‘How how, how how, chopt logic? What is this?’
This portrays confusion and panic. Act 3 Scene 4 is the scene where everything starts to go wrong in the characters lives. Shakespeare shows that they are living in a very patriarchal society as Capulet makes all the decisions without any input from his wife.
This is also the scene where a very important decision is made, Juliet’s marriage to Paris. Capulet arranges this marriage without consulting Juliet and expects her to follow his orders and marry Paris. Capulet also boasts about this decision to Paris
“I think she will be ruled in all respects by me; nay more, I doubt it not.”
This again portrays a patriarchal society, the fact that he thinks she will do as she is told, and be “Ruled” For the term ‘Ruled’ to be used means Capulet is giving Juliet no choice but to marry Paris, but what he does not know is that Juliet is already married to Romeo. So therefore it is impossible for her to marry Paris. This prepares the audience for a tragedy because it becomes obvious that conflict is unavoidable.
But Capulet’s decision for Juliet and Paris’s marriage to be held so soon as the Thursday in that same week is quite shocking since not long but a day before he was telling Paris to wait two more years for a marriage with Juliet as he felt his daughter was too young.
“Let two more summers wither in their pride, ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.”
Capulet has this rapid change in heart because he is afraid that Paris would change his mind about marrying Juliet as he may be impatient and move onto another girl as Capulet told him to wait 2 more years before marrying Juliet. If that were to happen it would mean catastrophe for Capulet, as Juliet’s marriage with Paris is highly important to him as Paris is from a noble family. Capulet is simply using Juliet as a tool to his success, he is also afraid that he may be the next to die (because of Tybalt’s death) so he is trying to marry Juliet as swiftly as possible, because he wants to be alive for his daughters marriage. The play is set in a matter of 5 days, this explains the rush in the characters lives and why everything is done so quickly.
There are several images of death in the final conversation between Romeo and Juliet which portray that they are doomed, their destiny is to die. This particular part of the play also builds a lot of tension, as both Romeo and Juliet know Romeo is not supposed to be there but also at the same time we know that Lady Capulet is coming up the stairs.
Earlier in the play, there was a fight between the Capulet and Montague servants, Tybalt ended up killing Mercutio, Romeo filled with rage then killed Tybalt. As a result of this catastrophic outburst, Romeo was then banished from Verona. To build Tension and help change the mood as the end of the play is nearing, Shakespeare mad it so, as Romeo is climbing down, Juliet has a premonition, of Romeo dead in a tomb;
"Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb."
this happens to come true, as at the end of the play, both Juliet and Romeo die together, in a tomb. Shakespeare has made it so, that without knowing, Romeo and Juliet are talking about the ending of the play, or to them, their lives.
Juliet’s conversation with her mother prepares the audience for the tragic ending of the play as again it portrays many images of death, also the characters, Juliet in particular, seem to predict the future;
“To bear a poison I would temper it, that Romeo should upon receipt there of soon sleep in quiet. “
By saying this Juliet is being very ambiguous, as she is telling her mother, that she wants to kill Romeo by poisoning him, and so she wishes to mix the poison herself, to seek revenge of her cousin’s death. Of course the audience know that Juliet does not wish to kill Romeo, but to save him, as if she were to mix the poison herself, she could trick her family and all others and not make not a poison but a simple potion to set Romeo into a temporary sleep which will make him seem dead. Juliet is being very smart here as she knows her family would want to kill Romeo anyway, so she implies she is so angry at her cousins death she would like to mix the poison herself, therefore her family will not be suspicious of her actions. This conversation between Juliet and Lady Capulet is based on a dramatic irony; the audience know that throughout this scene Juliet is talking positively about Romeo, but Lady Capulet thinks Juliet is very upset about her dead cousin Tybalt. By doing this, Shakespeare has brought more tension into the play, as he has included predictions of the tragic ending, ambiguity, and also mystery.
Act 3 scene 5, the conversation between Capulet and Juliet shows Capulet is extremely angry at Juliet even though Juliet has done nothing but refuse to marry Paris.
Capulet’s behaviour depicts violence, anger and a very patriarchal society, as he is ordering Juliet to marry Paris and not giving her any choice but to accept, which creates conflict. He also speaks about Juliet as if she were an object, or if he were some sort of dictator and she is his subject.
“Have you deliver’d to her decree?”
