When Lady Capulet informs Juliet about her plans for her to marry Paris, it is like a huge bomb has exploded creating a new enigma for Juliet. When told Juliet acts very negatively to the news as she says “Now by Saint Peter’s Church and Peter too, he shall not make me there a joyful bride”. However the reader will feel that she has every right to feel angry as she is bride to Romeo, this news make us feel compassionate towards Juliet because when one problem seems to be over a new one begins.
When Capulet arrives and argues with his daughter he is taken aback with his daughters decision and says “Is she not proud?,/ doth she not count her blest”./ “How, how, how, how? /chop logic ? /What is this?”/.The repetition of the word “how” conveys Capulet’s anger. He then continuously insults Juliet calling her “You green sick carrion!./ You tallow face”. The language Capulet chooses to use really diminishes Juliet’s self respect. The stage direction [kneeling] shows the status between Juliet and her father as she addresses him as “good father I beseech you on my knees, hear me with patience but to speak a word”.However Juliet’s plea is refused ,this whole act by her father really outlines the way Juliet is seen as nothing when her parents decide for her to marry. This makes the reader feel that Juliet’s is not given any respect and that she seems to be her fathers property.
When Capulet leaves his change in character is quite dramatic as we are shown another side to him one which is quite fierce and controlling. When Juliet turns to her mother she says “Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word, Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee”. Lady Capulet leaves giving us the impression that she is a cold hearted woman. Finally Juliet confides in the nurse who is like a second mother to her but she says that “I think it is best you married the County ,O; he’s a lovely gentleman :Romeo’s dishclout to him”. Juliet is shocked and surprised at what she has been advised by the nurse as of all people she would expected the nurse to be on her side, to understand as she was one of the only people who knew her marriage to Romeo.
Shakespeare’s portrayal of each character raises our sympathy for Juliet because firstly her mothers character seems one that hardly cares about her daughter because she says “I would the fool were married to her grave !”,once again Shakespeare makes use of dramatic iron as Lady Capulet has unknowingly predicted Juliet’s future. Once Juliet refuses to marry Paris. We are also clearly made aware of the fact that she is a callous woman because when Juliet looks to her for sympathy she says “Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word; do as though wilt ,for I have done with thee”, making the reader feel that she is not loved by her mother and in this way we are once again made to sympathize for Juliet.
Lord Capulet in Act 3 scene 5 has a complete change of character, as we are made conscious of the fact that he is a man who has a completely different side to him. As he grows angry by each word that he speaks because of Juliet’s refusal to marry Paris, he becomes very forceful and blackmails Juliet by saying “Thursday is near. Lay hand on heart advise. An you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend; an you be not, hang ,beg, starve, die in the streets“. This means that if she does not listen to him he will make her leave home. This act by her father really shows how Juliet’s pride is continually diminished into nothing.
The nurse on the other hand whom we know to be a gentle and kinder soul compared to her parents. For Juliet she has been conveyed as a surrogate mother throughout her life. We are made aware of her feelings towards Juliet , because when her father is verbally abusing Juliet, she defends her by saying “God in heaven bless her! You are to blame, my lord to rate her so”. However the reader is surprised by what advice she gives to Juliet; “I think it is best you married with the County,O he’s a lovely gentleman”. I think this advice given to Juliet after the feud with her father is because she wants peace. Overall I feel that the nurses advice for Juliet is not the one she hoped for. So the reader is further manipulated in to feeling rueful towards Juliet as know she has no one to turn to.
In the way that Juliet responds to her parents and the nurse at the end of the scene we see a change in her character too. She is no longer a sweet thirteen year old as she becomes defiant and unwilling to marry. She says to the nurse “Well though has comforted me marvelous much./Go in tell my lady I am gone, having displeased my father, to Lawrence’ cell” .In this quote the first line contains alliteration that adds to the sarcasm in the text. At the end of the scene we feel that Juliet will no longer take it anymore and she is quickly maturing in to a woman.
Therefore we are made apparent of the fact that in the Elizabethan times the daughter was seen as the property of her father. As result it seems that you had a better life if you where male. The scene also emphasizes role of a mother and daughter as in the scene there is hardly any love between the two and it was more of a burden if you had a daughter. The reason I think this is because the scene makes me feel as if Juliet is only there to get married and has no purpose in life. I also think that the wife is seen as the property of her husband as she is not involved in much of the decisions based around Juliet.
In the text the characters use different language to create different affects . An example of this is the way Juliet’s misleads her mother with a double meanings” I will not marry yet; and when I do swear it shall be Romeo whom you know I hate”. I think this double meaning is good way for Juliet to reply to her mother even though the reader knows that Romeo and Juliet are married but her mother is not aware of this fact ,as the Montague’s are foes to the Capulets she very cleverly misleads her mother by saying that she would rather marry Romeo who is a Montague then marry Paris. The effect of this double meaning has on me is that it I think it is a clever way to create an affective sentence and certainly a good way to mislead someone.
