, … continue reading this quote

Claudio , Duke of Vienna

Antimetabole , antithesis , hyperbaton , metaphor , metonymy , paradox , personification , rhetorical question , simile, now, ursula, when beatrice doth come.

Hero Now, Ursula, when Beatrice doth come, As we do trace this alley up and down, Our talk must only be of Benedick. When I do name him, let it be thy part To praise him more than ever man did merit.

What fire is in mine ears?

My talk to thee must be how Benedick Is sick in love with Beatrice. … continue reading this quote

Much Ado About Nothing

Plays , sonnets, beatrice , hero , ursula, deceit , love, adynaton , allusion , anaphora , anapodoton , antithesis , apostrophe , diacope , epizeuxis , metaphor , metonymy , oxymoron , paradox , personification , simile , synecdoche.

Isabella Can this be so? Did Angelo so leave her? Pysma Duke , as Friar Left her in her tears and dried not one of them with his comfort, swallowed his vows whole, Ellipsis & Metaphors pretending in her discoveries of dishonor; in few, bestowed her on her own lamentation, … continue reading this quote

Duke of Vienna , Isabella

Alliteration , anthimeria , antithesis , ellipsis , isocolon , metaphor , pysma, now tell me, madam, do you love your children.

King Edward Now tell me, madam, do you love your children? Lady Grey Ay, full as dearly as I love myself. Anadiplosis & Epistrophe King Edward And would you not do much to do them good? Lady Grey To do them good I would sustain some harm. … continue reading this quote

Henry VI Pt 3

Clarence , king edward , lady grey , richard iii, love , marriage , seduction, alliosis , alliteration , anadiplosis , anaphora , antanaclasis , antithesis , epistrophe , hyperbole , isocolon , metaphor , simile , stichomythia.

Antony Friends, Romans, countrymen Exordium , lend me your ears Synecdoche ! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. Antithesis The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones Antithesis ; So let it be with Caesar. … continue reading this quote

Julius Caesar

Ambition , grief , honor, anadiplosis , antanaclasis , antithesis , aporia , aposiopesis , apostrophe , enthymeme , epistrophe , litotes , metaphor , pathos , personification , polysyndeton , prosopopoeia , rhetorical question , synecdoche.

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Article: Opposites

Jonathan Bate describes how Shakespeare emphasises the convergence of opposites in Romeo and Juliet: youth and age, day and night, poison and medicine, and of course: love and hate.

This article first appeared in the show programme for the our 2006 Romeo and Juliet .

The earth, that's nature's mother, is her tomb. What is her burying, grave that is her womb... Within the infant rind of this small flower Poison hath residence and medicine power.  (Friar Lawrence, Act 2 Scene 3)

Day and night, the earth as both womb and tomb, herbs and flowers that are simultaneously poisonous and medicinal, virtue and vice, God's grace and our own desires: 'such opposèd kings encamp them still In man as well as herbs.'

Give Shakespeare an idea and he is equally interested in its opposite. Opposition is indeed the key to  Romeo and Juliet : the lovers are doomed because they are from the two opposed houses of Capulet and Montague. In a violent world, violent delights have violent ends. Youthful passions boil over not only into poetry and embraces, but also into insult and sword-fight.

Friar Laurence's soliloquy cuts to the quick of the play's double vision. It is structured around the rhetorical figure of oxymoron, the paradox whereby opposites are held together. Versions of the figure recur throughout the play, from Romeo's 'heavy lightness, serious vanity' to the duet of nightingale and lark in the great scene of lovers parting at dawn.

At the beginning of the play, Romeo is in love with Rosaline. Or rather, he is in love with the  idea  of being in love. We never actually see Rosaline: she exists solely as the idealised love-object of Romeo. She is nothing more than a literary type, the beautiful but unavailable mistress of the sonnet tradition that goes back to the Italian Renaissance poet Petrarch. The Petrarchan lover thrives on artifice and paradox. The fire in his heart is dependent on his lady's icy maidenhood 'Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health! Still-waking sleep that is not what it is!'

As the Friar recognies, this is mere 'doting', not true loving. And so long as Mercutio is around, the bubble of poetic language keeps on being pricked - is it not just a matter of rhyming 'love' with 'dove'? Romeo still poeticises on seeing Juliet, though he speaks in more richly textured imagery:  'It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night As a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear.'

When the lovers meet at the Capulet ball, they weave a verbal dance that answers to the motions of their bodies and hands: their initial dialogue is wrapped into the form of a sonnet. But over the next few scenes their language evolves into something more fluid and more natural. You can hear Shakespeare growing as a poet even as you see the love between Juliet and Romeo growing from infatuation at first sight to the conviction that each has found the other's soul-mate.

Love is a chemistry that begins from a physiological transformation - Romeo is 'bewitched by the charm of looks' - but it becomes a discovery of the very core of human being:  'Can I go forward when my heart is here? Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out.'

What haunts the lover is the suspicion that it might all be a dream. Mercutio spins a tale of how love is but the mischief of Queen Mab, midwife of illusion. Romeo blesses the night, but then acknowledges his fear that: 'Being in night, all this is but a dream, Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.'

Juliet has to deal with another fear. For a girl in Shakespeare's time, chastity was a priceless commodity. To lose her virtue without the prospect of marriage would be to lose herself. In the speech that begins 'Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face', Juliet reveals quite remarkable self-understanding. She is acutely aware that in love the stakes for a woman are far higher than those for a man. Here Shakespeare's poetic language becomes the vehicle of both argument and emotion. The artifice of rhyme is replaced by blank verse that moves with the suppleness of thought itself.

