Act 1 Scene 5
"She doth lie upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear,"
She doth lie upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear.
To a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear.
"She doth teach the torches to burn bright. It seems she hangs on the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear."
Romeo said this when he saw Juliet for the first time. An Ethiope was an Ethiopian, a person from Ethiopia. Ethiopians were and are dark skinned people, and Romeo compared Juliet to a bright jewel placed next to the cheek of a black-skinned person. In part, he was talking about how fair her skin was. She was extremely pale, and that was quite attractive back then. If she was so pale, she would contrast with the dark night. Also, the jewel against the dark skin would make the skin glow; Juliet's beauty shines out of the night and makes it bright.
"Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!" "She hangs upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear." He likes her, don't you think?
Well, honey, Romeo compared Juliet to a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear because he was trying to say she stood out like a diamond in the rough. In simpler terms, he was basically saying she was a rare beauty in an unexpected place. So, in Romeo's dramatic love-struck mind, Juliet was a precious gem in a not-so sparkly setting.
"O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!" Although both Romeo and Juliet constantly use images of light when referring to each other. "What light through yonder window breaks?" "She doth hang on the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear." "Thou wilt lie on the wings of night whiter than show on a raven's back."
Most famously,"She doth lie upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an ethiop's ear" (that's a simile) and "What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." (that's a metaphor).
It's a metaphor. Romeo is comparing Juliet to an earring which dangles against a person's cheek. The person's skin, like the night, is dark, and Juliet shines in the dark the way a jewelled earring might shine against the skin of a dark-skinned person. It is surely one of Shakespeare's most beautiful and evocative metaphors.
Romeo
A jewel.