With the absence of Romeo and the entrance of Lady Capulet, a sense of bitterness and resentment is introduced onto the stage. Lady Capulet’s personality has been portrayed to be harsh, cacophonous and dissonant. An example of this is “Why, how now, Juliet?!” Her sentences are short and acute to portray her abrupt manner. The audience notes that Juliet calls her mother ‘Lady’ and ‘Ma’am’ as this would have been expected in the social circumstances of this period. Upon entering, Juliet has now become hysterical due to the absence of Romeo, whereas her mother believes she is crying over the death of her late cousin Tybalt. Dramatic irony is conveyed here as the audience know more than the actors on stage. This makes the audience feel more superior to the characters Lady Capulet desires to know what her daughter is crying about and she does so harshly. There is a great contrast of the relationship between the nurse and Juliet and Juliet and her mother. There is a definite lack of connection between Juliet and her mother. The continued references to death are made when Lady Capulet says “Evermore weeping for your cousin’s death?” Shakespeare uses a clever play on words so that Juliet and her mother are talking in the same context but not necessarily in the same meaning, for example when she says: “Indeed I never shall be satisfied with Romeo, till I behold him –dead - is my poor heart so for a kinsman vexed” Here this has two meanings, Juliet actually means “Indeed I never shall be satisfied with Romeo – dead is my poor heart” Shakespeare has used hyphens to make this sentence have two meanings. Lady Capulet interprets the sentence as “Indeed I shall never be satisfied with Romeo till I behold him dead – dead is my poor heart…etc” Where the hyphens have been used there is a dramatic pause which give the sentence its double meaning. This creates tension for the audience because they do not know which way the conversation could go. Lady Capulet says “So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend.” Juliet has to be very clever in her response to this question in case her mother finds out about her secret marriage to Romeo. Her answer to her mother is careful since she uses ambiguous language.
The entrance of Lord Capulet increases the tension on stage as he too is outraged that Juliet has declined the marriage proposal to Paris. Shakespeare has conveyed Lord and Lady Capulet to be very similar personalities. Both are harsh, sharp and short-tempered characters. Lord Capulet tries to reason with his daughter rather than shouting at her (for a little while). The first sentence that Lord Capulet says on stage is littered with alliteration, he says “When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew,” he then carries onto say “but for the sunset of my brother’s son, it rains downright.” This is an extended metaphor, where Lord Capulet is comparing Juliet’s weeping to a rainstorm. This effects the tension as Lord Capulet is mocking Juliet’s despair and seems to be concerned for her feelings, which gives Juliet a small moment of hope.
When Lord Capulet hears that Juliet’s rejected Paris’s offer of marriage, he reacts similarly to Juliet when she first heard about the marriage. He is as unsympathetic to Juliet as his wife and Lord Capulet speaks to Juliet irrationally as he does not consider her feelings on the matter. Lord Capulet starts shouting abuse at Juliet, this shocks the characters on stage and the audience because previously we have seen him to be a relatively calm person without a temper. From his tone of voice we can hear he is angry. Juliet tries to calm Lord Capulet by trying to reason with him, the audience feel that Juliet is frightened of her father which raises the tension further. This is made apparent as she cowers on the floor and hangs her head in shame when he talks to her. Juliet speaks to her father in a pleading tone, as if she is begging for forgiveness. She states “Good Father, I beseech you on my knees, hear me with patience but to speak a word.” She addresses her father politely but the audience can see that Juliet does not have a good relationship with her father as he will not contemplate her feelings whereby the audience does. The severe verbal attacks that Lord Capulet directs at Juliet could lead to a physical attack as Lord Capulet states: “My fingers itch” indicating he intends to slap Juliet. The audience are now shocked at Lord Capulet’s behaviour and are concerned for Juliet’s safety as her mother does not intervene and tell Capulet that he is being irrational which could mean that Lady Capulet is also afraid of her husband. The physical movement on stage creates more tension as Lord Capulet is pacing up and down the stage, waving his hands, accentuating his behaviour. Lady Capulet remains in the wings, keeping away from the centre stage but so she can still be seen. Juliet is cowering on the floor afraid of her father. Her father’s body language and positioning on stage shows the power structure of the scene. Lord Capulet is the most controlling character on stage, whereas his wife is the total opposite, keeping a low profile. Lord Capulet then goes on to state: “Now I see this one is too much and that we have a curse in having her” Here he wishes that Juliet had never been born and clarifies his irrationality to the audience.