In the original production, the lines would have been spoken by a young male actor of perhaps around the same 13 years as the character of Juliet. By highlighting extreme youthfulness (in the source, Juliet is 16), Shakespeare makes a bold implicit claim for his poetic drama. Both actor and character are speaking with maturity far beyond their years: such, the dramatist implies, is the metamorphic potency of the mingled fire and powder of love and art.

Though younger than Romeo, Juliet is more knowing. She senses the danger in his talk of idolatry. In the soaring love-duet that is their final scene together before Romeo's exile, she wills the song to be that of the nightingale rather than the lark because she knows that the break of day will mean the end of their night of love and the dawn of a harsh reality in which she will be reduced to the status of a bargaining chip in the negotiations between Verona's powerful families.

According to the social code of the time, it is the duty of the young to obey the old. Marriage is a matter not of love, but of the consolidation and perpetuation of wealth and status. Arthur Brooke, author of the  Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet  which Shakespeare had before him as he wrote, told his readers that the moral of the story was that young lovers who submit to erotic desire, neglecting the authority and advice of parents and listening instead to drunken gossips and superstitious friars, will come to a deservedly sticky end.

Shakespeare's play, by contrast, glories in the energy of youth. It does not seek to advance a moral, but offers instead the tragic paradox that the heat in the blood that animates the star-crossed lovers is the same ardour that leads young men to scrap in the street and to kill out of loyalty to their friends.

The kinship of love and revenge, the perpetual war between the generations: Shakespeare will return to this territory in later plays such as  Hamlet  and  King Lear . The final scene takes place in an ancestral tomb, but those who lie dead are the flower of a city's youth - Mercutio, Tybalt, Paris, Juliet and her Romeo.

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Explain how the idea of antithesis is central to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Dan Chudley

Explain how the idea of antithesis is central to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

In this essay I am going to look at how antitheses are a big part and how they are central to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. There are many antitheses and oxymorons in the play and I will be examining how they are used and how they drive the play on, entertaining and involving the audience.

There are so many examples of opposites in the play, covering language, characters, scenes and backgrounds, focusing in the main on the central theme throughout the play of love and hate.

The first and main opposite we encounter in the play is love and hate, in act 1 scene 1 although a trace of all the opposites are always present throughout the play. ”my only love sprung from my only hate.” Romeo is miserable because of all the people in the world; he has fallen in love with someone from the only family he hates. Fate and freewill could also be linked to love and hate as Romeo and Juliet discovered. “Is love a tender thing? Is it too boisterous, and it pricks like a thorn” Romeo is saying here that love is painful and painful pleasure is another oxymoron used to describe pleasure in a painful sense. This quote is linked to fate and free will as well as love and hate. There are many antitheses in the play but the main opposite must be love and hate. Without each other there is no opposite.

Romeo and Juliet found that fate was not on their side as the hate between the Capulets and Montagues eventually led to the death of them both. But as they struggled to bring the two families together, they used their free will and strength to prove their love and bring the two families together. “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life” this quote describes how Romeo and Juliet are meant to meet- it’s their destiny. Once they marry they believe they are at the peak of the wheel of fortune, until fate closes in and makes havoc upon the couple, in the form of Tybalt's anger. 'Therefore do nimble-pointed doves draw love, and therefore hath the wind-swift cupid wings.' This shows us that the roll of fate between Romeo and Juliet is expected to turn love into death. Romeo does not want to follow fate and tries to escape it. “Then I defy you stars”. He is displaying his free will and going against fate but in the play nearly always fate wins over freewill, for example the last scenes where Romeo and Juliet eventually die. Fate has overpowered their freewill no matter how strong they might be.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Another opposite which features throughout the play is youth and wisdom. For example in act 2 scene 5 between Juliet and the nurse “I would hadst my bones and thy news, nay come I pray thee speak” Juliet displays her youth and her naivety. She is almost begging for the nurse to speak. This sort of language you would expect from a young girl who is impatient and “in love”. It gives out an image in which you can see two people bickering away at each other. Shakespeare may have used the youth of the character to make a stereotypical young person which enlightens the play up, giving a kind of humorous outcome to the scene because of the differences between a wise and mature woman and a young, impatient girl. The nurse uses her power, wisdom and age to tease Juliet as Juliet cannot wait and yet the nurse can, although she is old and has less time than Juliet. “Sweet, sweet, sweet Nurse tell me what says my love?” this also shows Juliet’s impatience. She just cannot wait to hear what the nurse has to say.    This humorous opposite could have been used to lighten up the play, as a contrast to the rest of the play which contains the plays darkness and all the fighting and arguments in. A good play needs a contrast between the two sides; in this case love and hate, patient and impatient, and light and dark

Already all the opposites link together cleverly in the language itself and the scenes. A fierce quote of love and hate- Tybalt speaks “what drawn and talk of peace? I hate thee word, as I hate hell, all Montague’s and thee: have at thee coward” Tybalt has a very high temper here as the scene builds it up slowly; this fight at the end was almost predictable. The quote clearly shows his hate for the Montague and is a good example of hate as it uses very strong language which puts across the hate that drives the plot and this scene. Tybalt, although quite a young man already has made up his mind about the Montague. He has everything against them and does not appear to ever change his mind. He doesn’t, although he doesn’t give much of a chance for the Montague to try and make peace. So the main antithesis in this scene is love and hate once again.

