The earth that’s nature’s mother is her tomb;
What is her burying grave that is her womb.
– William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 3. Friar Laurence uses a number of metaphors when he compares mother earth to nature’s womb, because it gives birth to living things, and also to its tomb, because the dead are buried there. This resonates with the play’s central human story and paradox – the young lovers Romeo and Juliet are seeking love, but instead find death. Foreshadowed here is the tragic ending of the play, when the lovers die and are buried in the earth.