in Romeo and Juliet there are many semantic fields. a semantic field is a set of word grouped semantically (that is by meaning) referring to a specific meaning. in this case of Romeo and Juliet its fate. in my opinion the most obvious at the prologue. when the narrator says in the prologue that two star crossed lovers shall meet.
isn’t it a coincidence that Romeo found his love Juliet. also in the story before Juliet Romeo’s love was Rosaline who is a Capulet. during this Capulet host a party and told his servant to get the people he invited. but the servant couldn’t read. by coincidence the servant comes to Romeo to ask for help. Rosaline was attending this party. to Romeo’s luck his love was attending this party. this is a semantic field.
in this stanza I will show you the metaphors the link into semantic fields
ROMEO
I fear too early, for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night’s revels, and expire the term
Of a despisèd life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
But he that hath the steerage of my course,
Direct my sail. On, lusty gentlemen.
in this stanza Romeo says “some consequences yet hanging in the stars”. in this sentence he is saying his fate is already hanging in the stars made by god. I say this because in the time where Shakespeare was alive people were very superstitious when it came to good. this is why people thought that god has already made their fate. and when Romeo says “some consequences yet hanging in the stars”. this means that if he goes to the party bad things that have already been decided by god will occur. this is a semantic field because it is talking about fate that has already been chosen by god.
also in this stanza Romeo says “he that hath the steerage of my course” this is him referring himself as being a boat. which is a metaphor. metaphors are linked to semantic fields because from metaphors semantics fields can be created. in this case the semantic field is when it is lined to god
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October 14, 2015 at 10:25 pm
Adam,
You’ve got everything you need for an excellent analysis of the semantic field generated throughout the play in relation to fate. What is needed now is for the language you’re using to express these complex ideas to be developed a little.
What is good is that you’ve organised the examples and explanation well, keeping each to its own paragraph. Now look at structuring each paragraph a little more carefully:
1) Start with a topic sentence that links to the over-all point of the piece: “Shakespeare extends the reference to fate using the narrative device of co-incidence…”
2) Explain how this device is being used to communicate the idea of fate
3) Provide a clear quote to support your idea and explain what it means in the context it’s used.
Also, try to avoid pasting large chunks of quoted text into your writing, instead select the lines carefully that you want to concentrate on, and embed these into the body paragraphs themselves. Have another look at my example on the class website if you want a simple formula to follow when constructing body paragraphs.
With these matters tidied up, this is going to be a very strong analysis.
CW