Light and dark are another familiar opposite in the play. Dark is represented by the constant feud between the families. Light is mostly represented as the love between Romeo and Juliet, being so young and yet so in love. “Blind is his love and best befits the dark” Benvolio is saying that the love he can see between Romeo and Juliet is so strong, that he is blinded and stunned by it. The love that is shown as light is so bright, it shines out beyond the arguing between the two families which is represented as the dark. The opposite light and dark entertains the audience as the love stands out and enlightens the play and gives a contrast between the dark feud and light love. This has an impact on the audience as they are watching because it was not known of, when the play was about, of this kind of situation or storyline, therefore giving them a new experience, which is entertaining and gripping. This is all down to the antitheses in the play, the main one being love and hate in Romeo and Juliet.

“With Rosaline my ghostly father no, I have forgot that name woe” This quote by Romeo shows his naivety. He has suddenly forgotten about his true love Rosaline in scene 1 and set his sights on Juliet. You would expect this from a young, naïve person and it would come no surprise to you when this sudden change in who Romeo loves happens, whereas it would be surprising if an older, mature person did this. Shakespeare has incorporated another character which has stereotypical features(being young and naïve).  This also shows Romeos youth, as someone old and wise would not act so impulsively. Another way that Romeo and Juliet's naivety is shown is by the way they act, for example them secretly meeting up and running off to get married together. This would again, be a surprise to you if an older couple did this. Yet again, to make this exciting feature of the play (being the change in who Romeo loves); you need opposites or, Antithesis. In this case the opposite being youth and wisdom; which drives this part of the play.

The public scenes are usually violent, or in the case of the ball near the beginning of the play, narrowly managed to avoid violence. It is only in the private scenes that people are able to speak freely and confess their love. The audience don’t know it, but Shakespeare has cleverly chosen and incorporated another opposite- Public and private. A lot of the rest of the play relies partly on public and private to make the private encounters with the characters to see the other side of them.

Oxymorons play a big part in the play because they are hidden in the language and are used effectively throughout by Shakespeare. “Loving hate” “feather of lead” and “brawling love” are examples of oxymorons. I think they are in the play as Shakespeare refuses to make his plays too stereotypical and does this by making Romeo, the lead character different to lead characters in conventional plays, but still having some  stereotypical characteristics. Shakespeare makes Romeo different by using oxymorons to make him seem confused, shy and withdrawn in the early part of the play; and not heroic or brave as conventional lead characters are.

The central opposite has to be love and hate. This is because the play is based upon two people who are in love but who are from two different families who have hated each other for generations. The other opposites in the play are directly linked to this theme. Without one, the other is not as effective or does not exist.

The audience would have enjoyed the idea of a young couple fighting against fate, using their strength and freewill to try to bring the two families together, and holding on to their love. This idea again, relies on the antitheses integrated in the play, and the oxymoron's used in the play to create a sense of confusion, happiness, love or hate about the character or scene

Antitheses are central to Romeo and Juliet because if they weren’t there then the dramatic contrast of love and hate and the other opposites would not exist and the play would be totally ineffective to the audience.

The way the theme of opposites is used throughout this play ensure that the audience is kept entertained and on the edge of their seats due to the dramatic impact. It is the use of these opposites which keeps Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet entertaining and amusing.

By Dan Chudley                                                                14/12/2004

Document Details

• Word Count 1652
• Page Count 5
• Level AS and A Level
• Subject English

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Antithesis: Meaning and Literary Examples

What is Antithesis?

Antithesis, in simple words, means the direct opposite of things. Its dictionary definition is “a noun that includes the rhetorical contrast of ideas using parallel arrangements of words.” It is a literary device that helps make a written work more captivating, impactful, and memorable.

Following is a quote by Muhammad Ali, the famous boxer, containing antithesis:  

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”

This quote talks about two contrasting ideas; it combines graceful movement (float like a butterfly) with intense physical power (sting like a bee). It refers to Ali’s boxing style, being calm and effective at the same time while hitting his opponent.

Antithesis has many synonyms that can be used interchangeably. Opposite, counterpart, contradict, contrary, reverse, and polar opposite are words used while conveying antithetical intents.

Antithesis Examples in Literature

From ancient literary works to contemporary masterpieces, authors have used antithesis to add complexity and richness to their storytelling. Whether it’s highlighting the struggle between good and evil, love and hate, or life and death, the antithetical style continues to be a powerful tool in literature, captivating readers and leaving a lasting impression on their minds. Here are some examples where antithesis is popularly used by great writers in their writing styles.

Antithesis has been Shakespeare ‘s favorite literary device. “To be, or not to be” is the opening phrase of a speech given by Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet . This soliloquy brings out the opposite ideas together: to live or to die. Hamlet, in the above quotation, is contemplating two very serious ideas.

Another instance of antithesis is when Hamlet tries to make Gertrude feel guilty about marrying his uncle, which is evident in his dialogue:

 “And makes a blister there, makes marriage vows; As false as dicers’ oaths — oh, such a deed.”

Here, Hamlet believes that Gertrude’s original marriage vows—presumably that she would stay true to King Hamlet forever—have been proven false by her new marriage vows, and this has made them meaningless i.e., as untrustworthy as the promises made by gamblers.  Thus, true intents such as marriage vows are strung together with fake promises.

Antithesis in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet , there are many instances of antithesis in Romeo’s dialogues. Some of the examples are mentioned below:

“Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love.  Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate, O any thing, of nothing first create!”

Romeo uses this to express how he both hates and loves Rosaline at the same time. His confusion over the fact that love is both the best and worst thing is clearly seen here.