The nurse then re-enters the scene, over-hearing the argument. She is the only real mother figure in Juliet’s life and so her maternal instincts cause her to defend Juliet when Lord Capulet threatens to hurt her. This surprises the audience as the nurse is only a servant and we would assume she would not have such a say in an argument. Everyone anticipates Lord Capulet’s reaction. He retaliates by mocking the nurse and saying she should go and sit with her old women friends rather than intervene in the argument. Before Lord Capulet exits, in his final speech, he says how he has spent all his time trying to find a suitable husband for his daughter. He says “Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play, alone, in company – still in my care to have thee match’d.” He then goes onto imitate Juliet by mocking her tone of voice and actions. The audience feel sympathy for Juliet as her father rejects her feelings. In his speech, Lord Capulet threatens that if she refuses to marry Paris, she will no longer live with the family and she will be disowned. He refers to death continuously by saying “And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets” He dwells upon all these references to create a sense of foreboding for Juliet and it also emphasises the grave danger Juliet would be in if her father should discover her secret marriage to Romeo. His flippancy over the subject of death shocks both Juliet and the audience. When Lord Capulet essentially says he does not care if Juliet dies, there is dramatic irony as this foreshadows the end of the play when Lord Capulet is distraught. This proves to the audience he is very upset on the matter of the wedding and is saying things that he does not necessarily mean through anger. As he exits, he leaves Juliet with a choice, either continue with the wedding to Paris or be disowned by her family. Unfortunately Juliet knows, as does the audience, that she must choose either her family or Romeo.
Juliet pleads with her mother to delay the wedding but she refuses. When her mother exits, the tension remains high although the immediate threat of violence has passed. Juliet then talks to her nurse, hoping that she can lighten the mood of the situation. Juliet’s grief can be heard through her voice when she says “O God - O nurse.” Now Juliet is on the verge of desperation. The nurse adds tension to the scene by saying that Juliet should marry Paris since Romeo is banished from Verona. “Your first is dead – or t’were as good he were.” The nurse brings up the subject of death again here saying that Romeo is as good as dead so Juliet should marry Paris. The nurse is being very realistic in her outlook and thinking about Juliet’s best options for her future which we have seen the nurse do before in the play. Juliet replies to the nurse “Speak’st thou from the heart?” because Juliet cannot believe that the closet mother figure in her life has betrayed her. The audience are shocked at this as they did not expect this reaction from the nurse. Juliet then speaks to the nurse in a very harsh manner, with short sentences to portray her anger. Juliet thanks the nurse for nothing and asks her to leave. “Well thou hast comforted me marvellous much.” Here you can see from her tone of voice that she is mocking the nurse for her reply, this marks the end of the relationship between Juliet and the nurse. As the nurse exits, in Juliet’s final soliloquy, she refers to the nurse as a damned old woman. She says “If all else fail, myself have the power to die.” This indicates juxtaposition. This is significant to the end of the scene as Juliet’s only power and choice is that of her life and whether to take it away or not. Juliet has now reached her most desperate point and is contemplating suicide. This leaves the audience in shock, awaiting the next scene.
In Act 3, Scene 5 Juliet’s world has been turned upside down. She has been threatened, betrayed by her confidante, and finally contemplates suicide as her only release. Shakespeare has used language with many double meanings which the audience can understand though the characters remain in the dark. This scene changes the whole play as Juliet and Romeo are now in grave danger of being found out. There is a contrast of relationships between Romeo and Juliet and Juliet and Lord and Lady Capulet. The relationship between Romeo and Juliet is intimate and loving, and once Romeo exits, that love is turned into cold, harsh behaviour from Juliet’s response to her parent’s demands over the wedding to Paris. Shakespeare uses a combination of figurative language, imagery and dramatic irony to create a great sense of tension with disastrous consequences in the scene. Throughout the scene, more has been revealed to the audience than the characters as Shakespeare creates dramatic irony. Dramatic irony has been used to drive the expectations of the audience for the scenes that follow. Shakespeare keeps the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the scene with a sense of foreboding highlighted by the many references to death by all the central characters and the audience too as they are afraid that Juliet might reveal her secret, which is Shakespeare’s intention within the scene.
