Alas poor Romeo! he is already dead; stabbed with a white wench’s black eye; shot through the ear with a love-song.
– William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. Mercutio says this about the lovesick Romeo, thinking that he is pining away for the "wench" Rosaline. What he doesn’t know, but the audience does, is that Romeo affections have switched from Rosaline to Juliet, whom he has fallen head over heels in love with. This is an example of dramatic irony, a literary and theatrical device much loved by Shakespeare and used throughout the play. Mercutio’s joke about Romeo being dead for love is tragically foreshadowing of how Romeo will die from his love of a woman – Juliet! We see also the juxtaposition of light and dark in this passage – "a white wench’s black eye." These two contrasting motifs are used throughout the play and represent the conflicting powers of good and evil.