Below is another quote of his on love involving antithesis:

“O heavy lightness, serious vanity, Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms, Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, Still-waking sleep that is not what it is.”

Here, Romeo is bewildered by the contradictory nature of life, particularly where love, hate, and strong passions are concerned. He feels love is heavy and light while at the same time bright and cold. He wonders how all these opposing emotions exist all at once.

Shakespeare uses antithesis in Juliet ’s dialogues too. This is evident in the following quote:

“My only love sprung from my only hate.  Too early seen unknown, and known too late.”

Juliet says this about Romeo as she realizes that she has fallen in love with him, but he’s also a Montague—the only son of her great enemy. The polar opposite ideas of love and hate stand parallel in the sentence. Shakespeare uses antithesis in various of his other works, such as Julius Caesar , Macbeth , and King Lear .

By juxtaposing opposing ideas, themes, or characters, writers can heighten the drama, emphasize conflicts, and add depth to their narratives. Antithesis is also used in poems and dramas. It increases the impact of poems’ verses and makes the language more vibrant. In dramas, it adds depth and complexity to the characters when used in dialogues, monologues, or even the play’s overall structure. In general, antithesis makes audiences’ literary experience thought-provoking and engaging.

A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Although it was first performed in the 1590s, the first  documented  performance of Romeo and Juliet is from 1662. The diarist Samuel Pepys was in the audience, and recorded that he ‘saw “Romeo and Juliet,” the first time it was ever acted; but it is a play of itself the worst that ever I heard in my life, and the worst acted that ever I saw these people do.’

Despite Pepys’ dislike, the play is one of Shakespeare’s best-loved and most famous, and the story of Romeo and Juliet is well known. However, the play has become so embedded in the popular psyche that Shakespeare’s considerably more complex play has been reduced to a few key aspects: ‘star-cross’d lovers’, a teenage love story, and the suicide of the two protagonists.

In the summary and analysis that follow, we realise that Romeo and Juliet is much more than a tragic love story.

Romeo and Juliet : brief summary

After the Prologue has set the scene – we have two feuding households, Montagues and Capulets, in the city-state of Verona; and young Romeo is a Montague while Juliet, with whom Romeo is destined to fall in love, is from the Capulet family, sworn enemies of the Montagues – the play proper begins with servants of the two feuding households taunting each other in the street.

When Benvolio, a member of house Montague, arrives and clashes with Tybalt of house Capulet, a scuffle breaks out, and it is only when Capulet himself and his wife, Lady Capulet, appear that the fighting stops. Old Montague and his wife then show up, and the Prince of Verona, Escalus, arrives and chastises the people for fighting. Everyone leaves except Old Montague, his wife, and Benvolio, Montague’s nephew. Benvolio tells them that Romeo has locked himself away, but he doesn’t know why.

Romeo appears and Benvolio asks his cousin what is wrong, and Romeo starts speaking in paradoxes, a sure sign that he’s in love. He claims he loves Rosaline, but will not return any man’s love. A servant appears with a note, and Romeo and Benvolio learn that the Capulets are holding a masked ball.

Benvolio tells Romeo he should attend, even though he is a Montague, as he will find more beautiful women than Rosaline to fall in love with. Meanwhile, Lady Capulet asks her daughter Juliet whether she has given any thought to marriage, and tells Juliet that a man named Paris would make an excellent husband for her.

Romeo attends the Capulets’ masked ball, with his friend Mercutio. Mercutio tells Romeo about a fairy named Queen Mab who enters young men’s minds as they dream, and makes them dream of love and romance. At the masked ball, Romeo spies Juliet and instantly falls in love with her; she also falls for him.

They kiss, but then Tybalt, Juliet’s kinsman, spots Romeo and recognising him as a Montague, plans to confront him. Old Capulet tells him not to do so, and Tybalt reluctantly agrees. When Juliet enquires after who Romeo is, she is distraught to learn that he is a Montague and thus a member of the family that is her family’s sworn enemies.

Romeo breaks into the gardens of Juliet’s parents’ house and speaks to her at her bedroom window. The two of them pledge their love for each other, and arrange to be secretly married the following night. Romeo goes to see a churchman, Friar Laurence, who agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet.

After the wedding, the feud between the two families becomes violent again: Tybalt kills Mercutio in a fight, and Romeo kills Tybalt in retaliation. The Prince banishes Romeo from Verona for his crime.

Juliet is told by her father that she will marry Paris, so Juliet goes to seek Friar Laurence’s help in getting out of it. He tells her to take a sleeping potion which will make her appear to be dead for two nights; she will be laid to rest in the family vault, and Romeo (who will be informed of the plan) can secretly come to her there.

However, although that part of the plan goes fine, the message to Romeo doesn’t arrive; instead, he hears that Juliet has actually died. He secretly visits her at the family vault, but his grieving is interrupted by the arrival of Paris, who is there to lay flowers. The two of them fight, and Romeo kills him.

Convinced that Juliet is really dead, Romeo drinks poison in order to join Juliet in death. Juliet wakes from her slumber induced by the sleeping draught to find Romeo dead at her side. She stabs herself.

The play ends with Friar Laurence telling the story to the two feuding families. The Prince tells them to put their rivalry behind them and live in peace.

Romeo and Juliet : analysis

How should we analyse Romeo and Juliet , one of Shakespeare’s most famous and frequently studied, performed, and adapted plays? Is Romeo and Juliet the great love story that it’s often interpreted as, and what does it say about the play – if it is a celebration of young love – that it ends with the deaths of both romantic leads?

