Metaphors In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

In the play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare uses a lot of literary terms. All through the grudge, love, and potions, one can analyze and find astonishing figurative language. Shakespeare uses metaphors, similes, and apostrophes to get readers to visual more and to better understand his work.
Metaphors was one of the main terms Shakespeare used. Shakespeare used flowers to describe different characters throughout the play. In the first act, The Nurse and Lady Capulet were talking about Paris being a wonderful flower and how there is no one as great as he is, “Nay, he’s a flower. In faith, a very flower.” (I.iii. 79.80). Toward the end of the play, Paris calls Juliet a flower and says how she will now lie along with other flowers, “Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew—

Thy canopy is dust and stones—” ( V.iii. 13-14). In Act I, Lady Capulet describes Paris as a book in an extended metaphor that includes the words, "This precious book of love, this unbound lover." ( I.iii.89). The simile is another term Shakespeare used throughout his play. A simile is a comparison between two objects using like or as. For example, Romeo describes how Juliet's beauty stands out more than any other object, “It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear,” ( I.iv.43-44). Another simile is where Juliet proclaims her love for Romeo is bigger and deeper than the sea, “ My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep”