Metaphor
1. "Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs;" -Romeo
This is a metaphor comparing love to smoke. Romeo uses this metaphor to express his feelings about love, that love is full of disappointment and grief. The word "fume" has a negative connotation, which also help us uncover Romeo's hard feelings towards love.
2. "Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if here eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night;" -Romeo
Romeo compares Juliet's eyes to stars. He says that she is so beautiful her eyes are like stars in heaven, and that they are so bright the birds would sing and not know that it was night.
3. "What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!" -Romeo
Once again Romeo is expressing Juliet's bright and glorious beauty. He compares Juliet with the sun, both beautiful and bright, lighting up the world and making the world a brighter and happier place for him.
Simile
1. "It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night as a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear." -Juliet
This simile compares Juliet to a jewel in an Ethiopian's ear, expressing her outstanding beauty.
2. "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee," -Juliet
Juliet compares her bountiful love for Romeo to the boundless sea, the sea so wide and so big it has no boundaries. Her love for Romeo will never end. Her love is so deep she compares it the depth of the sea.
3. "He is not the flower of courtesy, but, I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb." -Nurse
Nurse compares Romeo's gentleness to a lamb, because lambs are very gentle animals.
Personification
1. "Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy
Be heap'd like mine and that thy skill be more
To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath
This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue
Unfold the imagined happiness that both
Receive in either by this dear encounter." -Romeo
This statement from Romeo shows personification because he expresses music as having human like qualities. Music is not a living thing and does not have a tongue.
2. "Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-brow'd night;" -Juliet
In this example of personification, Juliet describes the night as "gentle" and "loving". Both of which are human qualities, and the night is an inanimate object.
3. "In that word's death; no words can that woe sound."
Words cannot die, for they are words and they do not live.
Irony
1. JULIET Ay me! what news? why dost thou wring thy hands?
Nurse Ah, well-a-day! he's dead, he's dead, he's dead!
We are undone, lady, we are undone!
Alack the day! he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead!
JULIET Can heaven be so envious?
Nurse Romeo can,
Though heaven cannot: O Romeo, Romeo!
Who ever would have thought it? Romeo!
JULIETWhat devil art thou, that dost torment me thus?
This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.
Hath Romeo slain himself? say thou but 'I,'
And that bare vowel 'I' shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice:
I am not I, if there be such an I;
Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer 'I.'
If he be slain, say 'I'; or if not, no:
Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe.
Nurse I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,--
God save the mark!--here on his manly breast:
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;
Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood,
All in gore-blood; I swounded at the sight.
JULIET O, break, my heart! poor bankrupt, break at once!
To prison, eyes, ne'er look on liberty!
Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here;
And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier!
This is a great example of irony. The readers know something that the characters don't. We know that Nurse is talking about the death of Tybalt, and not Romeo, but Juliet thinks Nurse is talking about Romeo.
2. "Her body sleeps in Capel's monument, and her immortal part with angels lives." -Balthasar
Balthasar along with the rest of the town thinks Juliet is dead, when really she is only sleeping. We know this but most of the characters do not, which is irony.
3. "Welcome from Mantua. What says Romeo? Or, if his mind be writ, give me his letter." -Friar Lawrence
The readers know that the letter did not get to Romeo, and that they are too late. Romeo was already on his way to Capel's monument to kill himself and lie with Juliet, all of which Friar John is not yet aware of. This is another example of irony in the play.
Allusion
1. "She'll not be hit
With Cupid's arrow." -Romeo
This example shows an allusion to Cupid, a Greek God that people commonly know to shoot love arrows.
2. "You are a lover. Borrow Cupid's wings
And soar with them above a common bound" -Mercutio
In this example of allusion, another Cupid reference is made by Mercutio.
3. "O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you." -Mercutio
An allusion to Queen Mab, queen of the fairies, is made by Mercutio.
Oxymoron
1. "Dove-feather'd raven!"
A raven has dark black feathers and doves are milky white. The birds are complete opposites in both appearance and symbolism, the raven being a symbol of death and bad luck and doves are the symbol of peace and love.
2. "wolvish ravening lamb!"
A lamb is the opposite of a wolf. Lambs are gentle and wolves are seen as ravenous and bloodthirsty.
3. "O loving hate!"
Love and hate, obviously are opposites, and this expresses Romeo's confusing feelings about love.
Hyperbole
1. "There is no world without Verona walls, but purgatory, torture, hell itself." -Romeo
This is a hyperbole because saying that there is no world outside of Verona is an exaggeration, along with the exaggeration of saying the outer world is worse than hell itself.
2. "From off the battlements of any tower, Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears, Or hide me nightly in a charnel house, O'ercover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones," - Juliet
In this hyperbole, Juliet exaggerates and expresses all that she would rather do than marry Paris.
3. "Why thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more or a hair less in his beard than thou hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes." - Mercutio
Mercutio creates a hyperbole when he teases Benvolio about his temper. He exaggerates for emphasis.
Tragedy
1. "O happy daggar! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die."
Juliet's death, an example of tragedy.
2. "Here's to my love! O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die." -Romeo
Romeo's death, another example that makes this play a tragedy.
3. "O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead! That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds, which too untimely here did scorn the earth."
