Lady Capulet does not like to hear this at all but does not strike out, she just tells Juliet to give this news to her father.
Lord Capulet enters the room at first showing great sympathy and kindness to Juliet, comparing her to a small boat in a storm.
“Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is
Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs”
His temperament soon changes as he discovers how Juliet took his decree. At first he is disbelieving of this, asking whether she is not proud. Juliet tries to reason with him, making the accusation sound less than it is, but he will have none of it.
Capulet gets very angry with Juliet, insulting her. Lady Capulet tries to calm Lord Capulet, worrying that he is getting very angry. At this, Capulet delivers a decree that if Juliet is not there at the church ready to be wed, he will disown her and expel her from the house. He wants to hit Juliet for all this
“My fingers itch”
As if it is one of the worst things she could have done. The nurse now enters the scene, taking Juliet’s side and trying to calm Capulet. He does not take this well and threatens to remove the Nurse from the house. Telling her that her opinion is not wanted. Capulet now talks about how hard he as tried for Juliet and how he feels to have it all thrown back in his face. He says that if she does not wed Paris, he will have nothing whatsoever to do with Juliet as long as either of them lives. He then leaves the scene.
Juliet now pleads to heaven for the marriage to be delayed, and if not, she will kill herself. Her mother rejects her, possibly out of fear of Capulet and will have nothing more to do with her.
“Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word.
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee”
She proceeds to leave the scene. Next, Juliet turns to the nurse for help and advice, asking her for any happiness she can bring. The nurse tries to make Paris sound better than Romeo and more appealing to Juliet, with Juliet’s best interests at mind. Juliet takes this the wrong way, thinking that the nurse is just doing it so she keeps in line with Capulet. She rejects the nurse and her advice and says she will go to church to plead forgiveness. As the nurse leaves, she insults her to her back, calling her a witch. Then says that she doesn’t go to church for forgiveness, but to find a solution to the whole problem, and failing that, to end her life.
In my opinion, Capulet really does love Juliet, he was just in shock that what he thought was a wonderful thing had been discarded. He thought that Paris would be good to Juliet and look after her well, better than he could. He thinks Juliet more of a possession than a daughter, something that he can just give away without anyone else having a say in it. His mood sways a lot and he is extremely quick to anger which is why people seem to be slightly afraid of him as he can get violent when he is enraged. I think that he would of probably of preferred a son to a daughter, and would of treated a son with more love and attention than he gives to Juliet.
Lady Capulet seems harsh and uncaring towards Juliet, but this is possibly that she is jealous of her as she is young and beautiful. She is a timid character when she is around Capulet, but when she is alone with Juliet, she seems to have a strong temper and spirit. Her attitude to Juliet is quite cold, giving the impression that she thinks Juliet as unwelcome, a lot of the time. It is suggested in the play that she has or had relations with Tybalt.
The nurse seems to be more of a mother to Juliet than her real mother. Juliet cares for her and vice-versa. She thinks that she can rely on the nurse for anything and that she will be faithful to her. However, Juliet’s attitude to the nurse changes instantly when the nurse tells her to forget Romeo and to marry Paris. She sees it as a huge betrayal and loses all faith in the nurse completely. Maybe the nurse said it because she was threatened with the prospect of losing her job and home or maybe she said it because she thought that Juliet would never see Romeo again and thought it would be best for her to go with Paris. Whatever the reason, Juliet was not happy with it.
This scene has huge dramatic impact on the rest of the play, setting the scene for everything that follows. Shakespeare uses a variety of different language to put across different moods.
At the start of the scene, the language and mood is very light and happy, the first 36 lines are an aubade. This shows off Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other. Shakespeare uses the language very cleverly here, putting across the playful and happy attitude of the two and then changing it suddenly to a dark mood as Romeo leaves, contrasting the two moods. Romeo calls Juliet ‘Love’ and ‘My Soul’ still keeping up the romantic atmosphere even when he decides he must leave. They argue playfully throughout the whole aubade, making light of the situation. They both mature in this scene, Romeo when he leaves Juliet, and Juliet when she defies her parents. The aubade ends suddenly when the nurse interrupts the couple suddenly, alerting them to the fact that Lady Capulet is coming up to Juliet’s chamber soon.
The mood changes here, as the lovers part the mood turns sombre as Juliet starts to weep over Romeo. Both lovers become upset at the break up. Then Juliet’s mother enters, changing the mood again, speeding the conversation and the whole atmosphere up. Juliet seems to be quite strong at this point, tricking her mother into thinking she’d mix the poison to kill Romeo,
“Madam, if you could find out but a man
To bear poison, I would temper it.”
But what she really means is that she would dilute the poison, to merely put Romeo to sleep instead of kill him, she shows ambiguity here. She plays along with her mother until the arranged marriage is revealed, when she loses her temper and disguise and defies her. The mood at this point is quite angry and alive, and then Capulet enters. Momentarily, everything is calm. He sympathises with Juliet, thinking she is grieving for Tybalt, but it changes again when Lady Capulet tells him about Juliet’s little outburst. He gets furious very quickly, shouting at and insulting Juliet, almost getting violent but restraining himself. He is completely disgusted with her and it shows in the way he speaks to her.
When Capulet and Lady Capulet leaves, the tension lifts a little, and the whole mood brightens up a little when the nurse enters. Juliet begs her for help, but does not get the answer she wants and discards the nurse just like that.
The scene finishes with Juliet’s soliloquy. This shows how much she is in love with Rome, and how depressed and sad being away from him is making her. She says she is going to go to church to beg forgiveness to the nurse, but really she is going to see the Friar to see if he has a remedy to her problem.
“I’ll go to the friar to know his remedy. If all else fail, myself have the power to die.”
These are the last lines of the scene and have a massive dramatic impact on the rest of the play. It is quite ironic, the fact that she does, in the end, resort to suicide after she has seen the body of Romeo, fallen in the tomb. The soliloquy contrasts greatly with the joyful way act 3 began, the aubade full of love, tranquillity and happiness seems to have been completely forgotten in her determined mood.
This is one of the most important and tense scenes in the whole play, full of drama and suspense. It is also central to how the whole play develops.