Which mannerly devotion shows in this;’ She also criticizes him that he ‘kiss(es) by the’book,’ implying that while he is capable, his kissing lacks originality. However there is a sense that she is a little rash herself, for after he kisses her she tells him to ‘have (from) (her) lips the sin that they have took.’
Juliet’s sly and remarkable use of ‘duplicity’ i.e. saying one thing, but meaning another; is first noticeable at the Capulet party. This is not the first time Shakespeare has implemented this ability into one of his characters and Juliet is allowed to use it to great effect throughout the play. This is perhaps most obvious when she converses with Lady Capulet. After the death of Tybalt and the effective banishment of her “significant other”, Juliet expresses several, what appears to her mother, ill feelings towards Romeo; actually they aren’t entirely accurate. She states that she ‘never shall be satisfied
With Romeo, till (she) behold(s) him’ and that she would ‘temper’ a poison, which Romeo would receive. Of course, one could argue that she does mourn her cousin and that it is possible that she would be slightly exasperated with her husband for a) Murdering Tybalt, and b) Being exiled as a consequence. Nevertheless, it is this use of double language technique or ‘duplicity’ as it were, which could be argued to show her maturity and intelligence.
The night before the two protagonists are married, Juliet shows unbelievable strength and maturity when the issue of the two households is brought up. If she had to, she would ‘no longer be a Capulet’ for she is ‘too fond,’ of the ‘fair Montague’. She does appear to take the dominant role in their relationship, and already they speak of marriage though Juliet is, at first, opposed to such a rash decision, using the imagery of a ‘beauteous flower’. Of course, there appears to be a double irony in this scene as, a) she had never given any thought to marriage, and b) she jumps in with both feet effectively, after objecting to the speed of events : ‘Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow’. Nevertheless, her dominance is emphasized by her being above Romeo, on the balcony; indeed some sort of superiority is certainly imposed. The imagery of a ‘wanton’ bird further develops the idea of her power and we could infer that she doesn’t wish for him to go beyond her control.
Although Juliet is seen to be very mature we are reminded that she is still a child by her impatience concerning the marriage; also the fact that, according to the Nurse, her cheeks would ‘be in scarlet straight at any news.’ The death of Mercutio illustrates that she possibly had some influence on Romeo, who even states so; and here I refer to the quote at the start of this essay. After he kills Tybalt in his rage and is banished to Mantua, she isn’t so thoughtless as to blindly follow him because she would surely be killed en route or otherwise.
In the quiet and anxious farewell between the two lovers, there is further evidence of Juliet’s power over Romeo: ‘Let me be ta’en, let me put to death,
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.’ There is a sharp contrast soon after as the Capulets discover that their daughter refuses to marry Paris; perplexed and livid at her disobedience, Capulet explodes into senile fury, which Juliet cannot control. She is classed as ‘young baggage’ and a ‘disobedient wretch’, and is threatened to be disinherited. The irony is that in her own mind she has already been exiled from her family when Romeo left Verona. Although she may have power over her mother, over Lord Capulet she evidently has little, if none altogether. Her decision to cut herself loose from her past social standing in order to attempt to reunite with Romeo by going through with what seems a mad plan concocted by Friar Laurence , shows the extent of her determination and also her powerful imagination. Nonetheless, at the start of her exceptional soliloquy she appears in control, even at that time: ‘My dismal scene I needs must act alone.
Come, vial.’
Romeo’s death is a much more immeasurable disaster for her than when he was banished; she doesn’t then kill herself out of feminine failing, but rather out of an intensity of love, just as her love did. The fact Romeo had ‘Drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help (her) after’ her suicide actually requires a greater amount of bravery than his: for while he exclaims, ‘Here’s to my love!’ and drinks poison, she stabs herself through the heart with his dagger: ‘O happy dagger. This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.’
Prince Escalus arguably possesses the most political power for he is Prince of Verona. Indeed he has untouchable power, concerning the law, and threatens both Capulet and Montague with death ‘If ever (they) disturb(ed) (their) streets again’. Even though his kinsman, Mercutio, is murdered and the murderer, Tybalt, is murdered also, he doesn’t let his anger get the better of him: ‘And for that offence Immediately we do exile him hence.’ One could argue that this is a weakness of the Prince, not to execute Romeo, but for obvious reasons then the play would actually end. However, Escalus’ threatening words to the two households, Capulets and Montagues are seemingly justified by the lamentable end: ‘See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.’
