Romeo and Juliet Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory

"Call me but love and I'll be new baptized" (2.2.4). That's what our smooth-talking Romeo says to Juliet as a way to suggest that Juliet's love has the potential to make him "reborn." Jeez. It seem...

Unless you're fluent in childish Elizabethan gestures, you might be wondering what the heck Sampson's up to when he spots the Montague's servants on the streets and announces, "I will bite my thumb...

You've probably noticed that sex and death seem to go hand in hand in this play. In the very first scene, Sampson crudely puns on the term "maidenhead" (virginity) when he equates sword fighting ag...

When Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, he seems to have been going through his "I heart oxymora" phase because the play is chock full of them. An "oxymoron," by the way, is the combination of two...

Poison is a big deal in Romeo and Juliet. Romeo dies by it when he guzzles a concoction he purchased (illegally) from the sickly Apothecary in Act 5, Scene 3. Poison is also Juliet's first choice o...

Studying Mercutio's famous "Queen Mab" speech has become a rite of passage for students, but we've got to admit that the fantastical speech is a bit baffling to us (though, it's baffling in a fun,...

Light in darkness – this is the imagery that constantly recurs in Romeo and Juliet. "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright," Romeo says when he first sees Juliet. "It seems she hangs upon...

Night is a pretty important time in the play. It's when all the passionate love scenes occur so, night seems to shelter and protects the lovers, while the glare of day threatens to reveal them. In...

Both lovers have intimations of coming death – Romeo before he even arrives at the Capulet's party, and Juliet when she sees Romeo climbing from her window on his way to exile in Mantua. "Oh god,...