Act three scene five is another turning point of the play. This is where the loyal, dutiful daughter of the Capulets, Juliet, takes control of her own life. This shows that she has matured since the first time we saw her. Before she did for whatever her mother asked her to do. Juliets life has been transformed because of the love that she has for Romeo. Juliet is determined to get out of the marriage her dad has arranged for her with Paris, because of her everlasting love for Romeo. When Lady Capulet walked into Juliet's room, she saw her crying. But she thought that she was crying over Tybalts death, " Evermore weeping for your cousins death." But, the audience know the real truth of why Juliet was crying. In this part of the scene the audience are dramtically involved. We know that Juliet was really crying because on that day Romeo was sent to Mantua, because he killed Tybalt. When Lady Capulet was platting to kill Romeo so he could, " Soon keep Tybalt company," it was ironic, because later in the story Romeo dies when he drinks the poinon and he also dies dies laying next to Tybalt.
Lady Capulet expects Juliet to do what she wants her to do. She wants Juliet to marry Paris, but she didn't expect Juliet to react angrily to what she said. She was expecting Juliet to agree, like she did in the last conversationthey had together about marriage. In that conversation she asked Juliet whether she thought that marriage was a good idea and whether she wanted to get married or not. At the time Juliet did what her mother and father wished, but now she has become independent and does what she feels. Juliet tells the truth and says that the only person she would marry is Romeo," It shall be Romeo." Her dadwalks in and he is furious," Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets." He is furious because of what she said about marrying Romeo not Paris. Juliet is very scared so she kneels down infront of him asking him if she can speak and explain what has happened.
Her father is so enraged he says, " My fingers itch." He is so angry he is ready to hit Juliet! Now that Juliet has been rejected by both of her parents she feels that she can only turn to her best friend, the Nurse. The nurse, agreed with what Juliets parents said, and said that it would be in her interest if she married a wealthy man like paris rather that to a 'boy' like Romeo. The nurse claims the second match excels her first. She then uses a peice of dramatic peice of irony, " Your first is dead." Juliets heart is broken her best friend has betrayed her. Juliet now feels that there is no one she can turn to and she can only trust herself. She is totally isolated in this scene.
Shakespeare shows the importance of the feud by showing how it has affected the family. In this scene Shakespeare shows how her father reacts towards Juliet. The way he reacts to her is like she is not part of the Capulet family. He treats her like dirt, like she is a Montague, " Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets." This clearly shows the anger Juliets father has for Juliet. He hates the way that she disobeyed him, and that his only daughter has ignored what he asked her to do. The theme of love is also strong in this scene because when Juliet is told to marry paris she tells her mother that she won't marry Paris and the only person that she will marry is Romeo. Shakespeare shows that love has transformed her life is by showing that in a couple of days she is more independent than the first time we saw her. The theme of speed is also strong in this scene. The way that Shakespeare shows this is by showing how quickly Juliets love has grown for Romeo and how love has transformed her life. Speed of events take over in this scene forcing Juliet into taking drastic actions.
Act Five, Scene Three, is the final scene of the play. This is where the theme of tragedy is the strongest. In this scene, many of the characters die, first the character Paris dies. He dies because he blocks the entry to Juliet's tomb when Romeo comes to see her for the last time. When Romeo arrives, Paris wouldn't let him through without a fight. What Paris didn't understand was that Romeo wasn't a little boy any more. He had been transformed by love and was more of a man than a boy. When Paris challenged Romeo to a fight, he also didn't understand that Romeo's love for Juliet was so strong, nothing would hold him back. When Romeo injures Paris, Paris' last wish is that he was laid beside Juliet. Romeo carries out his wish and enters the tomb.
When he sees his cousin Tybalt, he starts saying sorry to him because he killed him. Romeo sees his love Juliet. Before this scene, Romeo buys a bottle of poison so that he could be with Juliet in heaven. But what he doesn't is that Juliet is actually alive. When Romeo is beside Juliet, he opens the bottle of poison. Just before he takes it, he starts how much he loved her when she was alive. He starts describing how beautiful she looks when she's 'dead'.
"Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty." This is ironic because the audience actually know that Juliet isn't dead and that's why she looks so beaautiful. This is the part where the audience gets totally involved in the dramatic events. As Romeo is taking the poison, the audience are put in suspense. They want Juliet to wake up just before he takes the poison but she doesn't.
As soon as Romeo has taken the poison and dies, Juliet wakes up. She wakes up looking like she had just had a normal sleep. Now because of her undying love for Romeo, she wishes that there is some poison left on his lips so that she could be with him in death. But because Romeo had taken all the poison, Juliet takes Romeo's dagger and plunges it into her body.
In this scene, Shakespeare dramatically ends the tragedy by the deaths of the two main characters, Romeo and Juliet. This adds suspense for the audience. The theme of love is clear in the way Romeo and Juliet speak and behave. The way that Romeo talks about Juliet's beauty always involves images of light. In the previous scenes such as when Romeo gatecrashed a party, he saw Juliet as the "sun" of his life. He saw her as the light of his life because when he saw her, he always forgot about the feud.
"Death hath had no power upon thy beauty." The way that Romeo behaved towards Romeo showed how much he loved her. Shakespeare uses speed in day one, Romeo was in love with another girl, day two he met Juliet and fell in love, day three they got married and by day five they both died.
In this play, Romeo and Juliet's personalities change. For Juliet, at the beginning of the play, she was a very obedient and loyal girl. She was willing to do whatever her parents asked her to do but as we got further into the play, her personality was transformed by love. She became more independent. We can see this by the language she used towards her parents,
"Now by St Peter's church and Peter too, he shall not make me there a joyful bride."
This language reflects changes in her life and personality. Romeo's personality and life also changed. At the beginning of the play, we saw a young caring boy, who claimed his life was controlled by fate, "He that hath" but he was also transformed by love. Mentally he became a man and called Paris, who was older than him, "boy" and "good gentle youth." He thought he was older than him because of the experiences he had had in his life.
The key themes in this play are feud, speed, fate, love, tragedy and death. Shakespeare presents these themes in the scenes that I have explored.
He shows the theme of speed by the speed of events which are set over only five days. Shakespeare shows fate by giving the impression that Romeo is not in control of his life. He also showed fate by the language that Romeo uses, eg. when he was just about to go to the ball, he felt he was going to die but he accepted his destiny and continued on. Near the end when he finds out Juliet is 'dead', he shouted out "I defy thee stars." This shows that he is now in control of his life.
The audience get involved in the play because they know things that the characters on stage don't know about. For example, when Romeo finds out that Juliet is 'dead', he buys some poison and rushes to the tomb. He thinks that she is dead but the audience know the truth. As Romeo is about to take the poison in the tomb, it adds a dramatic effect on the audience. They want Juliet to wake up but when she does, it is too late. The audience have a role in the play because we relate to Romeo and Juliet as the characters develop.