It’s worth bearing in mind that Romeo and Juliet do not kill themselves specifically because they are forbidden to be together, but rather because a chain of events (of which their families’ ongoing feud with each other is but one) and a message that never arrives lead to a misunderstanding which results in their suicides.

Romeo and Juliet is often read as both a tragedy and a great celebration of romantic love, but it clearly throws out some difficult questions about the nature of love, questions which are rendered even more pressing when we consider the headlong nature of the play’s action and the fact that Romeo and Juliet meet, marry, and die all within the space of a few days.

Below, we offer some notes towards an analysis of this classic Shakespeare play and explore some of the play’s most salient themes.

It’s worth starting with a consideration of just what Shakespeare did with his source material. Interestingly, two families known as the Montagues and Capulets appear to have actually existed in medieval Italy: the first reference to ‘Montagues and Capulets’ is, curiously, in the poetry of Dante (1265-1321), not Shakespeare.

In Dante’s early fourteenth-century epic poem, the  Divine Comedy , he makes reference to two warring Italian families: ‘Come and see, you who are negligent, / Montagues and Capulets, Monaldi and Filippeschi / One lot already grieving, the other in fear’ ( Purgatorio , canto VI). Precisely why the families are in a feud with one another is never revealed in Shakespeare’s play, so we are encouraged to take this at face value.

The play’s most famous line references the feud between the two families, which means Romeo and Juliet cannot be together. And the line, when we stop and consider it, is more than a little baffling. The line is spoken by Juliet: ‘Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?’ Of course, ‘wherefore’ doesn’t mean ‘where’ – it means ‘why’.

But that doesn’t exactly clear up the whys and the wherefores. The question still doesn’t appear to make any sense: Romeo’s problem isn’t his first name, but his family name, Montague. Surely, since she fancies him, Juliet is quite pleased with ‘Romeo’ as he is – it’s his family that are the problem. Solutions  have been proposed to this conundrum , but none is completely satisfying.

There are a number of notable things Shakespeare did with his source material. The Italian story ‘Mariotto and Gianozza’, printed in 1476, contained many of the plot elements of Shakespeare’s  Romeo and Juliet . Shakespeare’s source for the play’s story was Arthur Brooke’s  The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet  (1562), an English verse translation of this Italian tale.

The moral of Brooke’s tale is that young love ends in disaster for their elders, and is best reined in; Shakespeare changed that. In Romeo and Juliet , the headlong passion and excitement of young love is celebrated, even though confusion leads to the deaths of the young lovers. But through their deaths, and the example their love set for their parents, the two families vow to be reconciled to each other.

Shakespeare also makes Juliet a thirteen-year-old girl in his play, which is odd for a number of reasons. We know that  Romeo and Juliet  is about young love – the ‘pair of star-cross’d lovers’, who belong to rival families in Verona – but what is odd about Shakespeare’s play is how young he makes Juliet.

In Brooke’s verse rendition of the story, Juliet is sixteen. But when Shakespeare dramatised the story, he made Juliet several years younger, with Romeo’s age unspecified. As Lady Capulet reveals, Juliet is ‘not [yet] fourteen’, and this point is made to us several times, as if Shakespeare wishes to draw attention to it and make sure we don’t forget it.

This makes sense in so far as Juliet represents young love, but what makes it unsettling – particularly for modern audiences – is the fact that this makes Juliet a girl of thirteen when she enjoys her night of wedded bliss with Romeo. As John Sutherland puts it in his (and Cedric Watts’) engaging  Oxford World’s Classics: Henry V, War Criminal?: and Other Shakespeare Puzzles , ‘In a contemporary court of law [Romeo] would receive a longer sentence for what he does to Juliet than for what he does to Tybalt.’

There appears to be no satisfactory answer to this question, but one possible explanation lies in one of the play’s recurring themes: bawdiness and sexual familiarity. Perhaps surprisingly given the youthfulness of its tragic heroine, Romeo and Juliet is shot through with bawdy jokes, double entendres, and allusions to sex, made by a number of the characters.

These references to physical love serve to make Juliet’s innocence, and subsequent passionate romance with Romeo, even more noticeable: the journey both Romeo and Juliet undertake is one from innocence (Romeo pointlessly and naively pursuing Rosaline; Juliet unversed in the ways of love) to experience.

In the last analysis, Romeo and Juliet is a classic depiction of forbidden love, but it is also far more sexually aware, more ‘adult’, than many people realise.

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4 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet”

Modern reading of the play’s opening dialogue among the brawlers fails to parse the ribaldry. Sex scares the bejeepers out of us. Why? Confer “R&J.”

It’s all that damn padre’s fault!

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Romeo and Juliet Act I Prologue

By William Shakespeare

‘Romeo and Juliet Act I Prologue’ is a narrator spoken sonnet from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ which sets the scene, and alludes to events to come in Shakespeare’s world famous play.

William Shakespeare

His plays and poems are read all over the world.  

Poem Analyzed by Emma Baldwin

B.A. English (Minor: Creative Writing), B.F.A. Fine Art, B.A. Art Histories

‘ Act I Prologue ’  which appears in  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare is read before the first actors enter the stage.   These lines are spoken by the “Chorus” or a narrator or group of narrators who are there to introduce scenes, characters, or give necessary background detail. They are not seen or heard by the actors on the stage.  

