Conceptual metaphors about romantic love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Due to its potential of enlightening and creating meaning, metaphor is one of the most studied and most discussed figures of speech in works from a wide range of fields of knowledge, from literary theory to psychology and cognitive linguistics. Even though many critics and literary theorists have studied the nature and function of this fascinating and intriguing figure of speech, it is argued that it still maintains its relevance as an object of study, since it can possibly shape, to a certain extent, the way we see and experience the world. In this sense, this article aims to analyze the metaphorical constructions about the concept of romantic love in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, , through the theoretical framework from literary theory and cognitive linguistics, with an emphasis on Max Black's (1962;1993), Paul Ricoeur's (1987) and Lakoff and Johnson's (2002) contributions. As an abstract concept, the notion of love does not allow enclosure in a single meaning, an aspect that has been elucidated in the analysis of the various conceptual metaphors in Shakespeare's play. Through Lakoff and Johnson's (2002) considerations, it is argued that there are also contrasting perspectives regarding love in the play, such as through the contrasting images of light and darkness. Thus, this article aims to contribute to critical research regarding the study of metaphor and, more specifically, on its potential for creating meaning.