Violence

• "There lies more peril in [her] eye / Than twenty of their swords" (Act 2)
• Hyperbole:

  • Romeo's use of hyperbole greatly exaggerates the "peril" in Juliet;s eye by comparing it to "twenty of their swords" which demonstrates conflation of love and violence in Romeo and Juliet's relationship. This illuminates Romeo's character as impetuous as he risks his life to see Juliet, barely reflecting on the dangers of being found by her kinsmen.
  • In this moment, Romeo's hamartia becomes clear as his instinct is to romanticise danger itself, where his inability to separate passion from peril becomes a narrative foreshadowing of the couple's tragic fate.
  • Romeo's hyperbolic attitude serves as an epitome impetuous and misguided nature of the youthful infatuation as he idealises Juliet so excessively that he begins to romanticise mortal danger.
• Combat imagery:

  • Romeo's reference to "twenty of their swords" constructs a vivid imagery of combat where Romeo's romantic persuit is paralleled with the chaos of a diel. This imagery frames Romeo's love for Juliet as an act of transgression and conflates the concepts of love and violence.
  • This combat imagery reveals Romeo's inner psyche: one that cannot distinguish between affection and belligerence. As such, Shakespeare positions him as a callow youth whose desire is constantly at odds with the equilibrium needed to preserve societal peace.
• Key context it relates to:

  • Italy: Romeo's declaration that Juliet's gaze is more dangerous than "twenty of their swords" plays into this stereotypical perspective of Italy as their private love elevated into a public war in the tumultuous city of Verona.
  • Ovid's Metamorphoses: Similar to the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe, Romeo's claim that Juliet's eye holds greater peril than "twenty swords" speaks highly to the danger of forbidden love. This underlines Romeo's role as a tragic hero fated to suffer, his desire already tainted by the inexorable outcome of his and juliet's demise, much like Pyramus and Thisbe's tragic deaths.
• WOW knowledge:

  Freud's theory of thanatos:

  • The unconscious drive towards death, illuminates the characters' self-destructive tendencies.