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Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Act 1, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Mercutio's Language:
Mercutio's language is arguably the most intricate and advanced in the entire play. His linguistic cunning lends him power and status among the other noblemen—all of whom use language as a weapon—and highlights both his sense of humor and his deep-seated cynicism about conventional notions of life and love.
For instance, in Act 1, Scene 4, Mercutio uses personification to explain his views on dreams to Romeo:
True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who woos
Even now the frozen bosom of the north
And, being angered, puffs away from thence,
Turning his side to the dew-dropping south.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Romeo, Mercutio, and Love:
In Act 1, Scene 4, Romeo and Mercutio use simile and implied metaphor, respectively, to examine the idea of love from different perspectives:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Romeo: Is love a tender thing? It is too rough,
Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.Mercutio: If love be rough with you, be rough with love.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Mercutio's Language:
Mercutio's language is arguably the most intricate and advanced in the entire play. His linguistic cunning lends him power and status among the other noblemen—all of whom use language as a weapon—and highlights both his sense of humor and his deep-seated cynicism about conventional notions of life and love.
For instance, in Act 1, Scene 4, Mercutio uses personification to explain his views on dreams to Romeo:
Unlock with LitCharts A+True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who woos
Even now the frozen bosom of the north
And, being angered, puffs away from thence,
Turning his side to the dew-dropping south.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Juliet as the Sun :
In Act 2, Scene 2, Romeo spies Juliet at her balcony after encountering her at the Capulets' ball. In one of the play's most well-known soliloquies, he uses both metaphor and personification to praise her beauty:
Unlock with LitCharts A+But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou her maid art far more fair than she.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Love Like Lightning:
In Act 2, Scene 2, Juliet uses both simile and metaphor to characterize her fledgling relationship with Romeo—a characterization that actually functions as an instance of foreshadowing, given the play's tragic conclusion:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I have no joy of this contract tonight.
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be
Ere one can say “It lightens.”
Sweet, good night.
This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Mercutio's Language:
Mercutio's language is arguably the most intricate and advanced in the entire play. His linguistic cunning lends him power and status among the other noblemen—all of whom use language as a weapon—and highlights both his sense of humor and his deep-seated cynicism about conventional notions of life and love.
For instance, in Act 1, Scene 4, Mercutio uses personification to explain his views on dreams to Romeo:
Unlock with LitCharts A+True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who woos
Even now the frozen bosom of the north
And, being angered, puffs away from thence,
Turning his side to the dew-dropping south.
Related Themes:
