However Juliet does not seem to react as Romeo thought she would. Instead of letting him stay she insists that it is the lark that she hears, and he must leave at once.
“It is, it is; hie hence, be gone away! It is the lark that sings so out of tune.”
At this stage Juliet seems to regret the beauty of the lark’s song, saying that, since it is what is driving Romeo away. Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet talk about the star, fate and fortune. At the time when this play was written people believed in stars and fate more than they do today. At the beginning of the play Romeo notifies the reader that the stars and fate are against him. As soon as he mentioned that the audience knew straight away that something bad is going to come in Romeos way. In Act 3 Scene 5 in lines 60-4 Juliet miserably curses the fortune. Juliet knows the fortune as being changeable. Juliet thinks then why does it have anything to do with Romeo, who is renowned for being unwavering and unchangeable? However Juliet wants the fortune to be changeable, because if Romeo’s luck changes, he will be able to come back and stay with her.
In my opinion I think that the theme of stars, fate and fortune are very significant. They tell the audience a great deal about the dramatic theme of the play. This is notified to the audience right from the start.
“A pair of star-cross’d lovers”
These are the words in which Shakespeare introduces Romeo and Juliet to its audience. Straight away the audience understand that Romeo and Juliet are destined to die.
As Romeo climbs out of the balcony by the ladder, and no sooner have they said their unhappy goodbyes than Lady Capulet arrives.
When Lady Capulet enters Juliet’s chamber she is unaware about the secret marriage between Romeo and Juliet she is also completely unaware that they have both spend the night together. Throughout the play the audience are aware of the secrets known between Romeo, Juliet, The Nurse and Friar Lawrence. However certain characters are not. Lady Capulet seems annoyed when she sees Juliet in bed.
“Why, how now, Juliet!”
This quote shows that Lady Capulet is not happy to see Juliet in bed at this time of the day. When Juliet responds that she is not well, her mother assumes that Juliet is still weeping for her cousin’s death. Juliet takes this for granted realizing this might be a great excuse and responds by telling her mother to let her weep for such a feeling loss. Although Lady Capulet is Juliet’s mother I do not think that they have a good relationship and are not that much close as Juliet is with the Nurse.
The exchanges between Lady Capulet and Juliet are based on double meanings. Juliet is not entirely revealing her true feelings to her mother. This is evident in lines 94-102:
“With Romeo till I behold him – dead – is my poor heart so kind vex’d. Madam, if you could find out but a man to bear a poison, I would temper it, that Romeo should, upon receipt thereof, soon sleep in quite. O, how my heart abhors to hear him nam’d, and cannot come to him, to wreak the love I bore my cousin Tybalt upon his body that hath slaughter’d him!”
At this moment Juliet takes her mothers plan to poison Romeo at fare value. She is determined to prevent it from happening, and agrees with her mother. Although she almost gave her self away by hesitating in line 94:
“With Romeo till I behold him – dead”
before adding “dead” this making the audience aware of her drug intentions. Whilst her mother believes that Juliet agrees with her.
I think that throughout the play Juliet changes her attitude from being a innocent 13 year old who never disobeyed her mother and father, to a young woman who is desperately in love with Romeo.
In lines 117: Juliet mood changes dramatically when Lady Capulet turns to the intended wedding. At this moment Juliet seems angry and frustrated with her mother, as she refuses to marry Paris. Julie tries to avoid marrying Paris by saying that she hates him and would rather marry Romeo whom she hates:
“I will not marry yet and when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, rather than Paris.”
At this exact moment the audience are aware that Juliet is already married to Romeo, but unfortunately her mother is not. Her mother seems angry when Juliet tells her that she will never marry Paris. She also seems helpless and turns to her husband who at the precise moment enters Juliet’s chamber.
When Capulet enters he seems happy and joyful. When he sees Juliet he asks why is his girl steel in tears, referring to the sea imagery. Capulet then turns to his wife and asks if she has delivered their decree, which is the decision that Juliet is to marry Paris on the following Thursday. Lady Capulet replies by saying Juliet does not wish to marry. At this point Capulet’s mood swings from being joyful to angry with his daughter. However Juliet tries to avoid making her father angry by saying that she is grateful for the trouble Capulet has taken, though she cannot be proud of the man he has chosen. However she fails to prevent her father from being angry. Capulet begins to use insults as he reacts violently towards the situation, and threatens to drag Juliet to church on Thursday morning.
At this moment the audience and Lady Capulet are shocked by the violence of Capulet’s insulting language towards Juliet. Lady Capulet responds by:
“Fie, fie! What, are you mad?”
In lines 190- Capulet portrays Juliet as being his property:
“An you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend: An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, for, my soul, I’ll never acknowledge thee.”
I think that he almost black mails Juliet into marrying Paris by saying that she will no longer be his daughter if she does not obey him. At this stage Juliet feels betrayed by her family who are apart from Romeo who she cannot be with are the only closest thing she has.
In desperation, Juliet turns to her mother. Sadly her mother refuses to help her:
“Talk not to me, for all I’ll not speak a word; do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.”
Lady Capulet’s last words are exactly what the audience might have expected from her when she says that she has washed her hands of Juliet. Although Juliet might have accepted being betrayed from her father she did not really expect her own mother to do react in the same way. This evidently suggests that Juliet and her mother do not have a close relationship. In desperation for some sort of support and advice Juliet turns to the Nurse, who harshly refuses to help her when help is needed. The Nurse suggests that Juliet should forget about Romeo and should marry Paris in order to satisfy Lord and Lady Capulet. At this stage Juliet feels vulnerable.
Personally I believe that Lord Capulet takes advantage of Juliet’s innocence and vulnerability. He encourages Juliet to marry Paris without Juliet having a say. I think that he does not give her time and options, therefore she feels vulnerable.
At the end of the scene Juliet takes a potion in order to sleep for two days. By this Juliet tried to convince her parents that she is dead. At this stage Juliet is separated from people she loved: Romeo, her mother, her father and the Nurse.
Although Juliet had different relationships with all these characters she respected and loved them equally.
Romeo was Juliet’s first love. She has sacrificed her own life for him and has even gone against her parent’s wishes in order to be with Romeo. This shows the viewers how deeply in love Juliet was.
Although Juliet went against her fathers and mothers wishes she still had respect and love for both of them. However Juliet did not see her mother as a mother figure and thought of the Nurse as a mother figure as the nurse was always there for Juliet and always offered support.
I think tat at the end of the role the audience realized that what Juliet and Romeo had was more than just a teenage crush.
The thing that I most probably find as an effective element in this novel is the theme on faith and stars. When Romeo met Juliet he knew that the stars were against him and he knew that his relationship with Juliet would turn out to be a disaster. However Romeo still got emotionally involved with Juliet and the prediction of his faith has become a harsh reality.
Eldar Kurbanov
GCSE English