In Capulet’s View, he has decided on the wedding of Juliet and Paris, whether Juliet agrees to it or not, is not his concern, as to him, she will get married. This shows the audience that Juliet will later go on to do something drastic, as the audience know that Juliet is clandestinely married to Romeo and is also in love with Romeo, therefore she can not marry Paris. Shakespeare has put forward Capulet’s anger in the way this scene is written, especially in Capulet’s speeches, for example;
“How how, how how, chopt-logic? What is this? ‘Proud’, and ‘I thank you not’, and yet, ‘not proud’, mistress minion you?”
Capulet speaks in broken rhythm, “How how, How how, chopt-logic?” repetition “Take me with you, take me with you wife” and he also lists, “hang, beg, starve, die in the streets” This creates the feeling of anger in Capulet’s character, as when a person is angry, they tend to repeat themselves, speak in broken-rhythm and also list, as anger tends to rush people. Shakespeare uses many other techniques to portray anger in Capulet’s speeches,
“You green-sickness carrion! Out, you baggage! You tallow-face!”
Offence being one of them, Capulet also threatens to disown and to provide no home for Juliet if she does not obey his wishes;
“I’ll pardon you: Graze where you will, you shall not house with me.”
as Capulet insults and threatens his daughter quiet a bit his language and attitude automatically show annoyance and irritation, Juliet is both irritating and annoying for Capulet as she is refusing to marry Paris and is not obeying his wishes. It also shows that Capulet’s love for Juliet is conditional, as if, if she were to not marry Paris he would disown her, not care about what happens to her;
“And you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend;
And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets,
For by my soul, I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee,”
This implies he does not care for her, which leads me to question Capulet love for Juliet at all. If she were to not obey him, he would not love her, but even if she were to abide by his rules and obey his wishes, would he honestly love her, or only be using her as a tool.
In the Veronese society in the time the play was set men were in the highest hierarchy, but it should give no reason for a father to treat his daughter as a tool. This shows Capulet’s character to be evil, power obsessed, controlling, maybe even ‘heartless’
Capulet is only keeping Juliet around because she is useful to him. Once she becomes useless to him, he will not care for what she does.
In act 3, scene 5, we learn about the Nurse’s thoughts about the marriage. Automatically, both Juliet and the audience expect the Nurse’s reaction to be full of sympathy, support, comfort and advice. Disappointingly to Juliet the Nurse only counsels her
“I think it best you married with the county. Romeo’s a dishclout to him”
The Nurse does not only tell Juliet it would be best to marry Paris, but she also insults Romeo. Juliet is left feeling angry, desperate and abandoned, as for the one person whom she thought she could trust, as she confided in her about her love for Romeo, has just insulted her love, as to say he is “Dishclout” compared to Paris. Automatically now, Juliet’s thought of the Nurse have changed, she feels now that she can no longer confide in her. “Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain” Shakespeare also Shows Juliet’s anger in the nurses thoughts of the situation.
“Ancient Damnation! O most wicked fiend!”
Shakespeare has done this to show Juliet’s frustration upon the circumstances.
As she is being forced to marry some one whom she does not love, the only person she thought she could trust [besides Romeo] has told her she does not think she should disobey her fathers wishes, and the one person she does love, Romeo, is banished from Verona. This all helps prepare the audience for the ending of the play, as it is becoming more and more obvious as we get closer to the end that something drastic is going to happen. Juliet even speaks of the ending, once again,
“I’ll to the friar to know his remedy; if all else fail, myself have power to die.”
Shakespeare made it so, it’s as if the characters know their destiny.
In Conclusion, Shakespeare tells us in the prologue that Romeo and Juliet’s destiny is to die, they are doomed. He Describes Romeo and Juliet as a “Pair of star cross’d lovers”, this is because, two people both from feuding families fall “in love” with each other, from there, the audience can sense that it will never work.
In addition, Shakespeare sets the play in a very patriarchal society, the men were also very competitive which was the ultimate cause of the family feud, as if the men hadn’t had had so much pride nor been so competitive about rank, no disagreements would have occurred. Also Shakespeare has made it so there are many images of death, makes it so there is a rapid change in mood half way through the play, going from romantic to drastic, which also explains the reason for the rapid change in the characters, such as, Capulet’s rage and also, time and events seem to start getting out of control and taking over the characters lives. Nearing the end of the play, Shakespeare has made it so the characters start to predict their future, He makes it so the characters seem to know they are going to die. All of these techniques, beginning from the prologue, show that the play is a tragedy. In many ways, Shakespeare makes it so the audience can easily guess the ending of the play. As in Act 3, scene 5, Juliet’s final Conversation with Romeo, Juliet has a premonition of the ending of the play. Also Because of the two families differences it is obvious from the start of the play the couple are doomed.
Lida, 11n
