Symbols

Star: Shakespeare tends to use symbols during the play for many different reasons. The star is used as a symbol in this play to develop  plot. In the play it says, "I fear too early, for my mind misgives/ Some consequences yet hanging in the stars/ Shall bitterly begin his fearful date/With this night's revels, and expire the term"(Shakespeare.I.iv.106-109). Shakespeare uses the star symbol to develop the plot because it is a symbol of their fate. It is symbolic of the fact that romeo and Juliet's love is quickly changing and does not last longer than the amount of time the stars are in the sky before they quickly fade and away and are replaced with morning. Therefore this foreshadows the bitterness of his fate which is hanging in the stars.

  Serpent: In addition, Shakespeare also uses the symbol of the serpent in the play. Shakespeare discussed the serpent when Juliet says, " O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face!/ Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?/ Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical!"(Shakespeare.III.ii.73-75). The serpent is a symbol of evil to warn us of something bad potentially in the future. Shakespeare uses the serpent to develop the plot between Romeo and Juliet as well as to develop the questioning and ever changing characteristics of Juliet. Juliet believes that Romeo is one person when she married him and then she goes on to find out that he is a completely other person in the fact that he was a murderer and was not what she thought he was. Juliet's character is developed by allowing the reader to believe that she has become unsure about her love and is changing her thoughts constantly unsure of what to believe, proving that a teens love is fickle.

 Lark: Lastly, the lark is used by Shakespeare as a symbol in Romeo and Juliet. In the book it says, "I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye,/ 'Tis but the pale reflec of Cynthia's brow;/ Nor that is not the lark whose notes do beat/ The vaulty heaven so high above our hears./ I have more care to stay than will to go:/ Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so./ How is't, my soul?/ Let's talk, it is not day"(Shakespeare.III.v.19-25). The lark is a symbol of the morning. Shakespeare uses the lark to develop setting in the play. Using the lark, was to show how Juliet and Romeo feel when the morning comes as it is the time of day when they have to depart each other.