Juliet is introduced near the beginning of the play, before the ball. The audience get the impression that Juliet is young and beautiful and see how polite, respectful and obedient she is towards her parents. Juliet has a good relationship with her father, as she is precious to him. He wants to be happy as he says “gentle Paris, get her heart, my will to her consent is but a part” This shows how loving he is towards his daughter and how he would like Paris to marry Juliet but he wishes for his daughter to be happy. Shakespeare use the word “gentle” before Paris as it shows how Juliet’s father wants Paris to be loving and kind to Juliet to win over her heart. In Elizabethan times the fathers consent for a wedding was a decision rather than a proposal. This would of shown the audience how caring he was to his daughter. Juliet, however did not see it this way.
In addition to this Shakespeare first starts to evoke sympathy for Juliet in act 1 scene 5 as she falls for Romeo, unaware of who he is, or more importantly what family he is in. As a consequence of this, there is dramatic irony as the viewers know that there family’s are swarm enemy’s, and will not give consent to the coming together of the pair. This is used so the viewers are gripped with the tension and know that because of the prologue, that all will not end well. This excites the audience when they meet as the as the audience are waiting with anticipation. Wondering when they will realise who each other are.
If you do not feel sympathy for Juliet here, you are forced to feel sympathy for Juliet at the balcony scene when you hear/read the all so famous line “O Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo?” Here you feel sorry for Juliet as you hear her sorry-full cry which connotes she is deeply truly in love. The quote starts with “O”. This shows depression or maybe even confusion as Juliet wish’s to be in the company of Romeo. This could also connote that she is in distress and wonders why she has such strong feelings for Romeo and she knows she should not. Juliet may not wish to go against her father. However, knowing that she is doing something that her parents believe is wrong could make their love for each other much more romantic and daring. She then goes on to show the stakes she is willing to give up to become lovers as she says ”Deny thy father and refuse they name” In Shakespearean times, this would of brought about the attention of the audience as your name would of meant the world to you, here the audience would of not sympathised for Juliet as this is very dishonourable. But deep down the audience would feel some type of pathos for Juliet as she is showing how much Romeo means to her. Writers like Shakespeare created Pathos because the use of emotional appeals to alter the audience’s judgement through the use of metaphors, plots, or presenting the topic in a way that evokes strong emotions in the audience. Aristotle, a philosopher characterized by seriousness & dignity once said “The structure of the best tragedy for that is peculiar to this form of art”. The play “Romeo & Juliet” relates to this form of art as the story was painted in the stars. Most of the audience would have been aware that the play was going to create sympathy for the couple, as the Elizabethans believed in fate.
Juliet keeps asking questions as she says “What’s a Montague?” and “What’s in a name?” This connotes confusion once again as Juliet is asking herself questions trying to work out what is wrong and which is right. The question mark shows this. However, she is talking to herself and is not expecting an answer. This is a rhetorical question to get the audience thinking themselves. Juliet would of paused after each question to show the audience she is not sure herself and to give the audience time to think. Then she decides what to do by ending her speech saying “Take all myself”. This is very vague as it could be metaphorical or the technique erotic innuendo could be in use. Erotic innuendo is speaking in a sexual way and being vague about it. This is used to show that Juliet has already fallen for Romeo and knows she wants to be with him. In the globe there was no roofing or lights and performances were always during the day so the characters needed to give hints to tell the audience which time of day it was, so Romeo says “ I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes”. Now the audience will be aware it is late at night, the sun has gone down. Then the final line that makes you sympathise for Juliet in this scene is when Romeo suggests for them to get married and Juliet says “It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden”. Here the audience learn Juliet is not just a love sick teen she is a sensible and respectful young lady so we understand that it is fate that brought these two together and they must have had a purpose. You can see that the comma’s in the quote show that there are several pauses to emphasis the confusion and how quickly she is thinking and trying to convince herself that she does not want to be with Romeo.
In act 3 scene 2 the audience know that Romeo been banished, dramatic irony is used as Juliet declares her deepest love in her soliloquy as the text reads “Leap to these arms” this shows how deeply in love with Romeo she is. This is were there is a peripatetic, where the events take a ghastly turn for the worse after hitting a peak of happiness. After this, Juliet’s opinion about Romeo completely changes as she says “Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?” Juliet describes Romeo as a dragon, as a stereotypical dragon would be angry, vicious and violent. This has an effect on the reader as we see that Juliet is feeling upset and let down by Romeo. This evokes sympathy for her as she has only just married Romeo and she is already having second thoughts about it. However, her thoughts are juxtaposed as she says “A damned saint, an honourable villain” This connotes confusion as she is mixing two different ideas, not sure which she believes. Juliet would be feeling really let down and feel as she has misjudged Romeo’s character.
