"Romeo and Juliet," by William Shakespeare, is perhaps the most beautiful love story ever written. The two lovers in this play, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, have become widely known for their brightly magical but tragically ended love. Throughout the play, William Shakespeare used light and dark imagery to compare the romance between Romeo and Juliet. This imagery is used continuously throughout the play, and each use has a slightly different meaning. The light and dark imagery plays an important role in creating mood, symbolizing love, and foreshadowing action and fate.
Shakespeare first used light and dark imagery during the Capulet ball (Act I, Scene 5), when Romeo and Juliet fall in love with each other across the dance floor. Romeo says,
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear-
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows....
When Romeo sees Juliet for the first time, her stunning beauty amazes him. Romeo describes Juliet as a source of light, like a star, in the darkness. He also compares her to a bright jewel against the dark skin of an Ethiopian and a white snowy dove mixed with crows. The two lovers will continue to provide this enchanting "light" for one other during the course of the play.
The biggest and most profound use of light and dark imagery occurs in the famous balcony scene (Act II, Scene 2). This scene, combined with the imagery, describes the flourishing romance between the two lovers. Romeo states,
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 with grief that thou her maid art far more fair than she.
As Romeo stands in the shadows, he looks upwards at Juliet's balcony a...