Romeo And Juliet Banishment

Romeo the Drama Queen

Passage: “There is no world without Verona walls,/ But purgatory, torture, hell itself./ Hence “banishèd” is banished from the world,/ And world’s exhile is death. Then “banishèd”/ Is death mistermed. Calling death “banishèd”,/ Thou cut’st my head off with a golden ax/ And smilest upon the stroke that muder me” (III.iii.17-23).

Thesis: By using hyperboles and metaphors, Shakespeare was able to express Romeo’s extreme reaction to banishment. Romeo is convinced that “There is no world without Verona walls” when theoretically there is actually a whole world outside of Verona, as it is just one city (III.iii.17). To Romeo Juliet, his one and only true love, is his world. He feels that if she is in Verona, then there is nothing outside of the city where she resides, as she was his everything. This over-the-top statement is demonstrates

Instead of being grateful that the Prince spared his life, he expresses that life would be absolutely horrid being away from Juliet. In a fit of rage and sorrow, Romeo exclaims “Thou cut’st my head off with a golden ax” to express his opinion on his banishment (III.iii.22). By saying that having his head chopped off would be easier to cope with than being away from Juliet truly shows that he exaggerates quite a bit. Being beheaded probably would hurt much more than moving a city over. As being beheaded results in death, banishment just means that he has to move and he will still live. According to Romeo, being away from his love is far worse than dying, which nearly anyone can see is an overstatement. To really paint a picture of what he thinks would be less painful than his banishment, Romeo kindly fills us in on how the scene would take place. He seems to have gone a bit mad at this point saying that he would “...smilest upon the stroke” that would ultimately kill him