Romeo and Juliet

Oxymoron

Background:
An oxymoron is a rhetorical figure in which contradictory terms are combine
to create a particular effect for the reader.
Some examples are:
Act naturally -
Clearly misunderstood –
Pretty ugly -
Pure evil -
Small crowd –

Example:
In Act I, scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo speaks to Benvolio about
Rosaline. Romeo says,
“…Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate.
O anything of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep that is not what it is!
This love feel I that feel no love in this…”

Shakespeare uses oxymorons in this passage to convey to the reader just

how “lovesick” Romeo is. He is very emotional and overly dramatic about his
feelings for Rosaline. Later, Romeo discovers that this “love” was not true.

Practice #1:
Almost at the end of Act II, scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet says to
Romeo,
“…Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

1. Underline or highlight the oxymoron in this passage.

2. What is Juliet saying to Romeo?

Practice #2:
In Act III, scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet speaks to Nurse about
Romeo. She says,
“O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face.
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical,
Dove-feathered raven, wolfish-ravening lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st!
A damned saint, an honorable villain!
O nature what hadst thou to do in hell
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?
Was ever book containing such vile matter
So fairly bound? O, that deceit should dwell
In such a gorgeous palace.”

1. Underline or highlight the oxymorons in the passage.

2. What is Juliet saying in this passage? How does Shakespeare’s use of

oxymorons help convey Juliet’s message to the reader?