Monday, December 21, 2009

What examples of foreshadowing, imagery, similes and metaphors, symbolism, and/or theme can be found in the following excerpt from Shakespeare's...

In these lines, Juliet is talking to Friar Lawrence, complaining to him very dramatically about how she'd bravely and instantly do anything horrible, creepy, or painful in order to avoid marrying Paris. All she really cares about is rejoining Romeo somehow.


In terms of foreshadowing, Juliet's fearless and impetuous mention of bones, graves, and death provide a hint of what's to come: her reckless decisions, coupled with Romeo's, that will lead to both of their deaths. She's literally saying here that she'd prefer to leap to her own death or chain herself up to be eaten by bears rather than lose Romeo (or marry Paris). That tells you that she's willing to kill herself in the name of their love.


Note the imagery in these lines: of a faraway tower that's perfect for committing suicide, of lethal creatures like serpents and bears, and of yellow skulls, fresh graves, and a funeral shroud. These objects and creatures convey a mood of drama, foreboding, risk, and deadliness.


Juliet's reliance on concrete objects in her descriptions rather than on similes reveals the reality and solidity of her feelings of urgency and desire to Friar Lawrence. If you want to interpret these objects as metaphors or symbols, you can: she may be saying that life without Romeo is a death leap from a tower, that life with Paris would be a prison full of dead bodies, etc.


Finally, the lines convey the general themes of the life-or-death desperation and obsession inherent in young love, the idea that love becomes more dangerous as it becomes more intense and impetuous, and the idea that losing the person you love is similar to, or even worse than, death itself.

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