The scene opens with a romantic atmosphere, but dramatic irony is immediately created, when Romeo and Juliet wake up after spending their first night together as a married couple. However, the audience is aware that Lord Capulet has arranged for Juliet to marry with Paris, in the previous scene.
Imaginatively, Romeo and Juliet deny reality by pretending it is still nighttime, for example, Juliet claims that “It was the nightingale and not the lark.” This is a poetic way of convincing Romeo that it is not yet time to leave. Juliet uses personification to show that nature is working against them, “She divideth us.” Romeo feels this as well, which can be seen in his exclamation, “More light and light, more dark and dark our woes!” Traditionally, light is associated with safety and darkness is associated with danger. But here, this is reversed which suggests that he also believes that nature is working in opposition to them.
The nurse’s entrance dramatically changes the romantic atmosphere of the scene as it creates a sense of panic for the lovers. The mood is further darkened by Juliet’s foreshadowing as Romeo departs, “I have an ill-divining soul.” This strongly suggests to the audience that the play will end tragically.
Dramatic irony is created in the conversation between Juliet and her mother because Lady Capulet believes that Juliet is weeping for her dead cousin, Tybalt, whereas the audience know that she is grieving for the loss of Romeo.
In order to conceal her real feelings from her mother, Juliet uses double meanings, for example she says, “With Romeo, till I behold him – dead – Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vexed.” Here, the word ‘dead’ could go with either part of the sentence. Her mother understands that Juliet wishes Romeo dead, yet Juliet actually means that her heart is dead until she is re-united with her lover. This could be interpreted as a sign of Juliet’s growing maturity, yet, it could also suggest that she is childish, because she has unrealistic hopes about the future. However, what we can be certain of is the fact that Lady Capulet doesn’t know her daughter as she ought to, and their relationship is very distant.
Capulet enters the chamber, then he learns of Juliet’s determination to defy him he becomes enraged and threatens to disown Juliet if she refuses to obey him. He firstly acts as a loving and caring father then instantly changes once he does not get his own way. He repeats himself by calling Juliet “a horse, an accident and a disobedient wretch”. When Juliet entreats her mother to intercede, her mother denies her help.
After Capulet and Lady Capulet storm away, Juliet asks her Nurse how she might escape her predicament. The Nurse advises her to go through with the marriage to Paris—he is a better match, she says, and Romeo is as good as dead anyhow. Though disgusted by her Nurse’s disloyalty, Juliet pretends to agree, and tells her Nurse that she is going to make confession at Friar Lawrence’s. Juliet hurries to the friar, vowing that she will never again trust the Nurse’s counsel. If the friar is unable to help her, Juliet comments to herself, “If all else fail, myself have power to die,” which translates to modern English that she still has the power to take her own life.
Throughout the scene, there is a wide variety of mood and effect, from romance to panic, sadness to rebellion and always a lot of tension for the audience, which increases all the time. It is significant because it is the last time in the play that the lovers see each other alive, and although this is unknown to the audience at this time, it is almost certain due to the death references and forebodings. The arranged marriage to Paris is the third major difficulty in the play, as if it were to go through, Juliet would be committing a mortal sin, bigamy. The defiance of Juliet elevates her status to a tragic heroine, after her death.
