Theme of Light and Dark in Romeo and Juliet Essay Sample

Throughout the play so far, Shakespeare has presented the theme of love with one of light and darkness. At the beginning of the play, when Romeo's love was unreturned by Rosaline, he was very much presented to be in the dark. He would be seen in the early hours of the morning, before the sun had risen, crying. He hid in his room with all the shades drawn, and barely left his room in the daylight. Montague, his father, says “away from light steals home my heavy son.” Montague’s use of the word ‘heavy’ when referring to Romeo shows that he had understood that his son is feeling depressed - and ‘heavy’ with the weight of his gloomy emotions. The audience then finds out that Romeo is depressed because of a woman, who does not return his feelings. Shakespeare is here showing Romeo to literally be in the dark, showing how when his love is unrequited, he seemingly has no light. Shakespeare also presents Romeo to be a Petrarchan lover -  a man who is in love with the idea of being in love. When describing or talking about Rosaline, Romeo lists only her physical attributes, such as: “and she’s fair I love”. These are the words that Romeo decides to use when finally sharing the reason for his depression with one of his closest friends. Fair is another way of saying beautiful, and his use of it shows that he is interested only in her looks. Shakespeare has done this to show that while Romeo claims to be in love with Rosaline, he actually couldn't be anything further from love. This shows how immature Romeo is in his idea of love - love is not based on only beauty or physical attributes, but Romeo is unaware of this and remains convinced that what he is feeling is his much-wanted love. Romeo then goes on to talk more about her physicality, saying: “Nor ope her lap to saint seducing gold” - implying that he offered her money to sleep with her, and she still refused. This is an immature outlook on love; to assume that it is based simply on physical attraction. Shakespeare has done this to show how immature Romeo's perception of love is, and his lack of understanding of it. Throughout Act 1 Scene 1, the audience learns a lot about Romeo, his immaturity in love, and his relation to darkness throughout the scene. 

However, as soon as this same, seemingly depressed, Romeo sees Juliet, his world seems to ‘light up.’ She is compared by him as  “she doth teaches the torches to burn bright” and “it seems she hangs upon the cheek of night”, among more. Both of these quotes have many references to light; more specifically, Juliet's relation to it. Both quotes, among more, show her as the light among the darkness. We can infer (through his earlier words (insert quote)) that he is here talking about her in comparison to the other women at the party, basically meaning he's saying that she is brighter than all of them. Throughout his unrequited love, it was all darkness, but now this new love is seemingly full of light. The audience could take this to be foreshadowing, perhaps referencing that she would return his love, showing the reason why she made him see light when Rosaline didn't. While mere moments before his world seemed to be in the dark, it now seems full of this light that Juliet shines. Romeo then says, “so shows a snowy dove trooping among crows”. Firstly, this quote uses a metaphor. Juliet is not a literal dove, but he compares the way he sees her to one. Doves are quite well known as a symbol of purity, gentleness and beauty, showing what Romeo thinks of her already. This can also be compared to when he describes her as “a rich jewel in an ethiop's ear” - here he describes her as a jewel; beautiful, rare and special. The quote “so shows a snowy dove trooping among crows'' also goes back to the theme of light and darkness. Doves are a pure, beautiful, snowy white, while crows are ugly, and of black colour. We can assume the crows to be the other women at the party, due to the reason he came here being to look at all the beautiful women in attendance. So, by saying this, Romeo is saying none of them can compare to the stunning Juliet. Another thing to note is that through the lines that Romeo speaks to and about Juliet, they take on a rhyming scheme (AA BB CC DD EE). Poetry is commonly associated with love, and by Romeo suddenly speaking in rhyming couplets, it shows even more how much he loves Juliet in that moment. The effect on the audience is that they can understand, throughout the various devices used, that what the characters are feeling may be love.