n beings do not submit blindly to fate and fight against it, as romeo and Juliet do. We know from the beginning that they will fail because the Chorus tells us so, stating that the lovers will commit suicide and so end the antagonisms between their parents. The importance of character is clear with reference to the lovers themselves, two young people whose feelings for one another overcome the animosities implanted in them by their parents. The love that Romeo feels when he sees Juliet comes upon him suddenly and takes control of his life. "Love" and "light" are equated in his speech again and again:
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
As a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear--
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
One of the most famous metaphors from the play also evokes a sense of Juliet as the source of warmth an
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