Question

Reread Act IV, Scene 5 from lines 13 to 60. How does Shakespeare use figurative language to convey the grief felt by the Capulets, Paris, and the nurse? How does the language choice unify the grieving characters? In the space below, write a minimum 150-word response examining three instances of figurative language such as personification, simile, symbolism and/or repetition (including anaphora) in this section of text. Explain the overall effect. Be sure to include specific lines of text as support, and avoid any examples of figurative language already discussed in the first article.

Answer 1

Figurative language in this section helps convey the grief of the Capulets by making their lamenting more personal and poetic. Specifically, using personification to represent death as a person helps the reader really feel like Juliet has been actively taken away from them rather than her just having died. For example, when Capulet says "Death, that hath ta'en her hence to make me wail, / Ties up my tongue, and will not let me speak." This is making Death the active enemy, giving them someone to blame. This section also uses a lot of simile, including when Capulet says "Death lies on her like an untimely frost / Upon the sweetest flower of all the field." This makes her death feel peaceful, looking at Juliet as a sweet flower with just a hint of frost over her. Finally, Capulet also uses anaphora to reinforce the personification of Death and the poetry of Juliet's passing. He says "Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir;", repeating Death at the beginning of each phrase.