There are essentially three major parts that lead to the tragedy; marriage, the plan and the deaths. In all three of these Friar Laurence played a vital role. He marries the ‘pair of star-cross’d lovers’ and indeed gives generally decent ‘counsel’, especially concerning the need for moderation: ‘These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume.’ Although he is the sole religious figure in the play, he is also, without doubt, the most political and scheming character, marrying Romeo and Juliet as part of a plan to put an end to the civil conflict in Verona; ‘In one respect I'll thy assistant be.
For this alliance may so happy prove
To turn your households’ rancour to pure love’. This, of course, is hugely ironic as his actions will actually haste them both in their deaths. He attempts to make sure that the marriage is successful with more advice: ‘Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.’ Ironically, only several hours after the marriage his plan is somewhat foiled and his mystical knowledge connected with his plan to reunite the two certainly seems paradoxical for a Catholic friar: ‘Take thou this vial, being then in bed,
And this distilling liquor drink thou off;’
Fate manifests itself in all the events surrounding the young lovers: the ancient and inexplicable feud between their families, the catastrophic series of mishaps which ruin Friar Laurence's plans, and the tragic timing of Romeo's suicide and Juliet's awakening. The structure of the play itself rests upon the fate from which the two lovers cannot escape.
A large part of the beliefs for both Romeo and Juliet involve fate. They believe in the stars; Shakespeare uses much cosmological imagery and there is an essence of foreshadowing when Romeo describes his dream: ‘Some consequence yet hanging in the stars…by some vile forfeit of untimely death.
But he that hath the steerage over my course
Direct my suit.’ Fate is still able to weave ‘fortune’s fool’ into a twisted web of its plans and powers. It started with a few simple actions, which inevitably led to something great. Romeo’s unreturned feeling of lust for Rosaline is the base. Ironically, an illiterate Capulet servant is sent to invite people to the party. While Romeo is conversing with Benvolio about his life they bump into the servant, who asks him to read the list for him. Rosaline’s name happened to be on that list. Thus the two lovers meet at the party and Romeo is mesmerised by Juliet’s beauty; ‘It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear’. They won’t let their household names interfere with the strong emotional bond.
Throughout the play, the two lovers foresee their deaths. At one point Juliet sees Romeo dead in a tomb, which is where he eventually ends up in the end, beside her: ‘Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb.’ At the end of the party, Juliet murmurs to herself, ‘If he be married, My grave is like to be my wedding bed.’ Although Romeo is unmarried, Juliet is unaware of the fact that he is a Montague; for her loving a Montague may be more serious a crime than loving a married man. As the play continues, the two lovers’ omens prove tragically true.
At the party Tybalt had recognised Romeo’s voice and after being disallowed to make anything of it by Capulet, he hissed, ‘I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall
Now seeming sweet, covert to bitt’rest gall.’ His words soon prove true. The well-intentioned friar does not realize that by agreeing to assist the young lovers, he has sealed their fate. Ultimately, Romeo realises he is ‘fortune's fool’ after murdering his cousin.
Fate makes sure that Friar Laurence’s plan fails to come to fruition and Juliet becomes aware that she has no more power over her destiny: ‘Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems Upon so soft a subject as myself.’ When Romeo kills Paris at the Capulet tomb he claims that both of their fates were ‘writ’ in ‘sour misfortune’s book.’ In Juliet’s tomb, he states that there ‘Will (he) set up (his) everlasting rest
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars’. When Juliet rises, Romeo has already drunk the Apothecary’s ‘fatal’ poison and Friar Laurence states that ‘A greater power than (they) can contradict Hath thwarted (their) intents.’ This can be interpreted to suggest that he speaks of fate.
Juliet is powerful in the sense that she has great determination and intelligence to a ridiculous degree. Indeed her transition from an obedient girl, inexperienced in love, into a strong young woman whose love for a rash Montague ‘is as boundless as the sea,’ is quite remarkable. Unfortunately, her character isn’t infallible and her flaws are somewhat dictated be fate, itself.
In the end, it was the death of the two ‘star-cross’d lovers’ that ended the ‘ancient grudge’ of their parents but it was but, as the Prince points out, ‘A glooming peace’. ‘Fate’ is arguable the most powerful character in the play.
Their actions may have been preordained, but they were their own: ‘…fate can only take you so far, the rest is up to you.’ They may not have realized the consequence of their love, but even if they did, they didn't heed it. Fate needs the action of its ‘puppet’ just like the puppet needs the puppeteer. One cannot exist without the other. However, fate had determined that neither of the lovers would obtain happiness during their lifetime, which displays true power indeed.