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Explore the Romeo and Juliet Act I Prologue

• 1 Summary of the Act I Prologue 
• 2 Structure of Romeo and Juliet Act I Prologue
• 3 Literary Devices in Act I Prologue 
• 4 Analysis of the Act I Prologue 

Summary of the  Act I  Prologue  

The prologue alludes to the end of the play in which both Romeo and Juliet lost their lives. It is only due to that loss that their “parents’ rage” ends. The lines also specifically address the audience asking them to list with “patient ears” and find out how the events are going to play out.  

Structure of Romeo and Juliet Act I  Prologue

These fourteen lines of the ‘Act I Prologue’  take the form of a traditional Shakespearean sonnet . This form, which became known due to Shakespeare’s mastery of it and fondness for it, is made up of three quatrains , or sets of four lines, and one concluding couplet , or set of two rhyming lines. The poem follows a consistent rhyme scheme that conforms to the pattern of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and it is written in iambic pentameter . This means that each line contains five sets of two beats, known as metrical feet. The first is unstressed and the second stressed. It sounds something like da-DUM, da-DUM.  

As is common in Shakespeare’s poems , the last two lines are a rhyming pair, known as a couplet. They often bring with them a turn or volta in the poem. They’re sometimes used to answer a question posed in the previous twelve lines, shift the perspective , or even change speakers. The Shakespearean sonnet is now considered to be one of the major sonnet forms, alongside the Petrarchan or Italian sonnet .  

Literary Devices in Act I Prologue  

Shakespeare makes use of several literary devices in ‘Act I Prologue’. These include but are not limited to allusion , alliteration , and enjambment . The first of these, allusion, is the most prominent. This entire fourteen-line sonnet is one extended example of allusion. The lines all suggest what’s going to happen next, tap into themes that are elucidated throughout the next scenes and acts, and suggest what the audience’s reaction is going to be.  

Alliteration occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same sound. For example, “break” and “blood” in lines three and four and “lovers” and “life” in line six. Another important technique commonly used in poetry is enjambment. It occurs when a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. Enjambment forces a reader down to the next line, and the next, quickly. One has to move forward in order to comfortably resolve a phrase or sentence. For instance, the transition between lines five and six.

Analysis of the  Act I  Prologue  

Lines 1-4  .

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

In the first lines of the prologue to the famous play Romeo and Juliet the speaker , who is the “Chorus” addresses the audience. This person is all-knowing and has a full understanding of what is about to happen on stage.  

In the first line, the chorus tells the audience that it is in “Verona” a beautiful of “fair” city that the play is taking place. There are two major households in the city that have a long grudge between them. It has been at a standstill for a period of time but something new is going to happen.  

Lines 5-8  

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; Whose misadventur’d piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.

These families each have a child who is going to be involved in bloodshed and death. It is from the “fatal loins” of the families that a “pair of star-cross’d lovers” emerge. This line is a great example of syncope . Additionally, the reader should take note of the phrase “star-crossed lovers”. Shakespeare coined this term in the ‘Act I Prologue’ which is now used frequently in everyday speech , novels , and movies.  

Lines 9-14  

The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage, Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

In the third quatrain of the ‘Act I Prologue’,  the speaker adds that these two children become lovers and commit suicide. It is their deaths that bring an end to the strife . It was only that which could possibly bring these families around and force them to realize what their feuding could result in.  

In the next lines, the chorus tells the audience to watch for the next “two hours” on the stage as the story of their lives, loves, and deaths play out. The audience should listen patiently and they will learn all the details that the chorus has missed in their introduction.  

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imagine someone hating on a revision site

lol what the hell. i mean being a teacher is probably one of the most important jobs in the world even more important than a doctor. secondary school teachers especially have the most important job, to inspire the next generation.

Thank you – Although a teacher’s role is important I think that most jobs in society work in unison. For example, a teacher couldn’t operate effectively if there weren’t cleaners to make sure the site was kept tidy. Likewise without canteen staff kids would go hungry and wouldn’t have the capacity to learn. In turn, those roles require people to work in factories to make cleaning products and delivery drivers to deliver the catering supplies. Everyone does their bit in society.

how much money do u make in a year what 30,000 wow doctors make millions

Damn, so we are gauging success by money. Then a teacher doesn’t count. Sorry to have let you down.

try to become a doctor or something that will make you succesful

Does a teacher count?

like for real try to become something better in life

Like a Eurovision contestant?

if you can try to get a better job

I am doing my teacher training. So I am on that. Thanks again.

wow try to work harder

That’s great advice. Thank you.

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• Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition Definition

What is juxtaposition? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Juxtaposition occurs when an author places two things side by side as a way of highlighting their differences. Ideas, images, characters, and actions are all things that can be juxtaposed with one another. For example, it's a common plot device in fairy tales such as Cinderella to juxtapose the good-natured main character with a cruel step-sibling. The differences between the characters, as well as their close relation to one another, serve to highlight the main character's good qualities.

Some additional key details about juxtaposition:

• The verb form of juxtaposition is juxtapose , as in "the author juxtaposed the protagonist's dirty, ragged clothes with the spotless interior of the wealthy villain's mansion."
• The word juxtaposition comes from the Latin juxta meaning "next" and the French poser meaning "to place." This combination suggests juxtaposition's meaning: "to place next to."

Juxtaposition Pronunciation

Here's how to pronounce juxtaposition: juck-stuh-puh- zish -uhn

Juxtaposition and Related Terms

Because juxtaposition is such a broad concept, covering the contrast created between all sorts of different things when placed in close proximity, there are a number of terms that overlap with it or fall under its broader umbrella. Three of the most common of these terms are foil , antithesis , and oxymoron .

