THE SPEECH ITSELF
Juliet's speech is mainly about her fears, and what she will do if the Friar's potion doesn't work. Her biggest fear it seem is having to marry Paris " Shall I be married tomorrow morning? No, no! This shall forbid it. Lie thou there." She says this while holding a knife, which really shows her determination and fear. Later on Juliet becomes paranoid and begins to think that the Friar's potion may be poison to kill her, and she believes he may be killed for his part in her marriage "What if it a poison which the Friar Subtly hath ministered to have me dead, Lest in this marriage he should be dishonoured Because he marriage me before to Romeo? I fear it is." Juliet then goes into a fantasy world, thinking that she is in the Capulet family tomb lying next the newly dead Tybalt " Yet but green in earth" This really scares her, and she fears that she will go mad in the vault. I think directing this scene would be incredibly difficult, as the mood changes a lot, so the actress would have to be very talented. To begin with her general mood and tone of voice will vary quite a bit. At the beginning of the speech "Farewell! God knows ..." she is relatively calm, but upset, so her voice will be a bit shaky. As the speech moves on she begins to ask questions "What if this mixture do not work at all? Shall I be married in the morning?" Here her voice will be closer to normal, but slightly panicky. While answering her own questions her speech would be more whispered, and mood uplifted as she has a 'get out clause' in the knife if all doesn't go to plan. Once again her voice would turn panicky as she wonders about the Friars motives, but would calm down as she realises he is a holy man, and could do no wrong. From this point the speech takes a strange twist, with Juliet thinking she's in the Capulet tomb. Here her voice would be chopping and changing very quickly as different emotions run through her. As with her mood and tone of voice, the pace of which Juliet speaks will change regularly. I would expect when Juliet asks a question "Shall I be married ..." she would blurt it out, rushing the words. Then she would pause for a second, and answer the question slowly and calmly. "No, no! This shall forbid it" I believe this would happen because when she asks the question she is scared of what the answer will be, but after she's thought about it and realises the answer isn't as frightening as she first thought, she is able to answer calmly. Shakespeare uses many methods to emphesise certain parts of the speech, and uses carefully chosen words to appeal to our different senses "I have a faint cold fear thrill through my veins That almost freezes up the heat of life." Here Shakespeare uses alliteration with the constatnt repetition of 'breathy' th and f sounds. The next thing that stands out is the two syllable line "Come, vial." This sticks out because it doesn't comply with Shakespeare's 10 syllables per-line rule, which he adopts for the whole play. It was clearly meant to be noticed. Also, before this Juliet says "My dismal scene..." Which is giving the impression of darkness. I believe that Shakespeare uses this to get across Juliet's grim situation. Later on Shakespeare uses personification to emphasise the scariness of the Capulet tomb "To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in." The use of the word 'foul' suggests to the reader that the tomb must smell aweful. Juliet then moves on to talking about the newly dead Tybalt, and Shakespeare uses word which create visuals to draw the reader in further. "Where bloody Tybalt, yet butgreen in earth." This use of language is also applied towards the end of the speech "Pluck the mangled Tybalt..." To emphasise the thought of Juliet killing herself Shakespeare uses d, which is a hard sound, to get his point across "As with a club dash out my desperate brains?"
The best use of language of all in the speech is within the line:
"Shrieks like mandrakes."
I think this because in Shakespeare's time if you heard a mandrake shriek as you pulled it out of the ground you would go mad, and that was what was happening to Juliet.
Irony is used a few times in this speech. Firstly Juliet considers killing herself with a knife, and that's how she finally dies.
"No, no! This shall forbid it. Lie thou there."she lays down a knife
Next she thinks of all the things that could possibly go wrong, apart from if Romeo doesn't recieve the message.
"What if this mixture do not work at all?"
"What if it be a poison?"
"How if, when I am laid into the tomb
I wake before the time that Romeo Come to redeem me?"
Finally, the speech is mainly about Juliet's fear that she will never see Romeo again, and she doesn't see him again alive.
This speech would have Juliets moving around a bit. To begin with I would have Juliet slam her bedrom door and throw hersel onto her bed. Then she would begin to sob, and start the speech. At the start of the the fifth line
"Nurse!-What..."
She should get up and walk to her dresser and pick up a knife. She should play with it until the text tells her to put it down. After putting down the knife she should pick up the potion concealed in a perfume bottle, and walk out to her balcony to continue the speech. Here she should inspect the liquid, holding the bottle up to the sun, and smelling it with a reaction as if it smells badly. When she begins the new sentence on the sixteenth line
"And yet methinks..."
She should play with it until the text tells her to put it down. After putting down the knife she should pick up the potion concealed in a perfume bottle, and walk out to her balcony to continue the speech. Here she should inspect the liquid, holding the bottle up to the sun, and smelling it with a reaction as if it smells very badly. When she begins the new setence on the sixteenth line
"And yet methinks..."
She should play with the crucifix necklace. On the eighteenth line she should go back indoors, close the balcony doors and shut the curtains (while still speaking). She should then go and lay downon her bed placing the potion on her bed-side table. At line twenty-six Juliet should swing her legs' round and sit on the edge of of her bed. Then on the thirty-first line she sould stand up, and pace around the room. On line fourty-four Juliet should go and pick up the potion, and after taking it let go of it, letting the bottle smash on the floor while she falls on the bed.
GENERAL POINTS
Shakespeare uses the speech to echo a few things that ahve happened in Juliet's past. Firstly she brings up the fact her Nurse let her down
"Nurse! - What would she do here?
Mydismal scene I needs myst act alone."
Soon after she comment on when Friar married her and Romeo
"Lest in the marriage he should bedishonoured
Because he married me before to Romeo?"
Later on she comments on Tybalts death. and what he may look like in the tomb.
"Where bloody Tybaly, yet but green in earth,
Lies festering in his shroud."
Finall she talks about Tybalt's ghost chasing Romeo, which is an echo because Tybalt hated Romeo and was always after him.
The audience learns from this speech that Juliet is a very brave girl. She had been through a lot for a thirteen year old girl, and proved her love for Romeo to be true by being willing to give up her life if she cant be with him. She shows that she is very mature for her age by keeping her mariiage a secret from the people it would upset.
I would like theaudience to feel sorry for Juliet as she has lead an unusual life. From not giving marriage a thought, to marrying a man she hardly knows, she has changed a great deal in just a few days.
