Discuss the different ways these characters speak about love and marriage: Romeo, Juliet, Nurse, Mercutio, and Lady Capulet.

He acts very drastically in difficult situations, as when he goes to see Juliet in the tomb he is very quick to kill himself without waiting to actually see what the situation is.

Juliet is also quick to act like Romeo, as she does not stop to think what the consequences would be if she got married to Romeo she just decided that that was what the best thing to do was. I think the idea of love didn't really appeal to her and that because she had seen how unhappy her mother and father were in their arranged marriage she did not want the same and wanted to be in love when she married and not get married to increase her family status or to become higher than the Montages. The idea of marrying Romeo was a new and exciting one that had never occurred to her and it was rebelling against her parents and tradition as well which appealed to her as she appears to be very overprotected and she wanted space and to be able to do something which she knew her parents would hate. She has taught to be very ladylike at all times so when she meets Romeo she is very reluctant to do anything with her but she becomes very relaxed with him and she likes the excitement involved in being with him and doing something her parents do not know about or would not consent too either. She seems to have many perfect idea of what love would be like that she is very confused about what it actually is and what it really is like.

Mercutio is also like this he doesn't seem to really know what love is and he is very confused about what it is. He doesn't believe in love or take it seriously and he seems to be very unpredictable about what he will say about it. He is very imaginative about love and uses metaphors and stories to say his true feelings about love and hides them under the meaning of the story. He thinks life is a joke and he makes every situation into a joke so that he can either relate to it or so that he would not get hurt. He is scared of growing up and seems to be very child-like in behaviour. I think he wishes that he could fall in love but he had had a very bad experience of it so he feels that if love treats you shoddily then treat love shoddily. He seems to be very reluctant about Romeo falling in love as he thinks that Romeo will abandon him for Juliet and then he would lose him and have no one left.

I think the Nurse feels like this as well as she seems reluctant when Juliet claims she love Romeo as she would have no one left as she only really had Juliet after her husband and daughter died, but after that she seems very happy for her as she likes the deceit of it as I think she is also against arranged marriages as she can see how unhappy Lady Capulet and Capulet are with their arranged marriage so she does not want the same thing to happen to Juliet as she can see how unhappy Lady Capulet is and Juliet would be marrying a man almost twice her age. She seems to read sex into every situation and makes some joke about how Juliet was when she was a baby and they always involve sex. She seems quite reluctant also as if Juliet got married she would have no one else to talk to as she hasn't really got anyone and neither does Juliet until she meets Romeo. She appears to like the idea of her marrying Romeo until Tybalt dies and she changes her mind about it and doesn't think it is such a good idea as she can see that Juliet is going to end up getting hurt.

Lady Capulet is basically the opposite of these as doesn't really if Juliet has no love for Paris, she thinks that she should have to get married to him as she had to marry at a very young age so why should Juliet not have to. I think that she is jealous of Juliet that she is not already married at her age as she was. She makes out the idea that she is very happy with Capulet but it is easy to see that she is not and she only married him for social status so why shouldn't Juliet marry for social status. She doesn't worry whether Juliet will be happy in the marriage she just wants her to have the same treatment she did and to have more importance than the Monatagues. She is the perfect wife and does what she is told. She appears very happy to outsiders but she actually is very unhappy, as she has no authority over her husband or daughter. I think she secretly wishes she had fallen in love and not married for the sake of it. She seems more upset when she finds out Tybalt has died then when she finds out Juliet has I do not think this is because she does not love Juliet but because she feels younger when she was around Tybalt as she liked to flirt with him and he made her feel younger and that she was care-free. She is very image conscious and doesn't really care whether she is in love but what being in love can do for her.

Love in general in Verona was a very eccentric thing. It seems as though the rich married for wealth and status and the poor tried too as well but love was more of an aspect to marriage than it was to the rich. The whole city seems to be influenced by love and not really care for much else. I think that they have a diversity of views on love but the main feeling is what can you get out of marriage and if love is involved all, the better.