The blossoming love of Romeo and Juliet, and the final withering of hate between the Capulets and the Monatagues, cocoons William Shakespeare’s RomeoandJuliet. To help convey love, beauty, and the worth and importance of characters, Shakespeare uses bird/flower/herb/plant imagery.
The most predominant use of bird/flower/herb/plant imagery appears when the characters discuss the beauty of other characters, especially Juliet. As Capulet contemplates the upcoming party with Paris, he says to compare Juliet with “fresh female buds shall you see this night.” (I. ii. 30) Capulet believes that Paris should compare Juliet’s beauty to all the other young women, and see if he still thinks Juliet the most beautiful. He uses “bud” to convey Juliet’s young age and her obvious beauty. Another comment concerning Juliet’s beauty arises when Romeo first sees her at the Capulet’s part. While speaking partly to the servant and partly to himself, Romeo exclaims, “Beauty too rich for earth too dear! / So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows.” (I. v. 44-45) Romeo uses other literary devices besides bird imagery. He also uses color (contrast) imagery and a metaphor. The dove and the crows exhibit bird imagery. This helps convey that Juliet stands out in the room like a white dove against a black background of crows. The contrast imagery appears here, also. The metaphor appears when Romeo compares Juliet to a dove and all its graceful beauty. Beauty does not only apply to Juliet, though. In the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, when Romeo believes himself tortuously in love with Rosaline, he confides in Benvolio. As Benvolio strives to comfort him, he suggests going to the party to “Compare her face with some that I shall show / And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.” (I. ii. 80-8 1) In using both contrast imagery and bird imagery, Benvolio attempts to explain the change of heart Romeo will have when he sees all the other beautiful girls there besides Rosaline. This creates a mental image in the reader’s mind of Rosaline transforming from the graceful pearly-white swan into an ugly black crow when Romeo compares her to other far more beautiful women at the party. If so, it seems that when Friar Laurence says “Young men’s love then lies / Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes (II. iii. 68-69), he really understands the minds of young men.
Since love controls the central theme of the play, it also receives much bird/flower/herb/plant imagery. On the way to the Capulet’s party, Romeo starts speaking with Mercutio and Benvolio, and reveals how his “love” for Rosaline feels.
Romeo:
I am to sore empierced with his shaft
To soar with his light feathers, and so bound,
I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe.
Under love’s heavy burden do I sink
Mercutio:
And to sink in it, should you burden love,
Too great an oppression for a tender thing.
Romeo:
Is love a tender thing? It is too rough,
Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like a thorn. (I. iv. 20-27)
Both Mercutio and Romeo use either bird or flower imagery. Romeo say that he has been hit with an arrow and cannot soar above the clouds as a lover should. Mercutio then refers to love as a tender thing, much like the velvety petals of a blossoming rose. Romeo disagrees by saying that love, instead of appearing as a blossoming flower, pricks like the thorns of a rose. Juliet, on the other hand, has a different view of love. During the balcony scene, Romeo want to make the betrothal between he and Juliet final. Juliet, on the other hand, believes their betrothal, “Too rash, too unadvised, to sudden,… / This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath, / May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.” (II. ii. 118, 121-122) Juliet’s argument against a betrothal cautions that their love, at present, proves only a bud, and has not yet fully blossomed. She also believes that eventually (by summer’s ripening breath) their love will blossom into a beautiful flower. Although, when she next speaks with Romeo, she contradicts herself. As Romeo starts to leave, Juliet calls him back, saying:
Hist! Romeo, hist – Oh for a falconer’s voice,
To lure this tassel-gentle back again…
‘Tis almost morning. I would have thee gone,
And yet no farther than a wanton’s bird,
Who lets it hop a little from her hand,…
And with a silk thread plucks it back again,
So loving jealous of his liberty. (II. ii. 158-159, 176-178, 180-182)
By using bird imagery, Juliet shows her love for Romeo. She wants to have a falconer’s (keeper of hawks) voice, so she can lure Romeo (the tassel-gentle or male falcon) back whenever she wants. She then says that she wishes Romeo were like a little bird tied by a string to her finger. That way whenever she wants him to come back, she can pull on the string like a spoiled child jealous of the bird’s freedom. The bird imagery helps to reveal Juliet’s possessiveness and emphasizes the importance of Romeo to Juliet.
It seems that much of the use of bird/flower/herb/plant imagery used to convey worth and importance is directed towards Paris, since Shakespeare sets him up as the “good guy.” When first introduced to the idea of marriage to Paris, Juliet replies that she has not yet considered marriage. This exasperates her mother, who then tells her that the time to think of marriage has come. To further back up Lady Capulet’s point, the Nurse tries to convince Juliet that Paris will prove the best husband for her.
Nurse: Why, he’s a man of wax.
Lady Capulet: Verona’s summer hath not such a flower.
Nurse: Nay, he’s a flower, in faith, a very flower. (I. iii. 77-79)
The Nurse and Lady Capulet both use flower imagery to convince Juliet that Paris exceeds all other men in the choice for a husband. Lady Capulet says that even the most beautiful and perfect summer flower in Verona cannot compare to the perfection of Paris. Then, the Nurse, in an attempt to back Lady Capulet, says that Paris resembles a flower bred to perfection. Romeo, on the other hand, lacks importance in any of the Capulet’s eyes, except Juliet. Juliet reveals this during the balcony scene. Before Romeo, shows himself, Juliet has a monologue in which she says:
Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague…
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet. (II. ii. 38-39, 44-45)
The rose conveys the fact that whether it’s called a thistle or a skunk cabbage, it will still smell as sweet. Juliet uses this rose imagery to show that Montague or not, Romeo will remain her true love. She doesn’t believe that simply because he’s supposedly the enemy, she can’t fall in love with him. Importance, for her, depends upon the person, not the name. The other Capulets, however, don’t believe that Romeo holds any worth or importance, and hate him simply because of his name. When the Nurse, for instance, comes back from speaking with Romeo, she replies, “He is not the flower of courtesy.” (II. v. 41) Using flower imagery, the Nurse reveals her belief that Romeo lacks the qualities of a perfect gentleman. Her descriptions change, however, when the subject of Paris arises. After Romeo’s banishment, Juliet’s parents proclaim their hopes of Juliet marrying Paris. After refusing to marry Paris, Juliet turns to the Nurse for comfort. Instead, the Nurse replies that she believes Juliet should marry Paris. She says, “Romeo’s a dishclout to him. An eagle, madam, / Hath not so green so quick, so fair an eye / as Paris hath.” (III vi. 220-222) The Nurse uses bird imagery here to convey Paris’s worth and importance. Eagles imply majesty, grace, and beauty. Even the majestic eagle, the Nurse believes, cannot compare to Paris. She thinks Paris quicker and fairer than any eagle.
Much of what Shakespeare is trying to say by using bird/flower/herb/plant imagery surfaces in Friar Laurence’s “philosophy on life” speech. Anything good, if used in excess, can backfire (such as Romeo and Juliet’s love) and that something bad, if altered correctly, can transform into something good (like the eventual unity of the two families after the death of their children). Friar Laurence’s philosophy still applies to modern life. From a disgusting organism, like mold, life-saving penicillin arises. At the other end of the spectrum, pain killers, such as aspirin, can kill more than just pain if misused. In using this nature imagery, Shakespeare merely tries to show how little life actually differs over the years.
