'Romeo and Juliet' - As a young girl in love, Juliet has to go against her family's wishes. Discuss this statement with reference to Act 3, Scene 5.

Juliet-''How now who calls?'' This implicates that Juliet would much rather response to the nurse than her mother. The reason being for this is that Juliet only ever communicates with her mother at special occasions, other then that she is mostly handled by the nurse. Due to this, her respect is more for the nurse then Lady Capulet.

Moreover, young Juliet is more comfortable in confiding in the nurse about her thoughts and feelings than her mother. For example in Act 3, Scene 5, Juliet speaks to the nurse for sympathy when Lord Capulet throws abuse at her. This shows that Juliet trusts the nurse than her own mother. At this instant it was the nurse who was trying to speak up against Lord Capulet when he turns violent with Juliet, as this quote shows,''You are to blame, my lord,to rate her so.'' Lady Capulet does the opposite, instead she goes with what her husband says, as this quote shows,''Ay,sir;but she will none, she gives you thanks. I would the fool were married to her grave.'' Here Lady Capulet is trying to stress the fact that because Juliet did not give thanks to her father and except her marriage to Paris she would rather have her dead. This conveys a weak bond between lady Capulet and her daughter, as even the nurse who was not a blood relative, cared enough about Juliet to have stood up to her boss. This maybe that Lady Capulet respected her husbands wishes more than her daughter's welfare. Which would be common in those days as it was a patriarchal society. This could be another reason why the relationship between lady Capulet and Juliet was so weak.

When Juliet was told of her marriage proposal to the count Paris, Lord Capulet had expected that she would agree to her father's wishes. Juliet's father is a well respected man, who was obeyed by everyone due to his importance in the society. Unfortunately, Juliet hurt Lord Capulet's pride by refusing to marry Paris due to her love affair with Romeo. This causes a fall out between her father. On the arrival of the news about the refusal of Juliet, Capulet calls his daughter many nasty things. Abuse, which was used in this scene by Lord Capulet, were phrases that were expected to be heard in a beer hall with drunkards. Abuse used, includes ''Hung thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch!'' This quote shows that he has no respect of his daughter's wishes or her feelings. As a father, he had no moral beliefs of the happiness of his daughter, his reputation was more important to him.

As a disowned child, Juliet finds herself pleading her father to understand her views. We could see the persuasion in the language she uses when she states,''Good father I beseech you on my knees, hear me with patience but to speak a word!'' The fact that previously her father told her to die she still calls him 'good'. This shows how hard she is trying for her parents to understand her love for Romeo. Nevertheless, Lord Capulet shows no signs of remorse; he is firm with his decision of Juliet marrying Paris. When Juliet is faced with the isolation from her parents, she decides to turn to the nurse for sympathy. The nurse was the only person who she trusted the most. However, as Juliet finds out, at this point even the nurse had no sympathy to offer, as this quote show, ''I think it best you married with the county''. This quote shows that the nurse no longer shares the same views as Juliet, of not marrying Paris. In this instant, Juliet would have felt very heartbroken, as the one she trusted has let her down.

As Romeo's wife, Juliet's character's transformation from naive innocence to more a mature nature is seen as gradual progress in this scene. Big decisions are made by Juliet, even those that get her into trouble. For example, she stood up to her father by denying the marriage proposal to Paris, for the love of Romeo. This changes Juliet from a petty lover to a self-controlled wife. When the nurse does not offer her any sympathy, she in turn goes seeking for help to Friar Lawrence. This shows that Juliet was capable of looking after herself; a dramatic change from the previous scenes.

Conclusion

Juliet was trapped between her family and her lover. Her life was influenced by the thoughts and decisions of the adults surrounding her. She could not control her own destiny. Due to the social stature of her parents, they had set expectations of Juliet. As a result, she cannot do anything that would put her family's name at risk. In addition, Juliet lacked freedom and had very limited rights by being a girl. But Juliet's love for Romeo was too strong for her to keep within the boundaries that she was expected. Moreover, she had no option but to go against her family's wishes as they prevented her from being with her only love, Romeo.