In Act 1 Scene 2, Paris has asked Capulet Juliet’s dad for her hand in marriage. Capulet wants them to get married but Juliet’s mother thinks Juliet is too young to get married, and she is only thirteen.
Juliet is introduced in Act 1 Scene 3 by where her mother, Lady Capulet and her nurse are looking for her. They want to talk to her about Paris and his marriage proposal, Juliet’s mother doesn’t want Juliet getting married this young, and wants Juliet to be happy, but she is too scared to argue with Capulet. We know Juliet does not want to marry Paris, because in Act 3 Scene 5 she says “He shall not make me a joyful bride.” This shows sympathy for Juliet because; she is being made to do something she does not want to do. The problems that Romeo and Juliet face are they are both victims of destiny. They were both born to hate each other, the families are at war with each other, and they want them to carry on the war, not to fall in love. Romeo and Juliet were not meant to be together and we know this because in the prologue at the start of the play says “Star-crossed lovers.” Star-crossed lover’s means ill-fated, which they are. This shows that in their love, they are blind because there was never any hope of them being able to be together. We also know this because, Juliet says in Act 1 Scene 5 “my only love sprung from my only hate.” This means that she hates him because she has too because, Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet what she has been taught isn’t true and that not all Capulet’s are bad people, and she falls in love with Romeo. We feel sympathy for Romeo and Juliet because, they love each other but the family are very against them loving each other.
Capulet gives a list of the party guest (to be invited) to a servant; this is to inform others there is a party, However the servant can not read Capulet’s writing, so asks Romeo to read the list. As Rosaline is on the list, Benvolio sees this as an opportunity for Romeo to meet other girls, and hopefully see beauty in other girls beside Rosaline.
In Act 3 Scene 1 Tybalt is angry that Romeo showed up at the Capulet’s party, and challenges him to a fight.
Romeo and Juliet are married but no one knows about it yet. Romeo wants Tybalt to accept him before he finds out about Romeo and Juliet. We know this because he says “But love thee, the reason for my love.” Romeo does not want to fight, he wants the two house holds to get along, but Mercutio wants him to fight. Mercutio is killed by Tybalt. Romeo is so angry by this that he kills Tybalt. Before Mercutio dies his last words are “A plague on both your houses.” This makes the audience think that when Romeo and Juliet die at the end, it’s the plague that Mercutio put on the houses. We feel sympathy for Juliet because her brother has just been killed by her husband. We feel sympathy for Romeo because he never wanted to fight in the first place and now two people have been killed.
When Romeo was in love with Rosaline, his friends did not think he was really in love with her, he’s too young to know what real love is. We can see this in Act 2 Scenes 1, where Mercutio and Benvolio are joking about Romeo’s love for Rosaline. We can see this when Mercutio says” Romeo! Humours! Madam! Passion! Lover!” we can see that Mercutio is joking about Rosaline, humours meaning fantasies which means Romeo fantasises about the love of Rosaline. We feel sympathy for Romeo here because, he thinks he is in love with Rosaline, However everyone else can see the problems, but him.
Juliet is treated unfairly by her father, because Capulet has arranged a marriage for Juliet to marry Paris. Juliet can’t get married to Paris though because she is already married to Romeo, When she finds out she tries to say no but Capulet will have none of it, She tells him that if they don’t stop the marriage then “make my bridal bed in that dim monument where Tybalt lies.” Nevertheless this does not stop Capulet. We feel sympathy for Juliet here because she can’t do what she wants to do; she is bossed around all the time.
Romeo and Juliet are both treated very unfairly by their families and friends. Romeo just wants peace between the two house holds and love, but Juliet just wants freedom.
I think Shakespeare has made this exciting by Romeo and Juliet getting married in secret with Capulets knowing, This made many problems when it occurred therefore making it more exciting to read.
