In the famous balcony scene, Shakespeare allows us to eavesdrop on Juliet as she reflects on her love for Romeo, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other word would smell as sweet”. At this point her strength of character is shown, as she is so determined to be with her love that she is willing to marry her family’s enemy without her parent’s consent. This goes against all of her former beliefs and shows she is no longer an obedient little girl. It also signifies that desperation will eventually lead to tragedy because at this point the inevitable tragedy is made clear to the audience, “Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing”.
As the play progresses, and Juliet marries Romeo she matures into a sensual, loving woman, very different from the dutiful daughter we were fist introduced to. Her soliloquy in act 3 scene 2 reveals the passion which she feels foe Romeo and the eager anticipation of the night of love she will share with him, “Come gentle night; come loving, black-brow’d night, give me my Romeo”. Her growing maternity is shown in line 30 when she says, “To an impatient child that hath new robes”. This proves that she no longer sees herself as a child but instead as a woman looking down on an impatient child.
However, Juliet soon finds herself in a state of confusion when she is informed of her cousin Tybalt’s death, murdered by her husband Romeo. Her confusion of feelings is conveyed through her use of antithetical expressions and oxymoron’s, “damned saint”, “honourable villain”. Shakespeare powerfully demonstrates Juliet’s resolution of this conflict of loyalties by using chiasmus, “My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain; And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband”. This not only proves Juliet’s unchanging love for Romeo, but also that she is quite capable of making important decisions by herself.
Act 3 scene 5 is a key scene in the development of Juliet’s character as the focus of the plot shifts solely on to her as Romeo leaves, exiled from Verona. In terms of the tragic experience of the lovers, Juliet will face similar isolation and loss, as well as Romeo. In the course of this scene Juliet loses the support of all other characters who love her. Firstly, Romeo is taken from her by his physical banishment. The balanced exchange of verse between the two lovers in their final scene together, demonstrates their equal love. For a moment, Juliet refuses to believe that Romeo has to leave and tells him that it is not yet day so he has no need to leave, “Yond light is not day light”. However, she soon realises that she must face up to reality and admits that it is in fact day, “O, now be gone! More light and light it grows”. This again shows her level of maturity as she recognises she must do the right thing, even if she secretly longs for the opposite.
Juliet next argues with her mother over Romeo and the forthcoming marriage to Paris. Shakespeare conveys the dilemma that Juliet faces by giving her parallel meanings so her mother does not discover her true feelings for Romeo. For example when she says, “Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss”, she is referring to Romeo but her mother assumes she is crying over the death of her cousin Tybalt. When Juliet attempts to reason with her parents over the marriage to Paris they, especially her father, are very rude to her, “Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch!” and refuse her requests instantaneously.
Finally, when the nurse abandons her, “I think it best you marry with the county…Romeo’s a dishclout to him”, Juliet loses all sense of calm and becomes hostile towards the others, “Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend”. As Juliet is becoming increasingly desperate, she decides her last hope is Friar Laurence.
This is the moment where Juliet’s maturity is tested, as she must face the actual reality of death. In order to develop his plot and theme of “star crossed lovers”, Shakespeare prepares the audience by having Juliet face “A thing like death”.
Juliet persuades Friar Laurence that she is capable of following this desperate plan by threatening to kill herself several times, “I long to die if what thou speakest, speak not of remedy” and by listing all of the horrors she is willing to face, rather than marry Paris, “Or hide me nightly in a charnel house, O’ercovered quite with dead men’s rattling bones”.
Despite Juliet’s rejection of fear, her soliloquy in act 4 scene 3 reveals horror and trepidation. Shakespeare leads the character through a variety of emotions before she takes her final action. She has many fears about the plan including doubts if the poison will work and if she wakes up too soon, but she has a knife prepared if all else fails. In this section Juliet’s behaviour shows she is willing to do anything, even die, in order to be with Romeo. Everything else in her life has become unimportant, as she is totally consumed with finding a way to be with her love.
However, Juliet is finally let down by her last supporter, Friar Laurence, when she awakes and discovers Romeo’s dead body beside her. At this climax of tragedy, Juliet again chooses death in order to be with Romeo. Her certainty over her decision is made clear when she says, “Yea noise? Then I’ll be brief, O happy dagger!”.
Shakespeare has presented a convincing portrait of Juliet, maturing from girlhood to womanhood, in the space of only four days. Her isolation from her friends and family and her overpowering love for Romeo has fuelled her determination, and instead of following order’s from people she has made her own decisions and ultimately chosen to end her own life.
