How does Shakespeare make you feel increasingly sympathetic towards Juliet?

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Adrianna Harold                                                                        05.11.02

GCSE English: Romeo and Juliet

How does Shakespeare make you feel increasingly sympathetic towards Juliet?

William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1595 and it is still popular today. Its full title is “The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”. It is a romantic tragedy set in Verona, about two lovers, whose families are at war with each other.

    I am concentrating on Act III scene V, but I will summarise the story up to this scene. So far, two lovers Romeo and Juliet agree to be married even though they are from warring families. For this reason, Juliet does not tell her parents that she has got married.

   In Act III, the families fight and Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, kills Romeo’s best friend Mercutio. In a furious rage, Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished to Mantua, on the outskirts of Verona. Meanwhile, Juliet is in turmoil, her cousin has just been murdered and her husband has been banished. To make things worse for Juliet, her mother and father try to make her happier by finding her a husband not knowing, of course, she is already married.

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     When Lady Capulet enters Juliet’s room to tell her the news, she sees Juliet has been crying, and assumes the tears are for Tybalt. ”Evermore weeping for your cousin’s death? What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?” (Line 69). This sounds almost sarcastic and you can feel supportive for Juliet because she has lost a great deal. Lady Capulet continues and tells Juliet the news.  “(Your father) hath sorted a sudden day of joy… (You will) marry, my child, early next Thursday morn…” (Lines 109-112) To which Juliet replies: “He shall not make me there ...

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