Romeo and Juliet

away they could ask Juliet's eyes to take their place whilst they were away. That's how

bright and beautiful they are - they are equal to that of the most beautiful stars in the sky.

He then extends this metaphor to that concerning Juliet's cheek. He says that as well as her

eyes being brighter/equal in brightness to those in the sky, he cheeks would shame those

same stars if they were to be placed in Juliet's face. Even her cheeks are more beautiful and

bright than these brightest stars. Her cheeks would shame the stars as "daylight doth a

lamp." Had her eyes replaced the stars in heaven, they would have light up the sky so bright

that "the birds would sing and think it were not night."

Romeo then describes his 'desires' on more of a physical level. He has described Juliet's

beauty which is physical in itself but he now goes on to say "See how she leans her cheek

upon her hand: O that I were that glove." The glove is touching Juliet's face and this is

obviously what Romeo wishes he were doing, thus he wishes to be the glove. Upon hearing

Juliet speak Romeo (silently) replies, "O speak again, bright angel." This angelic reference is

again something connected with beauty, light and purity. It is also a heavenly image showing

as strong connection with religion and also suggesting subtly that the only place Romeo and

Juliet will truly be able to be happy together is in heaven. The fact that Juliet is referred to as

an angel depicts how she is viewed in Romeo's eyes - as heavenly creature/goddess. She is

viewed not only as a bright angel but as " a winged messenger of heaven unto the white

upturned eyes of mortals, that fall back and gaze on him when he bestrides the lazy-pacing

clouds, and sails upon the bosom of the air" i.e. when this heavenly angel is seen by humans,

they will all stop and gaze at it in wonderment.

This speech is typical of Romeo. It is very romantic and poetic; the poetry is gentle and

flowing. It makes the audience feel very romantic and the metaphors and style give the

reader a true sense of what Romeo feels for Juliet and how much he loves her. The fact that

he uses such heavenly images also shows how much he loves her. The fact that Romeo

constantly compared Juliet to light and angels suggests sincerity and consistency, making you

more inclined to believe that he really does love Juliet. With Rosaline it was only her beauty

that attracted him to her, whereas with Juliet he sees her in more genuine and characteristic

terms. He uses soft and gentle language, which hints at his gentle nature as well as the

gentleness he sees in.

Juliet's speech in Act IV Scene III is just after Tybalt's death. Juliet's father mistakes her

grief for Romeo being banished for that of Tybalt's death and hurries to find her a suitor.

This is obviously exactly what Juliet does not want since she is already married to her true

love, Romeo. Juliet visits the priest and begs him to help her. He gives her a poison, which

will 'kill' her for forty-six hours so that she will not have to marry her suitor, Paris. After this

time she will wake up and be able to run away with Romeo. This speech is just before Juliet

is about to take the poison. She obviously has mixed feelings about taking it and a lot of

rhetorical questions. Among her fears are that the poison may not be successful at all or that

if it is successful she will be laid to rest in the Capulet's tomb amongst the bodies of her

ancestors and the recently deceased Tybalt.

She is alone and begins her speech with a decisive, "come vial." She is determined to take

the poison. She then begins to question its reliability to the extent that she points to a dagger

beside her and says, "No, no; this shall forbid it." In other words, if the poison fails then she

will kill herself with the dagger. Although Juliet is concerned that the vial will not work, the

fact that she puts all of her faith in it shows maturity as well as her unswerving devotion to

Romeo. The vial is her only comfort as she slowly begins to lose control.

Her second fear stems from distrust of the friar. She fears that he has actually given her

'eternal death' poison in order to hide the fact that he has already married her to Romeo.

She is acting calmly and thinking rationally even though she is nervous which further shows

her maturity and ability to cope. She then becomes indecisive and this results in her building

up a state of tension and anxiety for herself. She says, "I fear it is, and yet, methinks it not."

With every sentence she changes her mind. She consoles herself and still remains hopeful

with the thought that the priest has "still been tried a holy man" and therefore would never do

such a thing. There is still a trace of optimism as Juliet thinks there is a slim chance the plan

will still work. It is however from here onwards that she begins to lose control. She gets no

comfort from her thoughts or from physical items and she is obsessed with images of torture.

The constant mention of death contrast with Juliet; slight mention of life, where she says

"...thrills through my veins" and "heat of life." She is comparing her future, which should be

full of hope, to one of darkness and death. This change of mood builds up a feeling of

tension and panic.

Her third fear is possibly the most prolific. It is the fear that she will wake up before

Romeo comes to her and that she will be alone in the tomb where her cousin, Tybalt, has

just been laid to rest as well as to those "whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in"

i.e. the many hundreds of Capulet relatives that occupy the tomb already. She uses cold

imagery to depict what she will find in this tomb and the picture she paints is very graphic

and somewhat horrific. To describe the bodies she uses words such as "festering" and

loathsome smells." She also creates images with phrases such as "Where bloody Tybalt, yet

but green in earth lies festering in his shroud" and "And madly play with my forefathers'

joints". She uses sounds and smells to make her speech come alive and to demonstrate her

fear at having not only to kill herself temporarily but to have to face the harsh reality of

waking up surrounded by dead bodies. She personifies her tomb by comparing it to a huge,

foul mouth caused by the stench of rotting bodies. She thinks that she will feel strangled on

account of these smells. The words "stifled" as well as "strangl'd" add to the feelings of

torture and fear.

