Saturday, November 6, 2010

In Act One of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, what literary devices are used by Lord Capulet?

In Act I, Scene 2, Lord Capulet uses metaphor and personification in his conversation with Count Paris. In line 8, he compares Juliet to a "stranger in the world" because she is so young (she is only thirteen). Later in lines 25 and 29 he compares the young girls who will be at his party to "Earth-treading stars" and "fresh fennel buds." The girls are both beautiful, like stars, and innocent, like buds. Capulet personifies the Earth as something that can eat in line 14 when he says, "Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she." All of his children have died and only Juliet is left. In lines 27 and 28 he personifies spring and winter as wearing clothes and walking:



When well-appareled April on the heel
Of limping winter treads, even such delight



Capulet also rhymes with his use of couplets throughout his encounter with Paris. In lines 10-11 he rhymes with pride and bride. Later, he uses a string of rhymes, including consecutive couplets starting with lines 22-23 (store and more) through lines 32-33 (one and none). 

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