Albin's English Journal

METAPHOR=a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.” Compare mixed metaphor, simile.

Here are two examples of metaphors in Romeo and Juliet,

1.Romeo= “My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.” (I think that Romeo is feeling excited to kiss juliet and he is saying kissing juliet would be a religious experience)

2.  Romeo=”But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”( In this metaphor Romeo is comparing Juliet to the sun)

By Albin

PPE=By Mr Waugh

POINT: Shakespeare used a wide range of powerful language in his play “Romeo and Juliet”. One of these is a metaphor.

EXAMPLE: When Lady Capulet is trying to convince Juliet to agree to marry Paris, she describes him as a book for juliet to read.  Lady Capulet: “Find written in the margent of his eyes. This precious book of love, this unbound lover.”

EXPLINATION: In describing Paris as a book, Lady Capulet is trying to suggest that the benifits of marrying him are easy to see, she then continues to suggest all he needs is a “cover”-as in juliet herself.

Your task is to identify the metaphor present in the following excerpt and then write a paragraph that explains the metaphor and its effect on the meaning of the passage it is embedded in.

ROMEO

I fear, too early: for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night’s revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
But He, that hath the steerage of my course,
Direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen.

Feel free to watch the presentation again from this lesson to remind you of how to approach a passage that contains a metaphor:
 

Year 9 English – Shakespearian Language from Edutronic.net on Vimeo.

“These violent delights have violent ends”   such is the theme of romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare; his whole  play orchestrated to prove this point: that only violence will come of violence. Fate is revealed in Romeo and Juliet in many ways, but one of the most important is through the plot device of co-incidence.  Romeo went the party to meet rosiline  and they met and fell in love and he wasn’t expecting that to happen.

One piece of evidence that deals with fate in Romeo and Juliet is through the things of what the character say like in the book one of the characters quote “a pair of star cross’d lovers take their life”  so it is trying to say that their death is per-determined.