Braveness is a quality of Juliet’s character that is shown frequently throughout the play. One example of this is when she commits suicide for Romeo, as she does not see any point in a life without Romeo. “Oh happy dagger! This is thy sheath, there rust and let me die”. She had an alternative of living life as a nun but she goes ahead and commits suicide. This is an act of bravery. “Love gives me strength” Juliet stays strong throughout the play despite the events that are happening to her. As the play goes on she becomes more controlled in what she is doing with her life, due to her braveness. “Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow”. Juliet marries Romeo the very next day of meeting him. This shows her passion for him but also braveness, as it takes a lot of courage to marry, basically a stranger. She goes ahead even though she has some sort of an idea about the consequences she may have to face. Juliet stands up to herself when her father argues with her. She is not scared of bringing on family feuds. As she says, “He shall not make me a joyful bride”.
I would say that Juliet is very strong willed during the course of the play. Juliet says, “Delay this marriage for a month, a week, or if you do not, make the bridal bed, in that dim monument where Tybalt lies”. By saying this Juliet makes it quite clear that if what she demands is not given then their will be consequences for everyone to face. She refuses to marry Paris and sticks to her decision as she is very passionate towards Romeo. “I will not fail”. By this you can see that Juliet is dedicated to what she does and says. She is motivated in everything she does. “Give me! O tell me not of fear”. This phrase is from the ending of the story when she is about to drink the potion. This is clear evidence that she is not at all afraid of drinking the potion, despite the consequences such as, Friar could be lying to her and all of this could be some kind of set up.
Juliet is very romantic. “Let lips do what hands do”. When she meets Romeo she kisses him, although she knows that it is a sin in her religion. Juliet is very passionate about Romeo. Her love for him is major. She trusts him even though they’ve only known each other for a day. Another point that proves her love for him is when Romeo murders her cousin Tybalt. Although she has heard the cause of the death of her cousin she’s still determined to stick with Romeo, as she sends the nurse with a wedding ring to Romeo as a token and tells her to tell him to come and say goodbye to her. “O find him, give this ring to my true knight, And bid him come to take his last farewell".
Juliet is also quite crafty in parts of the play. She knows what she is and is not allowed to do but she still goes ahead and does so but in a secretive and undercover way. For example, during the party at the Capulet’s Juliet asks the nurse to go find out about Romeo. “Go ask his name? Go ask”. Juliet is also very crafty when she marries Romeo. She goes behind her families back without anyone finding out. This clearly shows that Juliet is very crafty.
Juliet shows a great deal of loyalty towards Romeo. Even though in some cases being loyal to Romeo involved disloyalty to her family. Juliet is distraught at her conflict of loyalties. She loves Romeo but he has killed her cousin. The nurse tries to comfort her by criticizing Romeo Juliet then turns on her. “Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit”. Juliet is even more upset when she begins to realise what Romeo’s banishment means to her. This clearly proves her loyalty towards Romeo. At the beginning of the play Juliet is also loyal to her family as she does what they ask her to do. “What is your will?” this clearly shows her being very loyal to a family member.
Juliet also shows disloyalty during the play but this quality of hers is shown after she meets Romeo. This is mainly shown towards her family as she disobeys their demands, as she is in love with Romeo. “Not proud you have, but thankful that you have. Proud can I never be of what I hate, but thankful even for hate that is meant for love”. This shows how disloyal Juliet is as she does not consider what her family is going through and what they want. All she cares about is her Romeo.
Compared to the beginning of the play Juliet is a lot more in control of her life. She has lot more confidence and has a clearer view into the aspects of life. She knows what her aims are and what she wants. Towards the end of the play Juliet has matured quite a bit as she has been through a lot. She makes decisions on her own without other peoples consent. “Myself have power to die”. Considering Juliet’s age she has been through many aspects of life’s experiences. Juliet knows that she will have to do what she wants to get somewhere in life, not what other people want her to do. I think that the changes brought about in her character were all due to the events that occurred in her life, the main one being meeting Romeo. Juliet is more determined in the things she does towards the end of the play. Juliet’s character strengthened as the play went on.
