Answer:
The prologue of Romeo and Juliet warns the audience of an unhappy ending to its tale of “star-crossed lovers.” Throughout Acts I and II, oxymorons remind us of the prologue’s message: these opposing forces will not end peacefully. They reflect the characters’ ambivalent attitudes, torn loyalties, and misaligned goals.
Civil Brawls
One of the most famous oxymorons in Romeo and Juliet comes from the Prince’s admonition to the Montagues and Capulets on the streets of Verona. He warns them about further quarrels disturbing the city’s peace:
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets…
(Romeo and Juliet 1.1 91-93)
The word “civil” in the phrase “civil brawls” implies that the brawls are friendly. The idea of a “friendly fight” is a clear oxymoron that contradicts itself.
O Brawling Love, O Loving Hate
Before Romeo set eyes on Juliet, he was head over heels for Rosaline. But Rosaline’s rejection has set him into a moody tailspin. Now faced with news of the most recent Capulet-Montague brawl, Romeo laments to Benvolio:
“Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.
Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love.
Why then, 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!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.”
Oxymorons dealing with the fight – “O brawling love, O loving hate” – show Romeo’s ambivalent attitude toward the families’ animosity. He also uses oxymorons to describe how out-of-sorts he feels in his love toward Rosaline (“cold fire, sick health, still-waking sleep”).
Step-by-step explanation: