{"id":3901,"date":"2016-09-19T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/blog\/?p=3901"},"modified":"2019-03-16T11:09:59","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T18:09:59","slug":"personification-in-romeo-and-juliet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/essay-writing-blog\/personification-in-romeo-and-juliet\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Spot Personification in Romeo and Juliet"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know those classes that seem to drag on forever? The clock on the wall mocks you by moving slower. The breeze sweeps in through an open window and calls to you.<\/p>\n

These are examples of personification\u2014the clock mocking and the breeze calling.<\/p>\n

I know you might not be looking forward to your essay on personification in Romeo and Juliet<\/i>, but this literary device is one of the easiest to spot. I promise it won\u2019t be too difficult to build your support for your essay.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m getting ahead of myself.<\/p>\n

First, I\u2019m going to show you what personification is exactly and where to find it in the play. To give you another little boost, I\u2019ll even throw in a few thesis statement examples to help inspire your writing.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s get started, shall we?<\/p>\n

What Is Personification?<\/h2>\n

So what exactly is personification<\/i>? Well, just look at the first half of the word: person<\/b>. This literary device makes objects or ideas more like people.<\/p>\n

There are two different types of personification<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Giving human qualities to something that isn\u2019t human<\/li>\n
  2. When a human character represents an abstract idea or quality<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This first type, giving qualities to something non-human, could look something like, \u201cThe kettle shrieked<\/i><\/b> on the stove<\/i>.\u201d Kettles can\u2019t speak, scream, or vocalize in any way. In this instance, however, you would want a reader to know just how loud and high-pitched the sound was.<\/p>\n

    Personification helps your readers relate to and better understand your writing\u2014 it fills in the details and descriptions in vivid ways.<\/p>\n

    (Just don\u2019t overdo it, or your writing could end up reading like The Brave Little Toaster<\/a><\/i> where objects are described as truly alive.)<\/p>\n

    The second type, characters representing an abstract idea\u2014such as love, hate, evil, innocence, virtue, etc.\u2014can be a little harder to detect. However, when you see that a character strongly symbolizes or represents something else, you can say he or she personifies<\/i> it.<\/p>\n

    One example is Venus as the personification of beauty in Roman art and literature. Another one is the personification of evil in Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter<\/a>.<\/p>\n