Juxtaposition and Foils

A foil is one specific form of juxtaposition having to do with contrasts between characters. When a writer creates two characters that possess opposite characteristics, it's often with the intention of highlighting some specific about one or both of the characters by juxtaposing their qualities. Such characters are foils of one another. The tortoise and the hare, from the famous folk tale, are examples of foils.

"Juxtaposition" describes the writer's action of placing these two characters next to one another for the purposes of comparing them, while foil is a word that describes the characters themselves (the hare is a foil to the tortoise, and vice-versa).

Juxtaposition and Antithesis

Antithesis is also a specific type of juxtaposition. Antithesis is a narrower term than juxtaposition in two key ways:

• Antithesis involves opposites: The things that are contrasted in antithesis are always pretty strong and clear opposites. Juxtaposition can involve such oppositional things, but also can involve the contrast of more complicated things, like two characters or themes.
• Antithesis involves a specific grammatical structure: Antithesis is a figure of speech that involves a very specific parallel sentence structure. Juxtaposition is a literary device that simply refers to a contrast set up between two things in some way, but it does not necessarily have to involve a defined grammatical structure.

An example of antithesis is Neal Armstrong's first words when he reached on the surface of the moon:

"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

This is a clear pairing of opposites, expressed in a parallel grammatical structure. In contrast, now imagine a description of Neal Armstrong's figure foregrounded against the night sky:

The tiny figure of Armstrong in his pristine white suit stood out against the expansive darkness of the universe beyond him.

This description involves juxtaposition rather than antithesis, for two reasons: it does not contain parallel grammatical structure, and the comparison goes beyond opposition. The white of the suit contrasts with the darkness of space in a clear contrast of opposites, but the sentence also contains a comparison between Armstrong's small size and the overwhelming magnitude of the universe, between the human and the non-human, even between the temporary and the eternal. These effects, which amount to a feeling of awe and loneliness, come from the choice to place Armstrong and the universe next to one another—it comes from their juxtaposition .

Juxtaposition and Oxymoron

An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two contradictory terms or ideas are paired together in order to reveal a deeper truth. Put another way, an oxymoron uses the juxtaposition of its two words to imply something deeper than either word individually could convey.

For instance, it's an oxymoron when, in Romeo and Juliet , Juliet says that "parting is such sweet sorrow ." The juxtaposition of these two words, "sweet sorrow," captures the complexity of love and passion, that it is capable of inspiring both pain and joy at the same time.

Juxtaposition Examples

Juxtaposition in literature.

Juxtaposition is a basic tool of storytelling, as writers choose how to place their characters, settings, arguments, and images in relation to one another to achieve their aims. In this section you'll find examples of juxtaposition from fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and drama.

Juxtaposition in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

In Frankenstein , Mary Shelley creates a few jarring juxtapositions that serve to accentuate the monstrosity as well as the humanity of the Creature that Victor Frankenstein brings to life. The Creature learns to speak in part by reading Milton's Paradise Lost , and so his language is ornate and elevated, full of thee's, thy's, and thou's. The juxtaposition of this elegant, formal speech with the Creature's ugly, deformed features and terrible strength creates an uncanny, terrifying effect that, at the same time, increases the reader's understanding of the Creature's tragedy, since we see his clear intelligence.

Over the course of the novel, Shelley also juxtaposes the actions of the Creature, who eventually responds to the world's scorn with a violent urge for revenge, with those of Victor Frankenstein, whose arrogant recklessness created the Creature in the first place and whose lack of mercy or empathy condemned the Creature to lonely isolation. This juxtaposition begs the question: who is the real monster?

Juxtaposition in T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land"

One of T.S. Eliot's most well-known poems, "The Waste Land," is a patchwork of different allusions and striking imagery , as Eliot uses juxtaposition to knit together a dizzying range of sources and ideas. Eliot juxtaposes April, a springtime month, with winter, and uses irony to reverse the reader's expectation for this comparison (calling April cruel and winter warm). There is also a second juxtaposition in the image of blooming lilacs in the "dead land," two contrasting images that bring out one another's features.

April is the cruellest month , breeding Lilacs out of the dead land , mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm , covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers.

Juxtaposition in Rachel Carson's Silent Spring

In Rachel Carson's Silent Spring , one of the foundational works of the modern environmental movement, juxtaposition plays an important role in Carson's framing of her argument. The first chapter of the book, "A Fable for Tomorrow" presents a beautiful small town "in the heart of America," at first stressing its natural abundance:

Along the roads, laurels, viburnum and alder, great ferns and wildflowers delighted the traveler's eye through much of the year

Soon, though, a blight descends, and spring, which normally brings with it new life, is instead filled with eerie silence:

The roadsides, once so attractive, were now lined with browned and withered vegetation as though swept by fire.

The juxtaposition of the natural, wholesome beauty of the present with the devastation of environmental collapse is meant as a warning for Carson's readers. The title itself, Silent Spring , is a condensed version of this juxtaposition, since it's meant to signify the vanishing of songbirds.

Juxtaposition in Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1

In Shakespeare's history play Henry IV Part 1 , a monologue of Prince Henry's reveals that Henry himself is thinking in terms of juxtaposition. In the speech, he outlines how his current reputation as a reckless youth will make his eventual "reformation" into a responsible king look even better: he imagines his changed behavior as shining "like bright metal on a sullen ground."

... nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. So, when this loose behavior I throw off And pay the debt I never promised, By how much better than my word I am, By so much shall I falsify men's hopes; And like bright metal on a sullen ground , My reformation, glittering o'er my fault, Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes Than that which hath no foil to set it off.

Juxtaposition in Film

In film, juxtaposition can come not just from contrasts and comparisons created between characters and dialogue, but also from editing together different images, so that the cut from one image to another tells a story.

Juxtaposition in Stephen Spielberg's Jaws (1975)

In Stephen Spielberg's iconic thriller, Jaws , the director uses juxtaposition to heighten the film's suspense as the massive great white shark stalks its unsuspecting prey. In quick succession, Spielberg cuts from lighthearted beach scenes (children playing on the beach, surfers paddling out to sea, and lifeguards relaxing) to underwater shots with suspenseful music, hinting at the presence of the shark. The viewer is unsure who will be the shark's target, but this juxtaposition between the cheerful world above the water and the frightening creature underneath it creates a sense of fear and anticipation of what's to come.

Juxtaposition in Photography

When a photographer composes an image, selecting what elements to include in their pictures, he or she might consider how different elements in the image will relate to one another when they are juxtaposed. This relation is part of what allows a photographer to tell a story with just a single image.

Juxtaposition in Marc Riboud's "The Flower and the Bayonet" (1967)

In this famous photograph from the era of the Vietnam War, French photographer Marc Riboud captured an image whose power comes from a striking juxtaposition. A young protester, Jan Rose Kasmir, who was 17 at the time, holds a single flower up to the line of bayonet-bearing soldiers who are attempting to control the anti-war demonstration. The juxtaposition of this fragile symbol of peace and innocence with the heavily armored soldiers (who represented the war effort) became an important image in the Vietnam protest movement.

Juxtaposition in Song

Many songwriters also make use of juxtaposition as they present images in their songs and, as in the case below, the technique can also be used to suggest conflict.

Juxtaposition in Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl"

This catchy classic by Billy Joel deals with the timeless theme of romance across class lines. In this case, Joel is the "downtown man" who is pursuing an "uptown girl," and the juxtaposition of their two worlds (the "backstreets" and the "white bread world") helps encapsulate their different backgrounds.

Uptown girl She's been living in her uptown world I bet she's never had a backstreet guy I bet her momma never told her why I'm gonna try for an uptown girl She's been living in her white bread world As long as anyone with hot blood can And now she's looking for a downtown man That's what I am

Why Do Writers Use Juxtaposition?

Juxtaposition is an important technique for any writer, and can serve a variety of purposes:

• To draw a comparison between two ideas.
• To create contrast, highlighting the difference between two elements.
• To create an absurd or surprising effect (i.e., by inserting an element into a setting where it seems wildly out of place).
• To make one element stand out (i.e., by painting a white dove on a red background).
• To bring differing perspectives together in one story.
• To suggest a link between two seemingly unrelated things or images.

Other Helpful Juxtaposition Resources

• Merriam Webster definition : This dictionary definition is a to-the-point description with simple examples.
• Hollywood Lexicon : This entry provides more explanation of the role of juxtaposition in filmmaking.
• Uptown Girl video : The original video for Billy Joel's Uptown Girl.
• Lost juxtaposition fever : This page, created by fans of the TV series Lost , tracks the many instances of juxtaposition in the show's structure.

• Figure of Speech
• Parallelism
• Formal Verse
• Epanalepsis
• Extended Metaphor
• Tragic Hero
• Characterization
• Polysyndeton
• Verbal Irony
• Static Character
• Internal Rhyme

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Literary Terms

What is the definition of antithesis.

T he definition of antitheses is when contrasting ideas are expressed in close proximity so that the contrast highlights the opposing elements. 

Literary Terms Study Tools

Antithesis occurs when contrasting ideas are expressed in close proximity with the effect of both highlighting the contrast and balancing the opposing elements. Writers typically use parallel structure in the contrasting phrases.

Antithesis derives from the Greek words anti , meaning “against,” and the word tithenai , meaning “to set, to place.”

The opening line of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities makes use of antithesis:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…

Note how Dickens uses antithesis extensively through this opening passage by setting antonyms in opposition to one another: best and worst, wisdom and foolishness, belief and incredulity. The overall effect achieved is one of extremes and potential for just about anything.

Cite this page as follows:

"Literary Terms - Antithesis." eNotes Publishing, edited by eNotes Editorial, eNotes.com, Inc., 9 Sep. 2024 <https://www.enotes.com/topics/literary-terms/complete-index/antithesis>

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Romeo and Juliet - Entire Play

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Last updated: Fri, Jul 31, 2015

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The prologue of Romeo and Juliet calls the title characters “star-crossed lovers”—and the stars do seem to conspire against these young lovers.

Romeo is a Montague, and Juliet a Capulet. Their families are enmeshed in a feud, but the moment they meet—when Romeo and his friends attend a party at Juliet’s house in disguise—the two fall in love and quickly decide that they want to be married.

A friar secretly marries them, hoping to end the feud. Romeo and his companions almost immediately encounter Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, who challenges Romeo. When Romeo refuses to fight, Romeo’s friend Mercutio accepts the challenge and is killed. Romeo then kills Tybalt and is banished. He spends that night with Juliet and then leaves for Mantua.

Juliet’s father forces her into a marriage with Count Paris. To avoid this marriage, Juliet takes a potion, given her by the friar, that makes her appear dead. The friar will send Romeo word to be at her family tomb when she awakes. The plan goes awry, and Romeo learns instead that she is dead. In the tomb, Romeo kills himself. Juliet wakes, sees his body, and commits suicide. Their deaths appear finally to end the feud.

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