Lord Capulet’s language towards Juliet is very harsh as he says “green sick carrion” “baggage”/ “tallow face”/ “disobedient wretch” . The use of language is really putting her down and diminishing her self respect, making her feel that she is nothing ,just a waste of space. This is another way Shakespeare creates the affect of sympathy for Juliet, as the readers is made to feel sympathetic for her.
The way Juliet appeals to her father is a way which seems that she has lost any self respect because the stage directions [Kneeling] shows that she has gone as low as she can get showing status and power in the father daughter relationship. Once her father leaves she says “ Is there no pity sitting in the clouds, that sees no bottom in my grief? delay this marriage for month , a week; or if you do not make the bridal bed“. This speech by Juliet does create enough effect for us to once again sympathize for her but not only that we are made to pity her too. This is because she is so desperate and helpless and she is practically begging for someone to help her but they are all turning away ,and the only answer she can find if forced to get married is death. At this moment in the play I myself feel very helpless for Juliet and very sympathetic as she has no one, and is going so low that she would rather be dead than to stay alive.
In Juliet’s final soliloquy she resolves to go to the friar and asks for his help and if he can’t help her she will kill herself “I’ll to the friar to know his remedy if all else fail, myself have power to die”. Her words gain our sympathy because she feels that death maybe the only way out of this marriage being forced on to her by her parents. Shakespeare chose to end the scene with this soliloquy because it creates a dramatic feel . It is like a cliffhanger because it makes the scene end with the reader wanting to know what will happen next.
Act 3 scene 5 links up with what happens next because after Juliet quarrels with her father she decides to go to the friar to seek help and says if he can’t help her then she will kill herself. This links up to what will happen next because at the end of the play Juliet dies. For the reason that in the previous seen we are made aware of Juliet’s soliloquy, where she says if she cannot get help she will have to kill herself, therefore this results in her death at the end , linking the scenes together.
The affect of Shakespeare’s dramatic irony is that the audience know something that characters do not ,and it makes you want to scream out at them and tell them very thing. He allows us to share Juliet’s predicament while her parents are ignorant of the truth because then we are aware of the situation but it for the characters in the scene ,they have to find out for themselves and react to the situation at that time.
Stage directions are things that must be done on the stage hence the word stage. It can tell you where you have to be on the stage?, what the stage represents?,where you enter in from the stage?, what side you have to be one?. I think maybe a few stage directions may be used to engage our sympathy Enter NURSE Hastily this stage direction is used when Romeo and Juliet are spending there last moments together but everything has to be speeded up with the nurses entrance .So this might gain a few people sympathy for the pair to show how little time they spend together.
The themes in Romeo and Juliet such as love,sex,death,fate ,fortune,betrayl, I think all of them can some way or another be the ingredients for a tragedy, the obvious ones such as betrayal,death always have something to do with tragedy,but something like the theme love depends ,however for Romeo and Juliet there love makes everything end in tragedy. I think our prior knowledge of the outcome of the pair does make us more sympathetic for the pair because we know everything for them is going to end in tragedy,however in Elizabethan times even if they knew the final outcome I do not think the audience would sympathies for Romeo and Juliet but probably felt that they deserved it.
There are also many contrast between the older and modern versions of the Romeo and Juliet videos. The modern version directed by Baz Luhmaan and the older version is directed by Franco Zeffirelli .The noticeable difference between the two movies was the music as the modern version had slow mournful tune but the older version had nice relaxing music with birds twittering. Also there is a difference in clothing as in the older version the Capluets are wearing black to show that they are grieving for Tybalts death. However both movies contain the same type of actions and the acting is similar .The older version of the movies scene in my opinion helped me have a greater insight towards Act 3 Scene 5 . This is
because the props that where used seemed more similar to what they would have in Shakespeare’s time.
To conclude I have realized throughout this scene Shakespeare cleverly uses many different effects to create and manipulate our sympathy towards Romeo and Juliet. As the scene progresses it really captures the characterizations of each character, such as Juliet who seems so innocent and pure in contrast to her father who can be forceful and vindictive.
In addition I have also analyzed the different methods Shakespeare uses to create effect such as using double meanings and dramatic irony and alliteration.
I think that Shakespeare is successful in conveying and outlining the couples problems effectively, because he manages to gain our sympathy for the couple ,but also Juliet as an individual as this scene is mainly based around her. Therefore I think this scene was a good chance to study her characteristics.
I think that this scene can be relevant to modern day life because many children are put under pressure by there parents ,and therefore this upset the child making them rebel, can be a mirror image of what happens and how someone can react if forced to do something against their will. I also think that when Shakespeare first wrote about this scene he to may have based his decisions on real life . Therefore I assume that similar situations must occur in modern day life.
