William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
The Balcony Scene
II scene, II act

The present work will analyse an extract from the II scene of the II act of the poem “Romeo And Juliet” by William Shakespeare, particularly the type of language used by the poet.
Analysing the layout the reader understand that this is a dialogue between Romeo and Juliet, two stars-crossed lovers.
Shakespeare uses metaphor to reveal the hearts of Romeo and Juliet. He also uses the contrast between distance and closeness, purity and sin or innocence and guilt, in this way the intelligent reader can discover the typical binary opposition of the Manichean vision of society of the Middle Ages: you could either be damned or reach salvation.  Shakespeare uses a lot the language of sense to describe Romeo's desire, indeed nature represents the relationship man-woman on earth.

On a moonlight evening, Romeo, after the ball, went under Juliet's balcony. Romeo begins to speak of their love with a monologue to Juliet. Their families, the Montagues and Capulets, they hate each other, and their love is complicated. The girl says that the names are not important, that would be smelling a rose by any other name, and hopes that Romeo is ready to renounce his surname, as she would, too. He swears to take her at her word and be called something other than 'Romeo' if that's what it takes to win her heart. Romeo defines Juliet as a light that illuminates the night, maybe because she illuminates his life: this is a metaphor. The text is characterized by hyperbole and metaphor, with a language rich in metaphors and figures of speech.

Romeo hides in the garden, and soon observes Juliet walking onto the balcony outside her room.
Romeo says, 'But, soft! What yonder light through window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun'. It seems like when Romeo sees Juliet, he feels hope; it is as if the sun is rising.
The rest of Romeo's speech is an ecstatic expression of Juliet's shining beauty. He goes on to urge Juliet (who can't hear anything he says because Romeo is doing a soliloquy) to stop being a maid to the moon, because "Her vestal livery is but sick and green / And none but fools do wear it; cast it off". Still comparing Juliet's eyes to stars, Romeo asks himself what would happen if the two stars traded places with Juliet's eyes. He decides that the brightness of her cheek would outshine the stars, then Juliet leans her cheek on her hand, and Romeo simply wishes that he were a glove on her hand, so that he, too, could touch her cheek. He  compares Juliet to an angel because he really believes that she is angelic because when he sees her, he fall back as people when they see an angel.
She is so much in love with him that she's asking why he must be "Romeo," a Montague. She asks him to deny his father and refuse his name -according to Juliet,if he changed his name, he would still be himself- so that he will no longer be a Montague, or, if he will just swear he loves her, she will give up the name of "Capulet". She rationalizes her feelings for Romeo as she goes on to say that the name 'Montague' is simply a name, just as a rose would still smell as 'sweet' if it were called something else.
Hearing this, Romeo asks himself if he should speak now, or listen some more.
Romeo says that Love has guide him to find Juliet.
As soon as Juliet asks the question (Dost thou love me?) she realizes that she already knows what the answer will be, and that worries her, too. If Romeo swears that he loves her, he may be committing perjury. Caught between her desire for Romeo's love and her fear that he could be lying, Juliet pleads with him to be truthful.