86 pages 2 hours read

William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1595

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Symbols & Motifs

Celestial Bodies

The beautiful and impersonal forces of the heavens are a constant note in Romeo and Juliet. From Romeo’s first impassioned speech in which “Juliet is the sun” (2.2.3) to Juliet’s “take him and cut him out in little stars” (3.2.22), the lovers see each other in celestial terms. These images will make perfect sense to anyone who’s ever been head-over-heels in love: A beloved person indeed seems to shine, just as the sun and stars do.

However, the lovers run into trouble when they talk about the moon. Associated with both virginity and changeability, the moon holds both Romeo and Juliet’s deepest fears: Romeo that Juliet will deny him, Juliet that Romeo will fall out of love with her as easily as he fell into love with her.

As well as their beauty, the stars play the role of fate. At the very beginning of the play, the Chorus tells us that these are “star-crossed lovers” (1.Prologue.6): Lovers whose ultimate doom was spelled out in the stars before they even met. (See more on this motif below.)

The symbolic weight of the sun, moon, and stars is comparable to the roles that day and night play in the story.