What Are Some of the Metaphors in “Romeo and Juliet”?

By Staff WriterLast Updated March 31, 2020

William Shakespeare uses a metaphor in “Romeo and Juliet” when Lady Capulet compares Paris to a book. Two other examples occur when Romeo compares Juliet to the sun and when Paris compares Juliet to a flower and her tomb to a bridal bed.

In Act I, Scene 3, Lady Capulet describes Paris as a book in an extended metaphor that includes the words, “This precious book of love, this unbound lover.” In Act II, Scene 2, Romeo says of Juliet, when he spots her on the balcony, “What light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” In Act V, Scene 3, Paris goes to the tomb to mourn Juliet and says, “Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew.”