The key scenes which show great relevance to love and marriage in Romeo and Juliet are: Act 1 Scene 5, Act 1 Scene 3 and Act 2 Scene 2.
In Act 1 Scene 3 it is set in the Capulet house where an introduction to Juliet is awaited. Lady Capulet enters the room where Nurse (the foster mother of Juliet) and Juliet are. Immediately Lady Capulet dismisses Nurse but then calls her back in. From this we know that Nurse could possibly be considered as one of the family. After talking about Juliet’s childhood she asks Juliet a direct question: “Tell me, daughter Juliet, how stands your dispositions to be married?”. Juliet replies by saying it is an honour that she has not yet dreamt of. (She is not yet 14). Her mother continues to persist and says “Well think of marriage now.” and tells Juliet of Paris’ proposal of marriage. Her description of Paris is no doubt trying to persuade Juliet towards Paris. It is set over a space of 11 lines, yet has no effect on our emotions as readers.
Act 2 Scene 2 is the Orchard of the Capulet household, where we find Romeo(this is unusual as he is a Montague). He is looking up at a light from a window above. He begins to speak about his love for Juliet. There seems to be a connection between what he says here and the emotion he pretended to feel for Rosaline (the girl he is supposed to marry). This is an example of courtly love, when a man is supposed to ‘woo’ a woman to him. The relationship between Romeo and Rosaline seems to be more courtly than the one between Romeo and Juliet because with Rosaline everything is done properly. Romeo acts differently and does not ‘woo’ Juliet. This emphasises the intensity in feeling between Romeo and Juliet.
Act 3 Scene 5. In this scene Romeo says farewell to Juliet and escapes from Verona to Mantua This is because he has been banned from Verona for murdering Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt. After Romeo has left, Juliet’s mother enters the room and speaks of Juliet’s immediate marriage to Paris. This is not taken well by Juliet as it is so sudden and she refuses to marry Paris. Her father now disowns her in rage and Juliet is left on her own.
The ‘language of love’ is shown throughout the play too. In Act 1 Scene 1, Sampson of the Capulets has a very aggressive appeal to him because of the way he speaks. “…, women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall. Therefore I will push Montague’s men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall.” This suggests he is very aggressive but also passionate about his speech. He seems more aggressive because of the repetition of the word thrust too. Romeo, however, speaks differently, especially about Juliet. His language for love is very delicate. For example: “O speak again, bright angel – for thou…/As a winged messenger from heaven.” Not only do they express different attitudes but also in the way it is spoken – Romeo’s words are in iambic pentameter’. This is when there is ten beats/syllables per line.
Love in the play is presented as an intense and overwhelming force. Shakespeare does this by making everything in the script/play happen so quickly. For example, Romeo and Juliet met on the Sunday evening and were married no less than 24 hours later. The entire play is set over 5 days.
He also uses lots of incidents that result in bad luck for Romeo and Juliet’s situation. E.g. When Juliet takes the potion to make her seem dead, Romeo does not receive the letter informing him of this and therefore kills himself.
Shakespeare also uses the Nurse as a dramatic device. Nurse never seems to give Juliet a straight answer and always talks nonsense. Her nonsense raises anxiety for Juliet and the reader/audience. For example the nurse says to Juliet that Romeo is dead although he is not. “Alack the day, he’s gone, he’s kill’d, he’s dead!” although later Nurse says “Tybalt is gone and Romeo banished.” which proves that Romeo is not dead.
Each of these techniques encourages the audience to share Romeo and Juliet’s experience of love as if at the same time as Romeo and Juliet experience it. Because of all of the errors of judgement, the delays and failures in communication, the Nurse’s nonsense, the speed of play etc. the audience is made to experience the same obstacles, the same stops and starts as the tragic lovers do.
