What does Shakespeares use of oxymorons in Romeo and Juliet show us?

Answer 1

An oxymoron describes when two juxtaposed words have opposing or very diverse meanings. In the following quotation, Juliet has just learned that Romeo murdered her cousin, Tybalt, and she is venting her feelings of anger at her lover for hurting her family.

Juliet--"Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!" (Act III Scene ii Line 77)

When Juliet refers to Romeo as a "beautiful tyrant," she is expressing an oxymoron because the acts of a tyrant will rarely be referred to as beautiful.

A paradox is a statement or situation with seemingly contradictory or incompatible components. On closer examination, however, the combination of these components is indeed appropriate. For example, see how Juliet describes Romeo in the following quote:

Juliet--"O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!" (Act III Scene Line ii 75)

While Juliet knows that Romeo is not a serpent nor does he have a face full of flowers, her use of these descriptions show how paradoxically he is her lover and the murderer of her cousin at the same time.

In Act III, Scene 2, Lines 73-79, Juliet uses multiple oxymora (contradictory statements) to describe her conflicting feelings toward Romeo. He murdered her cousin, Tybalt but is her husband and she loves him.

Romeo's use of oxymora shows his state of confusion over his unrequited love from Rosaline:

"Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health"

Oxymora show Romeo's conflicting ideas about love; it is all in opposites; "sick health", showing he has perplexed emotions. For example Romeo makes himself an artificial night; showing he is confused and upset so much he locks himself away in the daytime. The Elizabethan audience would have realized his state of confusion was paralleled in his speech and they would have found this interesting.