What image does shakespeare create with the allusion to king cophetua and the beggar maid? how is king cophetua’s story like romeo’s story? how is it different?

allusion is when the stories refer to other stories. or even greek mythology or the bible for instance.

here are a couple of allusions in the play romeo and juliet:

the first quatrain is from line 69 through line 72. the rhythm and verse scheme in this paragraph is that of iambic pentameter and aabb respectively. the quatrain begins with an allusion to saint francis, in this case being used as an expression of exasperation by the friar.

and so is this:

mercutio continues in the same vein, calling out to romeo to say a rhyme, or sigh, or "speak to my gossip venus one fair word, / one nick-name for her purblind [dim-sighted] son and heir, / young abraham cupid, he that shot so trim, / when king cophetua loved the beggar-maid! " (2.1.11-14). "my gossip" is a familiar phrase for an old crony, especially one who babbles at random. in the bible abraham is old, the father of all the israelites; mercutio's phrase for cupid, "young abraham," is an allusion to the fact that in greek mythology cupid is both the oldest and youngest of the gods.

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