When the play first started I thought that Juliet was a good little girl and seemed to be very obedient, towards both parents, because when Lady Capulet asks Juliet if she’ll marry Paris she says that if she likes Paris then she shall marry him, but I won’t involve myself any further without you consent. Act1 Sc3 L97-99. When Juliet started to change character Act3 Sc5 to me it seemed very unusual, before this scene she seemed very obedient, but then she just stopped, I do understand why though, she was already to married to Romeo and didn’t want to betray him by marrying County Paris. This shows despite all the things she has been through Juliet still stays Loyal to Romeo. The effect this had on Juliet’s relationship with her parents was catastrophic, her parents wanted to disown her, from her heritage “Hang thee young baggage, disobedient wretch!” Act3 Sc5 Ln160. Juliet’s parents were very unfair, cursing her, saying that they didn’t want anything to do with her any more, through out their speeches.
An attribute I like about Juliet is her cunning, in they way that when after this scene, when she visits Friar Laurence and then returns to her home, her Father asks her where she has been and she says she has been to confession and told Friar Laurence that she has repented for being disobedient. Act4 Sc2 Ln16-22. I think this is very ingenious, Juliet tells her Father that she had been to confesion when really she has been plotting to fake her own death. In Act3 Scene5 when Juliet is talking to her mother, she shows her cunning yet again, the way she uses a play on words to makes her mother think she is cursing Romeo when really. Act3 Sc5 Ln93-102. This also shows that Juliet is very intelligent by using these play on words.
Juliet is fond of the Nurse who is always there with Juliet. Act1 Sc 3 L8-9. This is because the Nurse brought Juliet up just like a mother would. The Nurse was employed buy Lord and Lady Capulet as a Wet Nurse, this is because Ladies of Lady Capulet’s high status would never damage there bodies by breast feeding there child, and also it would disrupt her routine with having to wake up at all hours in the night to look after a baby. The Nurse did have a daughter, Susan, the same age as Juliet but unfortunately she died at an early age. There is no particular reason why the Nurse is still employed it is just the fact that Juliet has become attached to her and the fact that she can be used as a chaperone. The Nurse is like Juliet’s best friend and her go between with Romeo, Juliet tells the Nurse everything. In Act 2 Scene 5 Juliet goes through a range of emotions. Juliet finds the Nurse extremely frustrating and the Nurse is teasing Juliet, which provokes this, but Juliet uses her shrewdness to get what she wants in the end, the answer if Romeo will marry her. To me this shows their friendly relationship. At the end of Act3 Scene5 the Nurse betrays Juliet in a way, she doesn’t help Juliet when she really needs it and tells her to marry Paris and to forget about Romeo. Juliet reacted to this very badly, she curses the Nurse for abandoning her, and she says that’s she will leave to go to Friar Lawrence’s cell and if that fails then she will commit suicide.
Juliet is an exceptionally strong character for her age, seeming she was kept away from outside life for years. Juliet stood up to her parents for what she believed was correct and disobeyed them, by not marrying Paris. Juliet was extremely brave when she faked her own death, although she was scared of numerous problems that she might face if the potion didn’t work. Juliet was scared that the Potion would kill her, that she would wake up and die of suffocation or she will wake up and Romeo will not be there and she would have to stay in the Crypt until he came. All she wanted to do is be with Romeo.
In my own opinion I think Juliet has a great and exciting personality. She seems to me remarkably intelligent, emotionally strong, and very brave. From what Romeo has told us she looks beautiful Act1 Sc5 Ln41-50 and the fact that Paris fell in love with her straight away and died for her also means she looked very beautiful as well. I personally would have loved to meet her or to have a friendly conversation with her about her love with Romeo.
My own attitude is if Juliet had never met Romeo I would think that she would have stayed obedient, because the fact that she would have been pressured by her family to marry Paris, I know that she wouldn’t be happy, because she said earlier in Act1 Scene3 that she would “Look to like if liking move, but no more deep will I endart mine eye than your consent gives strength to make it fly” If she did marry Paris it would have been really depressing for her and she wouldn’t feel anything for him. In my own opinion Juliet would become boring, she would just stay the same, and wouldn’t have strength in character. She would have lived the stereotypical life of a rich Veronese woman of high status, but even if she did live this life she would have lived a lot longer than if she had married Romeo.
