How do the soliloquies in Romeo and Juliet contribute to the dramatic effect of the play? Refer closely to three soliloquies in your response.

In Romeo’s 2nd soliloquy (2.2.0-33), he has just decided to seek out Juliet by climbing the walls into the orchard of her home. It is just after the ball scene, and he has deliberately hidden from his friends, Mercutio and Benvolio, so he can see Juliet alone and tell her how he feels. It begins with a dismissive comment on Mercutio’s joking about love, ‘He jests at scars that never felt a wound.’ Romeo is hidden in the orchard by Juliet’s bedroom window as he see’s a light flicker on at the window. He compares her to the sun, which shows the audience what he thinks; she is a life-giver and she lights up his world. He then says she is the goddess of night, the moon, is jealous of Juliet’s beauty. Throughout the soliloquy there is strong imagery of light and dark antithesis, as there is throughout the whole play, saying ‘It is the east, and Juliet is the sun’, and ‘The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, As daylight doth a lamp’, as well as saying Juliet’s eyes are in the sky, swapped with stars which are in her head. Shakespeare used antithesis to express conflict by using opposite words. The imagery makes the soliloquy have more impact, as it deepens the mood. The key theme of this soliloquy is love, and it shows Romeo talking in detail about his love for Juliet for the first time, apart from the first meeting at the Capulet’s party, when he is entranced by her beauty. He shows how he really feels, ‘It is my lady, O it is my love: O that she knew she were!’ he says as she appears in the window, with an exclamation to show very strong feeling. Revealing his feelings to the audience allows the plot to move on a lot quicker, as they now know he really is in love with her, even though he knows she is a Capulet, and Verona is a patriarchal city, so the fathers have complete control over their daughters. The old rivalry means Romeo should hate all members of the Capulet family. The soliloquy shows a gentler side to Romeo, as before we have only really seen his sadness over Rosaline, and before he was always refusing to be cheered up by anyone’s joking. He says ‘O that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek!’ in lines 22 and 23,  he wants to touch her face because it is so beautiful. He then goes on to call her a bright angel, a ‘wingèd messenger of heaven’, which is a very romantic metaphor.

Juliet’s soliloquy in act 4 scene 3, takes place in her bedroom, shortly after Friar Lawrence gave her the potion and she lied to her parents by saying she would marry County Paris, even though she had promised her father she would always obey him. This soliloquy shows the audience that what she had been saying to her parents was lies, and it enables her to show them how she really feels. The themes of the soliloquy are death, and her love for Romeo. She asks many questions which engages the audience, and helps us to understand her anxiety, insecurity and fears. She talks about all her worries.  In the second line, there is a hot and cold antithesis, ‘..almost freezes up the heat of life.’ which also happens in death. She calls out for the nurse, but then shows determination by saying ‘My dismal scene I needs must act alone’.  Dramatic tenshion and impact is increased when Juliet says ‘Come vial.’ It is a short command, but shows her desperation. She then goes on to ask ‘What if this mixture do not work at all? Shall I be married then tomorrow morning?’ but reassures herself by saying ‘No, no, this shall forbid it’ as she laid down a dagger onto her bed, which shows the audience she is serious about taking her own life. She goes on to speak about her fears; Friar Lawrence may be tricking her because he wants her dead, ’What if it be poison which the friar Subtly hath ministered to have me dead. or she may wake too early in the tomb and suffocate, ‘How if when I am laid down into the tomb, I wake before the time that Romeo Come to redeem me?’, which shows how she is relying on him at this point. Juliet believes she may go mad in the tomb, ‘And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth, That living mortals hearing them, run mad- O if I wake, shall I not be distraught’. This is a particularly vivid and powerful image. The soliloquy has many exclamations to show she is distressed and hopeless, such as ‘Romeo! Romeo! Romeo!’ and ‘stay Tybalt, stay!’ and many sensory images- ‘loathsome smells’, ‘shrieks like mandrakes’, ‘hearing them, run mad’, and ‘bloody Tybalt’ The soliloquy shows how Juliet has changed over the story, as before she was an innocent little girl who would do whatever her parents say, but is now willing to go behind her parents backs and pretend she is dead for the sake of her loved one, and she knows she will never see them again once she has drunk the potion. Throughout, there are words linking to death- ‘conceit of death’, buried ancestor’, festering in his shroud’, ‘mangled Tybalt’, and ‘have me dead’, which help to build up the image for the audience.  

In conclusion, if Shakespeare had not included soliloquies in his plays, he would have had to make it up in acting out the thoughts and feelings, which would make it less private and take up much more time, when it can be done easily and quickly in a soliloquy. Also, they help the audience to understand the characters’ personalities as well as showing their feelings, which is important because it makes the audience feel like they know the character better. If Shakespeare were to remove the soliloquies, it would be difficult to portray the characters’ feelings without them verbalising it to another character, which would then mean it would be difficult to include dramatic irony to build up the tension. The soliloquies throughout the play all feature similar themes; love and death, and Juliet’s often express her impatience such as the soliloquy at the beginning of Act 2 Scene 5 when she is waiting for the nurse to return with news of her and Romeo’s marriage, and at the beginning of Act 3 Scene 2, when she is waiting for the night to come so she can see Romeo again. Soliloquies are not the most poetic parts of the play, those are the sonnets which appear throughout the play, and the Elizabethans would probably find the puns the most memorable parts of the play, as they are humourous. I think they are good parts of the play though, because when they believe that they are just talking to themselves, they will probably say what they really feel, whereas if they are talking to other people, they could keep some things to themselves.