Romeo and Juliet Imagery
The play, Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, tells the story of Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers, whose premature romance ultimately ends in death. Romeo visits Juliet's balcony after they first meet at a ball and delivers his soliloquy during the well-known balcony scene. Shakespeare uses Romeo’s soliloquy to illustrate a declaration of love, using the celestial imagery to show the alluring and erratic beauty of Romeo and Juliet’s short-lived love, while alluding to the danger and destruction that will transpire upon Romeo and Juliet.
Shakespeare uses the moon and sun metaphors to describe Romeo and Juliet’s erratic love and foreshadows to the tragedies the ill-fated lovers will go through. In this specific scene, Romeo goes to Juliet’s house after falling in love with her at the party. Romeo starts expressing his true thoughts to Juliet, comparing her to the sun and saying, “It is the East, and Juliet is the sun”(II, ii, 3). In this line, Romeo refers to Juliet as the sun, the shining light in his life. It also illustrates Romeo's malleable transformation from his previous love for Rosaline and reveals the tremendous mood shift he underwent. Simultaneously, it also implies that if he gets too close to Juliet, it may bring consequences because of the danger of their love. If one gets too close to the sun then they might burn themselves; this is a forewarning that if Romeo gets too close to Juliet, his sun, his passion for her might ‘burn’ him, leading to his death. As Romeo talks more, he brings up his old “love”, Rosaline, exclaiming, “arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon/Who is already sick and pale with grief ”(4-5). This quote references Rosaline as the moon, and that her beauty pleased him until he saw Juliet. The metaphors show how during night time the moonlight is enough until the sun rises. Adding on to the moon reference, when Romeo is confessing his love to Juliet, he looks for something prominent to
swear on. He ultimately lands on the moon, which sparks a reaction from Juliet telling him to “swear not by the moon, th’inconstant moon”(114). This quote alludes to Romeo’s conflicted feelings because of his sudden switch from doting on Rosaline to being madly in love with Juliet. This gives rise to the notion that Romeo and Juliet's relationship is inconsistent and that, despite being compassionate in the beginning, their love will end violently. Overall, Shakespeare’s use of the sun imagery about Juliet and depicts the idea of how his inconsistent feelings will lead the love between him and Juliet to misfortune.
In addition, the heaven and star imagery represent how even though Romeo and Juliet’s love seems enchanted and charismatic in the beginning, Romeo and Juliet will ultimately lead each other to death and destruction. Romeo starts to express his feelings towards Juliet using the imagery of the stars and heaven, saying “Two of the fairest stars in all of heaven/Having some business, do entreat her eyes,”(II ii 15-17). The stars show the strong attractiveness and brightness Romeo feels for Juliet. This portrays the idea that Romeo and Juliet’s love is viewed like the brightness in the dark, similar to how the star shines at night. However, the star’s shining is only temporary, for when the morning comes and the sun rises, the starlights are often forgotten. This relates to how while Romeo and Juliet’s love was sweet and sensational while it lasted, their bright love will have an eventual end. This shows how Romeo putting Juliet up on a pedestal and comparing her to the stars gives her the potential of her dying due to Romeo. Continuously, Romeo starts to bring up heaven while comparing Juliet, exclaiming, “A daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven/Would through the airy region stream so bright/That birds would sing and think it were not night” (21-23). This quote shows Romeo’s attraction to Juliet’s beauty, seeing Juliet as a beautiful thing that enhances his happiness. However, it also brings up the idea of Shakespeare signaling the risk of Romeo and Juliet’s future. While heaven is a place where things are beautiful and marvelous, it is also a place that one can only reach after death. This, again, foreshadows the idea of how Romeo and Juliet might result happily together, however, death is in the way of their love. Romeo and Juliet’s love will lead each other to death seeing that their love is related to heaven. Continuing the heaven imagery, Romeo calls Juliet an angel, saying, “O, speak again, bright angel, four thou art” (29). Here he calls Juliet a ‘bright angel’, complimenting her beauty like an angel. The angel comparison suggests how Juliet is innocent and naive like an angel, showing how her purity makes Romeo more attracted to her. However, it also shows that Juliet as an angel, will die and lead Romeo to death as well. By using the heaven and star imagery Shakespeare successfully shows the idea of how the illusion of beauty in Romeo and Juliet’s love will lead to their fate where they will both die.
In Shakespeare’s play Romeo & Juliet, Romeo uses celestial imagery to show Juliet in order to depict the seductive and unpredictable beauty of the couple's brief love while hinting at the danger and catastrophe that will befall them. Hence, Shakespeare uses the moon and sun imagery to show Romeo's erratic actions and the stars and heaven imagery to highlight how the two lovers’ story is alluring; however their love will eventually end in destruction and death. This idea of the destruction that will come with love is used by Shakespeare to convey the idea that love based on allure will not have the strength to withstand tragedies, as it isn’t legitimate love.