In act 4 scene 4 Romeo & Juliet have spent the night together and the mourning heralds his banishment. Whereas, last time the mourning heralded their wedding. Shakespeare used the same setting for this scene and the scene where Romeo & Juliet declare there love for each other as the audience are reminded of how soon their relationship has come to the end. Romeo knows that there relationship is dieing out as he says “More light and light, more dark and dark our woes” this is saying as the day gets lighter out marriage is coming to an end, as Romeo must leave. Prophetic fallacy is used as Juliet says “Methinks I see thee now, thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb, either my eyesight fails, or thou look’s pale” This technique is used as Juliet predicts that Romeo will die and ironically he does, in the same place of which she predicted. This is used to hint to the audience that the end is near. In addition to this, Romeo keeps talking about darkness and referring to darkness as he reads “ill say yon grey is not the morning’s eyes” this is used to show he is depressed and not very happy, It could maybe be referred to as gothic literature. As the descriptive writing is spoke relating to the dark and gloomy. This is in contrast to earlier in the play he compares Juliet to the sun as he says “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?” Here you can tell Romeo is blissful as he is not talking about colours that would connote depression. He is connoting that Juliet is an angel and she is shinning like a goddess. Shakespeare uses this to show Romeo’s character. Although there marriage is at an end Romeo still tries to show his feelings for Juliet.
Furthermore, In act 3 scene 5, We feel sympathy for Juliet here as she can not explain herself to her parents and they think she is being disobedient as Juliet says “He shall not make me there a joyful bride”. Here Juliet would wish that she could tell her parents. However, they would be more ashamed and feel like they were betrayed if she told them that she got married to a Montague, as they are arch enemy’s. Moreover, lady Capulet is very disappointed with her as she says “I would the fool were married to her grave” Juliet would have been shocked to hear this as usually Juliet is a very polite person and would not of had arguments with her mother. Capulet gets very frustrated and would of shouted a lot of his lines as they ending with explanation marks for example the text reads, “How now, how now, chop-logic!”. This would of echoed around the globe and caught the viewers full attention. In addition to this, there was confusion as there was puns on words such as “ Thank me no thankings, nor, proud me no prouds” This would have been used to make the audience be quite and try understand what was happening. Shakespeare wanted to create a tension so high that even the audience could feel the anxiety. Capulet treats her in a nasty way telling her he wants to hit her as he says “ Speak not. Reply not, do not answer me; My fingers itch” Juliet would have been crying and feeling very scared of her father as she would of not seen him like this often, this evokes sympathy for Juliet as there is not much she can do, she does not want to tell her father about Romeo as she does not want to disappoint him. Juliet would be most shocked when her father says to her if you do not go and marry Paris, he will not acknowledge her as he says, “And you be not, hang, beg , starve, die in the streets, For by my soul, I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee”. This shows the audience how strongly he feels about his daughter marrying the man who he thinks is right for Juliet. The audience, however can not help but feel confusion compared to when Capulet was telling Paris he has to win Juliet’s heart over as his consent would not be enough. This contrast in the play is to show Capulet was not the character he was described as earlier in the play .
The Romeo & Juliet death scene is a tragic one, Juliet pretending to be dead and Romeo not receiving the message goes to see if its true. He arrives and sees for himself and kills himself with poison. Juliet wakes up moments after to find Romeo dead by her side, so she kills herself with Romeo’s dagger. Shakespeare uses dramatic timing is used as Juliet wakes up moments after Romeo dies. This would again connote that fate has brought the two together, and it is fate that they would die a tragic death to make the two families realise that they have to put there feud to the side. The audience could not help but feel sympathy for Juliet here as she has tried to be with her husband and there has been a misfortune that Romeo did not get the message telling him.
Shakespeare uses many dramatic devices such as: dramatic timing; dramatic irony; dramatic impact all are used to keep his audience involved with the play and want the audience to be wanting to know what happens next. Shakespeare was very popular with the Elizabethan audience as they liked to see the people suffer. That’s why Shakespeare had to make the audience’s feel sympathy for Juliet. That was a lot harder in Elizabethan times as they were used to seeing people suffer. This was a diverse audience so we would feel a lot more sympathy for the characters that Shakespeare wanted us to feel sorry for.
By Alex Garrett
