Postreading Activity
for
Romeo and Juliet
Language Exploration:
Metaphor
Act III
Metaphor is another language device associated with figurative language. Like similes that you
studied in Act II, metaphors also compare two ideas. Usually, one idea tends to be concrete while the
other tends to be abstract. Where a simile points out the comparison using like or as, a metaphor makes
the comparison directly. Consider these examples of the same comparison stated as both simile and
metaphor.
Simile: Sam is as hungry as a bear.
Metaphor: When Sam is hungry, he's a real bear.
Simile: Angel runs like the wind.
Metaphor: Angel breezed across the finish line to win the relay.
Simile: The Barbarian ate like a pig.
Metaphor: The Barbarian is a real pig when he eats.
Directions: Metaphors are underlined in the following passages from scenes in Act III. Review each
passage in the context of the play and decide what the comparison suggests to the
reader.
1. Juliet (scene ii) wanting night to come, so she and Romeo can be together:
Come, c ivil night,
Thou sober suited matron, all in black.
See the bright Romeo in the Dark night
2. Juliet (scene ii) describing Romeo's face to her Nurse:
Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit
For 'tis a throne where honor may be
His Eyebrows are like a throne for his lovely forehead
3. Juliet (scene ii) telling her Nurse that she has dishonored Romeo:
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring!
Your t ributary drops belong to woe.
The tears should not be for Tybalt but for Romeo
4. Romeo (scene iii) reflects to Friar Laurence upon the hellish punishment banishment
from Verona will be:
Heaven is here,
Where Juliet lives.
He wishes not to leave the lands where heavens light shines. (Juliet)
5. Romeo (scene iii) continues to reflect upon his banishment:
Flies may do this but I must fly
They are freemen, but I am banished.
He is nothing but a fly without Juliet.
6. Friar Laurence (scene iii) tries to comfort Romeo:
I'll give thee armor to keep off that word [banishment];
Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy
He is shielded by the thought of science
7. Friar Laurence (scene iii) comforting Romeo:
The l aw, that threatened death, b ecomes thy friend
And turns it to exile.
The prince was going to kill you but became kind and turned it to exile and life
8. Romeo (scene v) speaking to Juliet:
It was the lark, the herald of the morn
It is time for me to go
9. Romeo (scene v) calling Juliet's attention to the sunrise:
Look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder East.
I will be east where you can find me
10. Lord Capulet (scene v) comments upon Juliet's eyes that are red from crying:
For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea,
Do ebb and flow with tears;
You cry much over nothing
