Essay Four

INTRODUCTION

William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet is dominated by motifs of light and dark. Darkness sets the tone of the play as the tragedy proceeds with a dark and inexorable determinism. Many of the scenes in the play are set in darkness, with the alternation of day and night serving to propel the narrative line. It is through the use of this effective imagery that Shakespeare reflects the mood and actions of the characters, with the dark representative of the depths that one cannot escape from and light the illumination of romantic love.¹ It is through the use of these techniques that Shakespeare is afforded the opportunity to elevate the dimensions of the tragedy to cosmic proportions, resulting in its continued value across time and place.

PARAGRAPH 1

Romeo and Juliet from the outset is characterised as a tragic play with the images of darkness giving the play an ominous aura. From the beginning of the play Montague compares his son Romeo to concepts of darkness or death, noting that “many a morning hath he there been seen, with tears augmenting the fresh morning dew. Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs... And private in his chamber pens himself, Shuts up his windows, locks far daylight out And makes himself an artificial night.”² Here the use of light and dark imagery is effective in demonstrating to the audience the effect that Romeo’s pining for Rosaline has had on his everyday life. Montague here is endeavouring to explain to Benvolio and Lady Montague that whenever the sun rises, Romeo shuts the curtains so that he may create a never ending artificial night. Dramatic irony is also used here, as the Shakespeare suggests this is perhaps³ related to Romeo’s unrequited love, but this knowledge is not shared amongst the characters. As such it can be seen that the contrasting view points between light and dark are indicative of the characters’ mental state at any one point of the play.

2. Selecting the right quote for the argument you are making is very important. It is essential that your quote is well chosen to support your argument, and allow you to expand on your ideas.

3. Remember that you don’t have to be incredibly definitive about the play’s meaning and messages. It’s okay to just confidently state that the text is complex, and the discuss that complexity. The assessors don’t want you to write sentences about what Shakespeare definitely intended, because we can’t be sure! All you need to do is dissect the text and examine its ideas.

PARAGRAPH 2

Furthermore, Shakespeare sets numerous scenes in the dawn, that is, at the time of the division between light and dark. In a play with constant references to the importance of time, the alternations between night and day are particularly significant. For instance, as Friar Lawrence informs Romeo, the fate of he and Juliet rests largely on timing: “And here stand all your state either be gone before the watch be set or by the break of day disguis’d from hence.” The opportunities which Romeo and Juliet find to defy their ultimate doom and their fate are given in terms of the alternation of night and day. Juliet declares, "Come night, come Romeo, come thou day in night," and the banter of the lovers at the beginning of Act 3, Scene 5, in which they dispute the time, underscores the importance of the contrast between night and day in terms of the drama’s narrative line.³ It is during the night that the lovers are allowed to express themselves for who they are without the stipulations by their family marring their relationship. When the light of day approaches they know they are forced to remove themselves from one another in order to not face the serious repercussions. This is also a fine example of the use of dramatic irony, as the audience knows from the reading of the prologue, that their relationship is doomed by fate, regardless of their actions. Numerous scenes are also characterised by torchlight or moonlight illuminating what would otherwise be complete darkness, symbolising the intrusion of awareness upon the lovers’ hidden relationship. Thus, Shakespeare uses the contrasting imagery of light and dark to elucidate complexities within his characters.⁴

3. This paragraph discusses a wide array of symbols and motifs that relate to light and dark, but also incorporates some analysis of characters and themes to showcase our knowledge of the play as a whole.

4. Paragraph endings should serve a few purposes: summarise your arguments, reiterate your contention, and leave a good impression on your marker before you jump into the next discussion.

PARAGRAPH 3

Darkness also plays an important role in Shakespeare’s use of imagery. Darkness is most consistently used as a contrast to light, with light being used as a symbolic representation of love. Light is employed as an image of light and love repeatedly cast against a dark background. Thus, we have Romeo describing Juliet’s beauty as “hang[ing] upon the cheek of night as a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear.” This⁶ use of a simile and effective imagery, it is seen how light is used to describe the utter beauty of Juliet that is seen through Romeo’s eyes. Later Juliet herself makes use of the light and dark contrast in her expression of idealised love – “love’s heralds should be thoughts Which ten times faster glides than the sun’s beams Driving back the shadows over lowering hills.” Darkness is the unrelieved field in which the light of beauty and love is made to shine more brightly, although the darkness will, ultimately, subsume the light, and, “the sun for sorrow will not show his head.” Here it can be seen that whilst there is light that can permeate through the darkness, it is the darkness, through the demanding nature of fate, that ultimately triumphs. The light, Shakespeare intimates, is not strong enough to remove the perils of the darkness that result in the double suicide of the two lovers.

5. This paragraph is filled with some great examples, which ensures that the argument put forth is clear and well supported. The question is also clearly answered throughout the body paragraph.

6. Though this seems like a very simple link, connecting your ideas and analysis in this way (e.g. describing an example of imagery and then starting your next sentence with ‘This imagery...’) allows you to seamlessly transition between points very fluently.

PARAGRAPH 4

Dark and light are also employed by Shakespeare as a mirror of the character and mood of the play’s central figures. Romeo, at the outset of the work, is associated with a melancholy darkness, or, as Montague puts it, “away from light steals my heavy son.” Before he meets Juliet, Romeo considers himself as one who has been struck blind, and the transformation of Romeo from a figure of darkness, lurking in the background of the play’s action, to a figure of light, in the foreground of the stage, reflects the change in the youth’s character. Juliet is also a figure of the dark, although hers is no melancholy darkness, but rather a demure and withdrawn manifestation. Juliet herself gives expression to the withdrawn nature of her character in the famous balcony scene, “therefore pardon me and not impute this yielding to light love which the dark night hath so discovered.” Like Romeo, love produces a change in Juliet’s character from darkness to light, and through Juliet’s soliloquy one sees that the contrast between light and dark is truly representative of the characters mindsets and personas.⁷

7. To neatly tie up the variety of examples we have used in this paragraph, it’s important to broaden the focus of the final few sentences and take the discussion back to the prompt by making more general statements about the thematic ideas, authorial intent, or audience interpretation.

CONCLUSION

Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet uses the imagery of light and darkness effectively to impart different elements of time character and place to the audience. This, accompanied with a wide range of literary and dramatic devices, allows the audience to empathise with the characters and to feel connected with their plight as they try to escape the grips of darkness, and reveal in the light they can find, before fate intervenes.⁸