The reference to Tybalt's body provides the main terror of the speech. It appears as if

most of Juliet's fear has stemmed from waking up beside his body. It is when she gets to this

part of her speech - describing her fear of waking up in the tomb next to Tybalt's body -

that the speech becomes disjointed and the speech 'picks up' some speed. It becomes

uncontrolled towards the end with all her fears tumbling out, to the point where she appears

somewhat hysterical, whereas at the beginning, although panicked, she seemed somewhat in

control. The end of her speech shows determination and commitment to love - the fact that

she is prepared to suffer in order to be with Romeo.

The first image we get of the speech is a feeling of coldness, which depicts death -

something cold, empty. She uses phrases such as, "freezes up" which adds to the fear - that

of the reader for Juliet and that of herself. The use of the word "dismal" adds to the feeling

of darkness and emptiness. It is used at the beginning of the speech when Juliet realizes that

she must carry out this act alone, without the help and advice of her trusted nurse or her

mother. This makes the audience feel even more sorry for Juliet: not only does she have to

go to such lengths to be with the one she loves but she has no one to turn to and must act

alone. Her words also suggest an element of disorder. Phrases such as, "bones are

pack'd" give over a feeling of disarray. This is symbolic of Juliet' current state of mind and

gives the audience a feeling that she is in a complete state of disarray, not dissimilar to an

image of bines strewn all over the place.

Juliet is worried that she will see the skeletons and ghosts of her deceased family. Again we

notice the use of language, which sends out a feeling of terror and ugliness. She also uses the

word "Alack," which is an exclamation of fear and building tension.

Juliet speaks of "...mandrakes shrieks." Mandrakes were a mythical creature whose cry had

the power to kill those who heard it. She is worried that the sounds in the tomb will be as

bad as those the mandrakes make, and she will go mad or become demented.

Here, we notice that Juliet makes references to all her senses being assaulted and many

images add to this feeling. All Juliet's senses are referred to in her speech; they will all be

affected. Her sound will be affected by the fatal cry of the mandrake "...shrieks like

mandrakes," her touch by what is around her and how she may be forced to feel it. She

fears that she will touch "...my forefathers' joints," and "...the mangled Tybalt." Her sense

of smell will be affected by the putrid stench of bodies rotting, her sight by the bodies of her

dead family around her "...my cousin's ghost.", and her taste by the poison she will have to

take. This gives the impression that Juliet's whole body is involved in this traumatic

experience.

By the end of the speech, Juliet has totally lost touch with reality and has let her crazed

ideas take control of her. She says that she feels she will " dash out her desperate brains."

This, along with words like "...pluck," and "mangled..." go to a feeling of violence and a lack

of control. Juliet has not even been buried in the tomb, but she is so frantic that she is

already hallucinating. She says "..I see my cousin's ghost." She thinks that as Romeo killed

him, Tybalt is out for revenge and will take it out by killing Juliet. Juliet is so distressed that

not even thoughts of Romeo can calm her because she thinks that Tybalt is going to come

back from the dead just to kill him.

Juliet exclaims "Romeo Romeo Romeo!" After all this dark language she does see a future

for them together and drinks to their love. She hopes that maybe they will be together again

and either becomes a little optimistic or drinks in desperation that her dream will come true.

Usually when one makes a toast they do it on wine or alcohol of some type, and toast to life.

Juliet's mind has become so twisted because of her desperate situation that she cannot think

of life, only death and morbid things.

Both speeches are similar and different in certain ways. Firstly, the themes of both speeches

are completely in contrast. Whilst Romeo's is on the theme of love, light, brightness and

celestial beauty, Juliet's speech is completely morbid and deathly. She is totally obsessed

with images of ungainly items and ugliness, while Romeo is obsessed with images of light.

Romeo uses the sun, moon and stars to describe Juliet; in fact almost all of the speech is

about Juliet, whereas Juliet only briefly mentions Romeo's name at the end. In Romeo's

speech, his family does not abandon him; he does not give the impression of being lonely,

but Juliet is all alone. When she goes to call out to the nurse or even her mother whom she

is not at all close to, she stops herself and realises she must do this alone. She even talks to

herself or perhaps the vial and dagger, for comfort and reassurance that she is doing the right

thing. Both the characters are highly emotional and their speeches reveal the intensity of

their feelings. They both personify items in their speeches but the items chosen are different.

Romeo gives the sun, moon and stars human qualities and equates them to Juliet (except that

he says Juliet is better), but Juliet personifies the tomb where she is about to be laid.

Although both of the speeches are motivated by love - Romeo's in a positive way i.e. his

love has enabled him to express his feelings poetically and in an extremely passionate way

but Juliet on the other hand has had to go to such extreme measures - killing' herself on

account of her love for Romeo. Whilst Romeo's speech is beautiful and passionate, Juliet's

is pessimistic, doubtful and dark. Both therefore make the audience feel differently whilst

watching them. Juliet's was very morbid whilst Romeo's was full of love. They both

exaggerate and tend to lose touch with reality, Juliet because she is about to die and Romeo

because he has just discovered Juliet. Romeo speaks about giving life in contrast to Juliet

who speaks about taking away life. Both of the speeches give off very different

atmospheres and feelings. Juliet's speech made me feel very sympathetic towards her. I

was able to put myself in her position because the imagery and she used and the phrases that

enabled me to picture the scene. Although she was a bit too hysterical, she is not to blame.

Romeo's speech had the opposite effect. It made me feel very hopeful and happy for the

both of them, even though they were from opposing sides and I knew that in the end they

died. The speech was purely about Juliet and although I felt it was over exaggerated at

times, this can be accounted for by saying that Romeo had such strong feelings for Juliet.

Both speeches were twinged with sadness though because I knew that in the end they would

never be together.

Gemma Hersh 11JS