'As one of Shakespeare's most striking characters, Juliet changes and develops in a remarkable yet credible way throughout the tragedy' Discuss and analyse using set scenes.

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‘As one of Shakespeare’s most striking characters, Juliet changes and develops in a remarkable yet credible way throughout the tragedy’. Discuss and analyse using set scenes.  

 Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s earliest tragedies. The character in question, Juliet Capulet, is arguably the most intriguing character in the play. The daughter of Lord and Lady Capulet, one of the richest families in the setting of Verona, her life should have been one of comfort and pleasure, but this is not to be, as the introductory prologue tells us. Amid the tale of fierce family feuds and ‘star-cross’d lovers’, she develops from an immature and compliant girl, naive even for her young age of thirteen, to a defiant and resolute young woman, passionately in love with the husband she married without her family’s knowledge or consent.

 The first appearance of Juliet in the play is in Act I Scene III. Here she is shown in the role of a typical daughter of the period: she is dutiful, quiet and eager to please her parents, having experienced nothing of the world. When her mother requires her, she replies

‘Madam, I am here. What is your will?’

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 This reserved address of her mother shows us two things: Juliet is very respectful of her mother and their relationship is not what we would now consider a typical mother/daughter relationship. They are distant towards each other and this indicates that Juliet was probably raised more by her Nurse than her actual mother, although this was common during the time period.

 Juliet’s innocence is demonstrated when Lady Capulet introduces the idea of marriage to Juliet. When asked if she was consent to Paris as a husband, she responds

‘I’ll look to like, if looking liking move’

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