In the prologue of Romeo & Juliet, the narrator tells the audience that the two main characters are “star-crossed lovers” and will take their lives by the end of the play. This prior knowledge creates situations of irony throughout the play and strengthens the intimacy the audience feels with the characters. In Act III, Scene II, Juliet’s monologue about her feelings for Romeo highlights the irony of them not knowing their fate. Shakespeare’s use of irony and personification in Act III, Scene II, when Juliet uses celestial themes to describe her feelings for Romeo yet not knowing their fate, intensifies the intimate atmosphere within the play’s universe.
In Act III, Scene II, Juliet is speaking to herself, conveying her true feelings for Romeo. The theme of the night appears multiple times throughout the play and represents Juliet’s relationship with Romeo and her want to defy. Since their households are enemies, the pair cannot meet during the day and are doomed to nightly encounters. Juliet associates Romeo with the night when she says, “Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, that runaways eyes may wink, and Romeo leap to these arms, untalked of and unseen,” (5-7). The dark imagery and connotations of the word night implies the seriousness of the consequences of their love. Juliet’s ability to only see Romeo at night characterizes this seriousness within their relationship and further establishes a daunting intimacy between Juliet and the audience.
Juliet furthermore connects Romeo to the moon when she says, “Come, civil night, thou sober-suited matron all in black, and learn me how to lose a winning match played for a pair of stainless maidenhoods,” (10-13). Juliet explains how she wishes the night would come so she can lose her virginity to Romeo. Juliet reinforces this idea when she says, “Hood my unmanned blood, bating in my cheeks, with thy black mantle till strange love grow bold, think true lo...