When Romeo answers Juliet, she is startled. She does not realise that it is Romeo talking to her straight away so she asks” What man art thou, that thus bescreened in night/ so stumblest on my counsel?” She wonders whoi that man is and why has he been listening to her.
Juliet questions Romeo’s presence she asks how did he get there and why. She makes him aware that he is taking a risk as her house is carefully guarded. Most of the way through this scene they talk in blank verse.
Romeo tells her that no stone wall can keep him(love) out. There is Irony in what Romeo says here …” I have nights dark to hide me from their eyes, / And but thou love me, let them find me here/ my life better ended by their hate/ Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love” He says that he would die for Juliets love, this is irony because the audience already know that death is certain.
While talking to Juliet, Romeo
Refers to the Spanish Armada which was taking place around his time, he refers to himself as a merchant, who wanted to trade is love for hers in return.
Juliet makes Romeo Swear that he loves her. Here Juliet expresses her love for Romeo but she worries that her anxiousness is mistaken by being too forward. She says “ Or if thou thinkest I am too quickly won / I’ll frown and be perverse, and say thee nay/ so thou wilt woo; but else not for the world” What Juliet is saying to Romeo here is that if you think that I’m being too forward, then I want nothing more to do, she’ll sulk and be unhappy.
Juliet says she’ll prove to Romeo that she loves him. Juliet talks about” true loves passion” Here the intimacy between Romeo and Juliet builds. Romeo asks “ What shall I swear by?” Juliet replies” Or if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self.” She says that she idolises him but then has a change of mood and tells him that it is happening too fast. She feels that it’s not normal, similes are used here as Juliet describes the situations being” Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be.” She is suddenly worried that it’s all too sudden. Although Juliet has told Romeo this she assures him that she feels the same. “ My bounty is as boundless as the sea” by saying this Juliet is telling Romeo that there is no end to her love for him. She mentions her never-ending love more than once when she says, ”For both are infinite.”
Juliet is being called by the nurse and tells Romeo to wait for her. When she returns, Ironically she asks Romeo to marry her. Once again she has changed her mood
The nurse calls for Juliet and Juliet knows that she must go. She says “ Hist, Romeo, hist! O for a falconer’s voice/ to lure this tassel-gentle back again” What she means is that she wishes that she is able to send Romeo away and be able to call him back when she wanted to. ”Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies,” Here Juliet mentions “Echo” Which is a tragic love story I think that she doesn’t want it to end in the same way.
The marriage of Romeo And Juliet was against convention, at this time it was common for arranged marriages, and also as quoted in the play A Midsummers Night Dream, “ To you, your father should be as a god” Juliet had to secretly be wed because she knew her father would not allow it and Juliet was meant to obide by what her father says. Women at that time had far less power than today.
