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Friar Lawrence’s words prove true over the course of the play. The sleeping potion he gives Juliet is concocted to cause the appearance of death, not death itself, but through circumstances beyond the Friar’s control, the potion does bring about a fatal result: Romeo’s suicide.
Romeo and Juliet complicates traditional notions of light versus dark and day versus night. Light is typically a symbol of openness, purity, hope, and good fortune, while dark often represents confusion, obscurity, and doom.
One of the central motifs of the play is the interplay between light and darkness. Romeo and Juliet are consistently comparing one another to different forms of light, including the sun, the stars, and the moon, emphasizing the sense of "illumination" they get from each other.
Shakespeare includes numerous speeches and scenes in Romeo and Juliet that hint at alternative ways to evaluate the play. Shakespeare uses two main devices in this regard: Mercutio and servants. Mercutio consistently skewers the viewpoints of all the other characters in the play: he sees Romeo’s devotion to love as a sort of blindness that ...
Romeo and Juliet subverts traditional symbols of light and dark. Generally, light represents goodness and hope, while dark signifies confusion and danger. Shakespeare upends these common associations, however, as day and bright lights are portrayed as negative in the play.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy—but the play knowingly wags its finger at the warring Capulets and Montagues, wealthy families who can’t look past their own insularity and haughty self-importance to be good to one another, or to allow their children the chance at real love.
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“Romeo and Juliet” is a trove of symbolism, each element carefully crafted to enhance the play’s themes and deepen our understanding of the characters. The play is filled with symbolic imagery that reflects the complexities of love, fate, and the corrosive effects of vendettas.
