Romeo and JulietExplore the significance of Act 3 scene 5 in relation to the mood of the play.

Juliet’s character at the beginning of the play seems a strong willed character which is in contrast to Act 3 scene 5 when she cracks in the presence of Lord Capulet’s anger. We see this when Juliet says ‘Good father, I beseech you on my knees, Hear me with patience but to speak a word’ Juliet also looks up to the Nurse as a mother figure, her parents abandon her when she is at her most vulnerable, for example when she doesn’t want to marry Paris. Juliet is also quiet a frivolous character; we see this from her tone of voice. She says ‘It was the nightingale and not the lark’. She is pretending that it is not yet morning. This tells us that Juliet’s character is frivolous. Juliet’s character would have been played by a young boy, because women weren’t allowed to act in theatres in those days. This would have made the audience use their imagination that the young boy who was playing the role was actually Juliet.

Lord Capulet is portrayed as quite a jolly character at the beginning of the play when he is speaking to Paris about marrying Juliet and he is fond of Juliet, but towards the end of Act 3 scene 5 he is angry towards her and disowns her. We see this when he says ‘I tell thee what: get thee to church a Thursday, or never after look me in the face’. Here we see a completely different side to Lord Capulet. The alteration of the characters we see in Act 3 scene 5 makes this scene pivotal to the whole play. This adds drama to the scene because it makes the scene more dramatic and it creates more tension as well. Lord Capulet also creates tension by using assonance; this quickens the pace and makes it more immediate and sharp. Lord Capulet also quickens the pace by using punctuation such as commas more often.

The Nurse’s character in the play changes as the setting of each scene changes, for example at the beginning when she finds out about Romeo and Juliet’s relationship she is on Juliet side trying to help her by sending the message about the wedding to Juliet, this is in contrast to Act 3 scene 5 when there is tension building up between Lord Capulet and Juliet, she becomes on Lord Capulet’s side by trying to persuade Juliet to marry Paris. We see this when she say ‘I think it is best you married with the County. O, he is lovely gentleman.’ This is dramatic because the audience will be feeling that Paris is actually a nice person .This shows us that the Nurse is trying to persuade Juliet to marry Paris. The Nurse is also very caring of Juliet, we see this in Act 3 scene 5 when Capulet has left in a rage and Juliet is in tears she is the one who tries and make Juliet feel better.

The two key themes are love and hate and light and dark. In Act 1 scene 5 when Juliet is speaking to the nurse she says ‘My only love sprung from my hate’ what she mans by this is that he only love Romeo comes from her only hated family Montague. In Act 1 scene 1 when Romeo is speaking to Benvolio he says ‘Here is much to do with hate, but more with love’ .In Act 1 scene 5 when Romeo first sees Juliet he says ‘did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till tonight’ what Romeo means by this is that his heart had never been in love until now, because he had never seen true beauty till tonight. This shows Romeos love for Juliet. In Act 2 scene 2 when Juliet is speaking to Romeo she says ‘my life better end by their hate then, then death prorogued, wanting of thy love.’ What she means is that she would die because of the two families hate rather then stay away from her love; this is shown in the beginning of Act 3 scene 5 when Romeo and Juliet are talking to each other about their love and Romeo says ‘Let me tane, let me put to death’ what he means by this is that let me captured or be put to death because of their families hatred. In Act 3 scene 5 when Romeo and Juliet have just spent the night together Romeo says ‘More light and light, more dark and dark our woes!’ which means that the lighter it becomes the sooner he will leave and the darker their families relationship will become. In Act 2 scene 2 when Romeo advances the Capulet’s Orchard he says ‘It is the east, and Juliet is the sun’. Shakespeare uses light and dark to show imagery in this scene. When he describes Juliet as being the sun, because the sun is bright.

I think overall that Act 3 scene 5 is a significant part of the play, because it is the part where the mood of the play changes from a happy and romantic to foreboding tragedy. The tragedy that happens in this play is that both the lovers die, because of the hatred of the two families. Act 3 scene 5 also embodies the mood’s movement of the whole play.