While doing my Act II questions I was having trouble trying to find the importance of Shakespeare use of the balcony in Scene II. Why have a balcony at all? What is the difference to the actors being at the same level?
There is a good article on how Shakespeare uses light and dark imagery, which was to do with the balcony scene (II.ii.). The website talks about how light is traditionally perceived as good and darkness as bad in most stories, however, often Shakespeare uses the opposite, where darkness is good and light is bad.
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| The Light and Dark of Juliet's Balcony |
In the article, there were multiple examples of this from the play for both sides, such as:
I v 44: “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” (In the Capulet's party) for the light is good side
III v 36: "More light and light, more dark and dark our woes." (which is when they are trying to pretend that it is still night when it is actually light) for the dark is good
I also found examples of both types in the text:
Light is Good, Darkness is Bad:
II ii 15-24: “Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven ... That birds would sing and think it were not night”, Meaning that, to Romeo, Juliet's features figuratively seem to be able to light up the sky so you wouldn't even be able to tell if it was night or not, which talks about how nothing can be bad when Juliet is there.
Light is Bad, Darkness is Good:
II ii 85: “Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face,”, meaning that, literally, her face is in the dark, but also that her face is blushing and happy that Romeo is there, even if you can’t see it because of the darkness.
So an important use of the balcony is helping to provide the contrast between light and dark, high and low, love and despair.
This article really helped my understanding of the balcony scene and the rest of the play too and, in particular, the difference between darkness and light, good and bad in Shakespeare’s sense.
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