From Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Literary Devices From Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet

Similes & Metaphors Simile example: Simile Juliet: My bounty is as boundless as the sea, / My love as deep; the more I give to thee, / The more I have to give. Metaphor example: Lord Capulet: For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea, / Do ebb and flow with tears. Simile A comparison of two things that are dissimilar, by using like or as Metaphor An implied comparison of two things in the form: this is that.

When an occurrence is the opposite of what is expected. Situational Irony For example: In trying to stop Tybalt and Mercutio from dueling, Romeo causes Mercutio’s death, and then he kills Tybalt in a duel. In other words: the peacemaker who tries to prevent the duel ends up killing both of the duelers. Situational Irony When an occurrence is the opposite of what is expected.

Occurs when one person says one thing but means the opposite. Verbal Irony For example: In the duel when Tybalt strikes Mercution, Mercutio receives a wound which he calls a scratch, but he knows it is fatal. In other words: His wound is anything but a scratch. Verbal Irony Occurs when one person says one thing but means the opposite. “Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch.” -- Mercutio

Dramatic Irony For example: Dramatic Irony Juliet dreams of her future with Romeo when we know that Romeo has been banished and they’ll have no future together. Capulet demands that Juliet marry Paris, but the audience knows she cannot because she’s already married to Romeo. Dramatic Irony Exists when the reader or audience knows something that a character does not know.

Puns & Punning Examples from R&J: Pun Mercutio: “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.” Mercutio: "I dreamt a dream tonight… That dreamers often lie. In bed asleep while they do dream things true." Pun A humorous play on different meanings of words that sound alike but have different meanings.

A purposeful use of contradictory terms to emphasize a point. Oxymorons Examples from R & J: Parting is such sweet sorrow / That I shall say good night till it be morrow (730) Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical A damned saint, an honorable villain (756). Oxymoron A purposeful use of contradictory terms to emphasize a point.

Personification Examples from R & J: Personification When well appareled April on the heel / Of limping Winter treads Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon The grey-eyed morn smiles on frowning night, / Check’ring the Eastern clouds with streaks of light. Personification Giving human qualities to a non-human thing (animal, object, abstract concept)