Juliet's Paradox
by Alex Andy Phuong
In
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet,
Juliet claims that her "bounty is as
boundless as the sea," and her love is as
deep as it. She also exclaims that her love for
Romeo is as "infinite" as the deep
ocean blue.
Unfortunately, sea water only covers a fraction
of the planet Earth, and the bottom of the sea is
a geological fact.
Those scientific facts suggest that Juliet does
love Romeo, but only to a certain extent.
And who knows, maybe she still has a thing for
Count Paris, or Tybalt, or maybe even Mercutio.
William Shakespeare's rhetorical language is
sometimes too beautiful to even be realistic, and
that is also why "hyperbole" is a real
poetic device.
|
