In Act 1 scene 3 their conversation is about marriage which Juliet does not have any experience of what it would be like so she hides her real emotions and just says what her mother wants to hear. This is shown by Juliet saying:
I’ll look to like, if looking liking move;
But no more deep will I endart mine eye
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.
At this point Juliet may be feeling scared and confused because she has not given marriage much thought before so she speaks with obedience and politeness.
In act 3 scene 5 she is in a marriage relationship with Romeo so she can speak without holding back her true opinion from him. When Juliet is with her mother and they are talking about marriage for the second time it must once again be scary for her. It would be scary this time, not through lack of knowledge, but because she does has the experience but it is without her parents knowing or approving of. Because Juliet has the experience she has an opinion so she is able to say what she feels.
In act 3 scene 5 Juliet directly contradicts her mother which is something she would not have done in the first scene. This is the contradiction:
Lady Capulet – Shall happily make the there a joyful bride
Juliet – He shall not make me there a joyful bride.
This shows that Juliet has grown a lot in confidence to be able to say that to her mother because before she would do what ever her mother wanted her to do. Although she has grown in confidence she has more when speaking to her mother rather than her father.
Good father, I beseech you on my knees,
Hear me with patience but to speak a word.
This is shown by Juliet pleading with her father rather than saying out right to him that she would not marry.
In act 1 scene 3Juliet is polite and obedient but in act 3 scene 5, although she is still polite, she is disobedient and not pleasing to her parents.
In act 1 scene 3 you can see that she is well educated by her use of language to please her mother. You can also see she is well educated in act 3 scene 5 because she uses double meanings to let her tell the truth about how she feels yet also to trick her mother into letting her hear what she wants.
Indeed I shall never be satisfied
With Romeo, till I behold him – dead –
Is my poor heart, so for a kinsman vex’d.
This shows that what she says can be taken either as she wants Romeo and that her heat is dead from the loss of Romeo or that she wants Romeo dead and her heart is troubled for the loss of Tybalt. You can also see that Juliet uses language well when her father says
How how, how how, chopt-logic? What is this?
In act 3 scene 1 Juliet uses strong language to show what she means:
I will not marry yet.
Not is a modal verb which is a very strong word. It is different to the type of language that she uses in act 1 scene 3 which is quite weak in comparison:
And stint thou too, I pray thee, Nurse, say I.
Through all this behaviour and language in act 1 scene 3 and act 3 scene 5 you can see that Juliet’s character has developed a lot in strength and confidence through experience and intelligence. She is able to stand up for herself much better and knows what she wants.
