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 and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she. . . .
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
Romeo speaks these lines in the so-called balcony scene, when, hiding in the Capulet orchard after the feast, he sees Juliet leaning out of a high window (II.i.44–64). Though it is late at night, Juliet’s surpassing beauty makes Romeo imagine that she is the sun, transforming the darkness into daylight. Romeo likewise personifies the moon, calling it “sick and pale with grief” at the fact that Juliet, the sun, is far brighter and more beautiful. Romeo then compares Juliet to the stars, claiming that she eclipses the stars as daylight overpowers a lamp—her eyes alone shine so bright that they will convince the birds to sing at night as if it were day.
This quote is important because in addition to initiating one of the play’s most beautiful and famous sequences of poetry, it is a prime example of the light/dark motif that runs throughout the play. Many scenes in Romeo and Juliet are set either late at night or early in the morning, and Shakespeare often uses the contrast between night and day to explore opposing alternatives in a given situation. Here, Romeo imagines Juliet transforming darkness into light; later, after their wedding night, Juliet convinces Romeo momentarily that the daylight is actually night (so that he doesn’t yet have to leave her room).
2007-03-06 08:18:59
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answer #1
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answered by captinhankey 2
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The balcony scene is an excellent answer.
I was thinking of the catacombs when Romeo finds Juliet's prostrate form and kills himself. Then, moments later, Juliet awakes and finds Romeo slain and utters her own soliloquy about Romeo not saving a drop of poison for her so she kills herself as well.
2007-03-06 16:22:23
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answer #2
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answered by rac 7
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Juliet's soliloquy on her balcony is one of the most famous in all Shakespeare:
"Oh, Romeo...Romeo...wherefore are thou Romeo?"
etc...
2007-03-06 16:20:55
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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Read the 'Balcony Scene'. ( It starts with, "He jests at scars, who never felt a wound")
2007-03-06 16:29:26
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answer #4
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answered by Beejee 6
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