Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
– William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1. Romeo is full of conflicted emotions because of his unrequited love for Rosaline. To express this he uses oxymorons, a figure of speech in which what seem contradictory terms appear in conjunction. This passage blurs the lines between love and hate and reflects the themes of the play, in which love and hate are intricately bound up in one another. When he speaks of "brawling," "hate" and "chaos," Romeo is not only lamenting Rosaline not returning his love, but also the feud raging between his family, the Montagues, and the Capulets.