Editing Romeo and Juliet (section)

===Duality (light and dark)===
{{quote box
| width = 23em|<poem>
"O brawling love, O loving hate,
O any thing of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms,
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!"
</poem>|—Romeo, Act I, Scene I<ref>''Romeo and Juliet'', I.i.167–171.</ref>
}}

Scholars have long noted Shakespeare's widespread use of light and dark [[Imagery (literature)|imagery]] throughout the play. [[Caroline Spurgeon]] considers the theme of light as "symbolic of the natural beauty of young love" and later critics have expanded on this interpretation.{{sfn|Nevo|1972|pp=241–58}}{{sfn|Parker|1968|pp=663–74}} For example, both Romeo and Juliet see the other as light in a surrounding darkness. Romeo describes Juliet as being like the sun,<ref>''Romeo and Juliet'', II.ii.</ref> brighter than a torch,<ref>''Romeo and Juliet'', I.v.42.</ref> a jewel sparkling in the night,<ref>''Romeo and Juliet'', I.v.44–45.</ref> and a bright angel among dark clouds.<ref>''Romeo and Juliet'', II.ii.26–32.</ref> Even when she lies apparently dead in the tomb, he says her "beauty makes / This vault a feasting presence full of light."<ref>''Romeo and Juliet'', I.v.85–86.</ref> Juliet describes Romeo as "day in night" and "Whiter than snow upon a raven's back."<ref>''Romeo and Juliet'', III.ii.17–19.</ref>{{sfn|Halio|1998|pp=55–56}} This contrast of light and dark can be expanded as symbols—contrasting love and hate, youth and age in a metaphoric way.{{sfn|Nevo|1972|pp=241–58}} Sometimes these intertwining metaphors create [[Irony|dramatic irony]]. For example, Romeo and Juliet's love is a light in the midst of the darkness of the hate around them, but all of their activity together is done in night and darkness while all of the feuding is done in broad daylight. This paradox of imagery adds atmosphere to the [[Ethical dilemma|moral dilemma]] facing the two lovers: loyalty to family or loyalty to love. At the end of the story, when the morning is gloomy and the sun hiding its face for sorrow, light and dark have returned to their proper places, the outward darkness reflecting the true, inner darkness of the family feud out of sorrow for the lovers. All characters now recognise their folly in light of recent events, and things return to the natural order, thanks to the love and death of Romeo and Juliet.{{sfn|Parker|1968|pp=663–74}} The "light" theme in the play is also heavily connected to the theme of time since light was a convenient way for Shakespeare to express the passage of time through descriptions of the sun, moon, and stars.{{sfn|Tanselle|1964|pp=349–61}}