Romeo And Juliet: Shakespeare’s Metaphor Of Comparing Man To Plants Essay, Research Paper
Romeo and Juliet: Shakespeare’s Metaphor Of Comparing Man To Plants
To express his view of good and evil in every man, William Shakespeare
writes lines that Friar Laurence reveals in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
which compare man to plants, focusing on the common trait they hold of having
two contrasting components in their being. Throughout history, there has always
been a conflict with the view of goodness and evilness in man. The philosopher
Plato believed that man was born with a natural depravity and was basically an
untrained animal who needed society’s help to structure, educate, and fulfill
his needs. On the other hand, Plato’s pupil Aristotle believed that man is
initially born with goodness and virtue. The issue of man’s two sides can be
thoroughly discussed over the gothic novel of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
Some critics believe that the ?creature? was prone to evil from the onset, that
it was innately in his being, while others argue that the treatment the ?
creature? received from humans pitted him against mankind into an evil and
revengeful state. Shakespeare, however, in his extended metaphor comparing man
to plants, holds the opinion that there is both decency and infamy in man. His
opinion can be compared to the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis
Stevenson, where Dr. Jekyll is innately pure and kind but because he tries to
hide the malicious side of his being, it eventually overcomes him completely.
Shakespeare wishes to address the idea that evil can destroy a person and
overtake them if it is let in and uses his lines of Friar Laurence as an
aphorism and a warning to mankind.
The following lines from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet fully portray
the author’s view of a split of innocence and corruption in man, and the thought
that evil is likely and able to destroy man from the inside out.
Within the infant rind of this small flower
Poison hath residence and medicine power.
In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will;
And where the worser is pred
Full soon the canker death eats up that plant.
Translated, these lines can be interpreted as follows:
Within the bud of this small flower
Poison lives and medicine has potential power.
In man, like in plants, there is both good and evil components,
And if the evil is stronger and more prevalent,
It is certain the plant will be destroyed.
In the first line, Shakespeare speaks of a new plant, which alludes to a human
baby or a child. This is the beginning of his extended metaphor evaluating
plants to man. Just like a plant can have malevolent poison or beneficial
medicine, man also has an ill and humane side to him. Depending on the course a
man takes throughout his life, that evil may overtake and consume him, just as
the components of a plant can be fatal depending on how they are used. With
this idea, Shakespeare gives us the aphorism that if man does not try to control
the amount of evil in his life, he will end up being the tragic hero of these
very lines. Through the expression of the words and with the use of extended
metaphor, Shakespeare compares man to plants and portrays the central theme that
there is both virtue and vice in man, but if the vice is of a greater caliber,
it can be the fatal flaw leading to the downfall of man.
Shakespeare hints to his audience the life lesson that one should never
let evil be the predominant trait in their character because it will eventually
eat them like a cancer from the inside out. By comparing man to plants, he
emphasizes the idea that every man has a dual personality holding both good and
evil, in the same manner that plants hold medicine and poison within their buds.
With the use of extended metaphor, Shakespeare holds the idea throughout that
man can be looked at in a similar view to man because they share this
characteristic of duality. The aphorism to be shared with his audience is
Shakespeare’s premonition of letting too much evil overtake the good in one’s
personality because it has the potential to destroy, just as evil took the life
of Dr. Jekyll who could not avoid it taking over his being.