One of the ways Shakespeare also creates sympathy for Juliet is by causing so many horrid events to happen at the same time for Juliet. I think that because of Tybalt dying, Romeo leaving, there being a chance that he may never return and that Juliet is being forced into an arranged marriage with Paris, Juliet is distraught. And the fact that Juliet has not got a mother figure, one that she can trust, plays a big part in how Shakespeare creates sympathy for Juliet. Juliet had had the nurse as a mother figure for nearly all of her life, the nurse even breastfed Juliet since she was little. “Tis since the earthquake now eleven years; And she was wean'd,--I never shall forget it,- Of all the days of the year, upon that day: For I had then laid wormwood to my dug, Sitting in the sun under the dove-house wall; My lord and you were then at Mantua:-- Nay, I do bear a brain:--but, as I said, When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple Of my dug and felt it bitter, pretty fool, To see it tetchy and fall out with the dug!” Here the nurse is sharing her experience of Juliet being breastfed. Even though the nurse is like a mother to Juliet, when Juliet asks the nurse for comfort in time most needed; the nurse simply replies back “I think it best if you married with the county. Oh, he’s a lovely gentleman. Romeo’s a dishclout to him.” The nurse is giving her opinion to Juliet, which is something Juliet does not want to here, because she trusted the nurse and just in that quote, I think that the trust between Juliet and the nurse is broken. Additionally Juliet feels that she is left in total darkness, when multiple scenarios happen at the same time for Juliet; Romeo leaves her, she is forced to marry Paris, Tybalt, her close cousin has recently died, and when Juliet asks the nurse for comfort and advise, the nurse “backstabs” Juliet in the back by not saying what Juliet wants to hear. Here, we discover the weakness of the nurse by her sudden actions towards Juliet. Everyone leaving Juliet in a way reflects this in the staging of the scene, her cousin’s death, Romeo going to Mantua and then the nurse, who she trusts dearly, doesn’t sympathise about what she is feeling.
The themes Shakespeare uses in Act 3 Scene 5 are many. Some themes included in the play are love. There are different types of love in Romeo and Juliet. There is courtly love, dutiful love and true love. Courtly love is used when Romeo is talking about Rosaline and how she is not “hit with Cupid’s arrow”, like Romeo is. Romeo tends to be very dramatic when referring to love. Another name for courtly love is petrarchan love. Dutiful love is the love between Paris and Juliet. Paris has always been loyal to Juliet through out the whole play. At the end of the play, Paris’ “dutiful love” gains him a place next to Juliet on her deathbed. True love is the love that is conveyed. Romeo and Juliet. When Romeo says to Juliet, “Farewell! I will omit no opportunity that may convey my greetings, love, to thee.” Romeo is expressing his love toward Juliet, because quite frankly, Juliet is never going to see Romeo again, though the audience and characters don’t know this. Shakespeare mostly creates sympathy for Juliet by using dutiful love and true love. By using true love, Shakespeare is making Juliet feel quite lonely because her husband is leaving her, and maybe, never coming back. By using dutiful love, I think Shakespeare makes Juliet feel guilty in a way because Paris truly loves her, but she is being disloyal to him because she is already married to another man.
Furthermore, Shakespeare also creates sympathy for Juliet by creating the audience in Romeo and Juliet a patriarchal society, making the men have more priority to woman over many things. In the case where Juliet is forced to marry Paris, she has to marry because her father was forcing her. And the fact that Lord Capulet is a man, and considered the head of the house, every one in the house including Lady Capulet, Juliet, the nurse and the servants have to obey the man of the house. This creates sympathy for Juliet, because her father, because of the patriarchal society, forces her choices in life upon her. If Juliet does not listen to her father then he said he will disown her. “Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch!
I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday, Or never after look me in the face: Speak not, reply not, do not answer me; My fingers itch.” He also wanted to slap her because she was being so disobedient and stubborn.
In conclusion, I think how Shakespeare creates sympathy for Juliet is very meaningful, because of the way he plays with the audience’s feelings towards Juliet. It also adds quite a bit of conflict to the play between the families at the end of the play. Romeo and Juliet did not mean to fall in love; they were “destined” to fall in love and then die, since the start of the tragedy. They are “Star-crossed lovers” from the start of the play; the evidence is in the prologue. The way Shakespeare created sympathy for Juliet, led her to bear no more of the things she was forced to do, so it lead to two lovers from two spiteful families to take their lives, just for their voices to be heard to reach the family.
By Sehar 10J