1. "Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs;" -Romeo
This is a metaphor comparing love to smoke. Romeo uses this metaphor to express his feelings about love, that love is full of disappointment and grief. The word "fume" has a negative connotation, which also help us uncover Romeo's hard feelings towards love.
2. "Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if here eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night;" -Romeo
Romeo compares Juliet's eyes to stars. He says that she is so beautiful her eyes are like stars in heaven, and that they are so bright the birds would sing and not know that it was night.
3. "What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!" -Romeo
Once again Romeo is expressing Juliet's bright and glorious beauty. He compares Juliet with the sun, both beautiful and bright, lighting up the world and making the world a brighter and happier place for him.
Simile
1. "It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night as a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear." -Juliet
This simile compares Juliet to a jewel in an Ethiopian's ear, expressing her outstanding beauty.
2. "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee," -Juliet
Juliet compares her bountiful love for Romeo to the boundless sea, the sea so wide and so big it has no boundaries. Her love for Romeo will never end. Her love is so deep she compares it the depth of the sea.
3. "He is not the flower of courtesy, but, I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb." -Nurse
Nurse compares Romeo's gentleness to a lamb, because lambs are very gentle animals.
Personification
1. "Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy
Be heap'd like mine and that thy skill be more
To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath
This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue
Unfold the imagined happiness that both
Receive in either by this dear encounter." -Romeo
This statement from Romeo shows personification because he expresses music as having human like qualities. Music is not a living thing and does not have a tongue.
2. "Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-brow'd night;" -Juliet
In this example of personification, Juliet describes the night as "gentle" and "loving". Both of which are human qualities, and the night is an inanimate object.
3. "In that word's death; no words can that woe sound."
Words cannot die, for they are words and they do not live.
Irony
1. JULIET Ay me! what news? why dost thou wring thy hands?
Nurse Ah, well-a-day! he's dead, he's dead, he's dead!
We are undone, lady, we are undone!
Alack the day! he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead!
JULIET Can heaven be so envious?
Nurse Romeo can,
Though heaven cannot: O Romeo, Romeo!
Who ever would have thought it? Romeo!
JULIETWhat devil art thou, that dost torment me thus?
This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.
Hath Romeo slain himself? say thou but 'I,'
And that bare vowel 'I' shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice:
I am not I, if there be such an I;
Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer 'I.'
If he be slain, say 'I'; or if not, no:
Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe.
Nurse I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,--
God save the mark!--here on his manly breast:
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;
Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood,
All in gore-blood; I swounded at the sight.
JULIET O, break, my heart! poor bankrupt, break at once!
To prison, eyes, ne'er look on liberty!
Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here;
And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier!
This is a great example of irony. The readers know something that the characters don't. We know that Nurse is talking about the death of Tybalt, and not Romeo, but Juliet thinks Nurse is talking about Romeo.
2. "Her body sleeps in Capel's monument, and her immortal part with angels lives." -Balthasar
Balthasar along with the rest of the town thinks Juliet is dead, when really she is only sleeping. We know this but most of the characters do not, which is irony.
3. "Welcome from Mantua. What says Romeo? Or, if his mind be writ, give me his letter." -Friar Lawrence
The readers know that the letter did not get to Romeo, and that they are too late. Romeo was already on his way to Capel's monument to kill himself and lie with Juliet, all of which Friar John is not yet aware of. This is another example of irony in the play.
Allusion
1. "She'll not be hit
With Cupid's arrow." -Romeo
This example shows an allusion to Cupid, a Greek God that people commonly know to shoot love arrows.
2. "You are a lover. Borrow Cupid's wings
And soar with them above a common bound" -Mercutio
In this example of allusion, another Cupid reference is made by Mercutio.
3. "O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you." -Mercutio
An allusion to Queen Mab, queen of the fairies, is made by Mercutio.
Oxymoron
1. "Dove-feather'd raven!"
A raven has dark black feathers and doves are milky white. The birds are complete opposites in both appearance and symbolism, the raven being a symbol of death and bad luck and doves are the symbol of peace and love.
2. "wolvish ravening lamb!"
A lamb is the opposite of a wolf. Lambs are gentle and wolves are seen as ravenous and bloodthirsty.
3. "O loving hate!"
Love and hate, obviously are opposites, and this expresses Romeo's confusing feelings about love.
Hyperbole
1. "There is no world without Verona walls, but purgatory, torture, hell itself." -Romeo
This is a hyperbole because saying that there is no world outside of Verona is an exaggeration, along with the exaggeration of saying the outer world is worse than hell itself.
2. "From off the battlements of any tower, Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears, Or hide me nightly in a charnel house, O'ercover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones," - Juliet
In this hyperbole, Juliet exaggerates and expresses all that she would rather do than marry Paris.
3. "Why thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more or a hair less in his beard than thou hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes." - Mercutio
Mercutio creates a hyperbole when he teases Benvolio about his temper. He exaggerates for emphasis.
Tragedy
1. "O happy daggar! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die."
Juliet's death, an example of tragedy.
2. "Here's to my love! O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die." -Romeo
Romeo's death, another example that makes this play a tragedy.
3. "O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead! That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds, which too untimely here did scorn the earth."