Act Four, scene 4
The following day the whole house is fraught with activity, surrounding the wedding. Servants rush about everywhere preparing. Juliet’s father has been up all night supervising for the day. Paris plans to take Juliet to the church for the ceremony. On approach Capulet directs the nurse to wake Juliet…
Characters
Paris: Paris displays himself as a gentle, friendly, courteous and pleasant young gentleman. Clearly he is extremely fond of Juliet and shows pure delight to see Juliet. When friar Laurence asks for some privacy with Juliet Paris happily obliges. “God shield I should disturb devotion!”
Friar Laurence: Friar Laurence is in an extremely awkward predicament. Firstly, he married the two together, although in the best of intentions. Secondly he was the one who gave Juliet the potion to knock her out. Now again this appeared in the best of intensions, but it was really because if Juliet refuses to marry because of bigamy, then the question asked is who to, and who married them. It is for this reason that he goes ahead with the plan: to rid himself of any blame. Due to his timid nature, it prevents him from a rational solution. Friar Laurence has become overwhelmed by the rising situation, forcing him to question his own morality.
Capulet: Capulet loves to organise things, and is quite happy as long as he has his own way. In this act we see him in his element, planning and supervising the arrangements for the marriage. His moods are sporadic, likely to change any moment. He claimed that in respect for Tybalt, he would have a quiet wedding, only to find later that he sends out a servant to find 20 cooks!
In conjunction with that, earlier in the play he tells Paris, that Juliet is to young to marry, and that he should wait a couple of years. Hours later it seems he can’t have Juliet married soon enough. And when she agrees, he even moves it forward a day.
Lady Capulet: A little of Lady Capulet’s relationship is exposed in this part of the play. After complaining for some time about her husband staying up all night, she edges in a sly comment of previous experience, stating that he used to go around chasing women all night, and that she now has her eye on him: “ay, you have been a mouse-hunt in your time; but I will watch you from such watching now.”
Juliet: Juliet is the main character in this scene, the spotlight closely watching her every move. In act four, scene one she is confronted by her troubles, ironically, in the place she has come to speak of this trouble: Paris. In spite of this she maintains her composure in front of Paris, and manages to engage a polite, yet secretly coded conversation. In this scene she shows deception very cleverly. All her replies are indirect, meaning she says things that sound promising to Paris, but does not actually say that she is going to marry him, or indeed that she intends to: “That may be, sir, when I may be a wife” “what must be shall be”
Once Paris leaves, she pours her heart out to Friar Laurence.
She eagerly accepts Friar Laurence’s proposal to use his potion. “Give me, give me!” “Oh tell me not of fear!”
When she returns to her home she uses her skills of deception once again, but this time on her own father, apologising and agreeing to marry Paris. He doesn’t doubt her for a second. The alternative would have been to tell the truth, but because of his attitude towards things, it would only cause more problems, and at least before she is to leave, she makes her peace with her mother and father.
She has now separated herself from the world mentally, and physically. There is now nobody she can speak to about the awful predicament she is in, nor can she turn back.
Once confined to her own room, alone, she prepares to take the potion. Her head is filled with questions of the consequences that may follow, but thinks of Romeo, and has no doubt in her mind that this is what she’d rather do. She takes the potion…
Themes
The conversation between Friar Laurence and Juliet, in act four, scene 1, anticipates the final, depressing end. She explains that if she cannot come to a solution, that she will kill herself with the very knife she holds in her hands.
“If, in thy wisdom, though canst give no help,
Do though but call my resolution wise,
And with this knife I’ll help it presently.”
Later, in a language almost beyond comprehension, she outlines the following outcome of her body laying, drugged, next to Tybalt’s corpse:
“ Or hide me in a charnel-house,
O’er covere’d quite with dead men’s rattling bones,
With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;
Or bid me go into a new- made grave
And hide me with a dead man in his shroud…
These outlines the following, horrifying scenes that she generates in her mind before she takes the drug.
In act four, scene 4, I imagine the place to be filled with people. Capulet runs around, shouting loudly, but in a jolly manner, calling servants left right and centre, calling for more trifle etc. servants run about everywhere, and in amongst them, Lady Capulet and the nurse walk backwards and forwards, entering and exiting the room systematically. There’s a sweet smell of mixed aromas from the freshly baked bread, desserts. There is a rushed, yet happy feel about the place. Everyone is happy despite the rush to get everything done.
The happy feel to the beginning of this scene is intentional. Whilst they are happy in this scene, the audience are not. I think this was almost to put us in Juliet’s eyes rather than the concealed life that she projects to others. There are number of hidden messages I found from this. Not necessarily true, but seeing as I am the audience if you like, these are the messages that I thought of. Firstly, I think it is to completely contrast the end in an ironic manner, to possibly symbolise the irony of the entire play.
Secondly, to symbolise that this was the lie that Juliet’s life was: happy on the outside, but deep down very tragic and unhappy. She projects the image of those around her, which is happy, even though sadly, she is not.
Maybe there is a third being that there is a moral to the story, likely to be along the lines of “Do not force opinion or action upon a person against their will, for the outcome can be cataclysmic,” or “Family whilst loving and caring, can also cause quite the opposite, so it’s best to meet half way.” (Closely linked with A View from the Bridge)
I think what Shakespeare was trying to do was get a message across to the audience. At the time his plays were shown, the view on marriage in most families was very similar to this, in that if you were asked to marry someone, by your father, regardless of the fact of whether you know or like the person, you had to, due to the repercussions involved if you were to refuse. So I think that by outlining what happens when the father/mother does such a thing against the son or daughter’s will, even though slightly exaggerated, outlined the point that people needed to start behaving differently towards such situations.
