Famine is in thy cheeks,
Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes,
Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back;
The world is not thy friend nor the world’s law;
The world affords no law to make thee rich;
Then be not poor, but break it, and take this.
– William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 1. Romeo persuades the Apothecary to ignore the law forbidding the sale of poisons and to sell some to him. He tells him that he lives in destitution and starvation, the law is not his friend, and Romeo’s money can help lift him out of poverty. Words personified in this passage are "need and oppression" (said to be starving) and "world" and "law" (described as no friend of the Apothecary).