When the scene starts Romeo meets Juliet on her balcony for the last time before leaving Verona, Juliet is trying to convince Romeo that it is still night, she is saying that the nightingale is singing and not the lark this is because she wants Romeo to stay because she knows that she might not see him again. “Wilt thou be gone? It is not near day: it was the nightingale not the lark” this gives evidence that Juliets is trying to convince Romeo that it’s still night and I also think that Shakespeare put this part into the play to tell the audience whether its night or day.
At this point the audience know that Romeo and Juliet are madly in love with each other and are having the romantic lovers conversation, “let me ta’en, let me be put to death, I am content, so thou wilt have it so” this shows that Romeo is in love so much with Juliet that he would stay and die for her.
At the start of the scene Juliet is with Romeo and at the end of the scene she is alone, this shows exactly how the overall play goes for example Juliet has everything at the start of the play such as her family, the nurse and Romeo but at the end of the play she has no one left.
The audience see Romeo and Juliets love as very obsessive, love struck and teenage love.
“I doubt it not: and all these words shall serve for sweet discourses in our time to come.” This shows that Romeo is being optimistic about their future and that he will see Juliet again, whereas Juliet is being pessimistic, “O God, I have an ill-divining soul!” she says that she has a vision of the future that Romeo will die.
Lady Capulet thinks that Juliet is upset because of her cousins death and because of this she wants Romeo dead. “well, girl, thou weep’st not so much for his death, as that the villain lives which slaughtered him.” Lady Capulet starts plotting to have Romeo killed.
Lady Capulet thinks Juliet will be happy when she founds out she’s marrying Paris but then Juliet refuses because she knows that she’s already married to Romeo.
“I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear, it shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, rather than Paris.” Juliet says to her mother, here she is actually being sarcastic and telling the truth at the same time.
This tells us that Lady Capulet has no respect for Juliet and doesn’t know her daughter very well; also that she never thinks about Juliets feelings.
As well as Lady Capulet, Lord Capulet also treats his daughter without respect. He starts giving his daughter strong insults such as “you baggage!” and “you tallow-face.”
The reason why Lord Capulet is upset by Juliets refusal to marry is because he knows that Paris is rich and so this will keep the money in the family.
Arranged marriages and the role of the families in the 1500’s were very strict, the father had control of the family and had all the power, he also looked after all the money. The mother has the role of looking after the family but in this play Lady Capulet handed this job over to the nurse, so the nurse was more like a mother to Juliet. It was mostly strict for girls in the families because they had to do as they were told and were not allowed to give their own opinions on things.
However Juliet Didn’t care about the rules and decided to give her opinion and argue back, when Juliets father leaves, Juliet turns to her mother, Lady Capulet, and say “O, sweet my mother, cast me not away!” for help. Lady Capulet replies back to Juliet saying “talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word: do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee” meaning that Juliet should to what she wants and she doesn’t care.
I think Juliet feels like she has now lost everyone but still will continue to stay with Romeo and not marry Paris.
This is where the audience start to think of things like, is she going to marry Paris? Or will she continue to follow her dads’ rules? And they would also want to know what will happen to Juliet next, so basically this scene is making the audience question themselves a lot.
Now that Lord Capulet and Lord Capulet are no longer going to help Juliet, Juliet turns to the nurse for help. The advice that the nurse gives to Juliet is to marry Paris, “your first is dead; or ‘twere as good he were” she is telling Juliet to consider Romeo dead. “Speakest thou from thy heart?” asks Juliet, meaning do u really mean this?
The nurse has broken Juliet’s heart and Juliet now knows that they will never get along. Now Juliet is left on her own because she has disobeyed her father, her mother doesn’t care about her and she has lost trust in the nurse.
Juliet’s wonderful and fantastic life at the start has turned into a nightmare at the end; she has lost everything and now wants to kill herself. I think Shakespeare has made it very clear for the audience to see how Juliet’s life has been changing, from being loved and cared for by her parents to wanting to commit suicide.
The audience know that even if she gets married to Paris she will upset god and if she doesn’t marry Paris she will upset her parents, so both ways she will let down someone, this makes the audience feel for Juliet, it also makes the audience feel for Juliet when she loses everyone including Romeo.
This scene is important to deciding what happens in the rest of the play because this shows us if she will marry Paris, Stay with Romeo or commit suicide. It also shows us how and why she has lost everyone and whether she will go back to her parents or not.
By Reha Akhtar
