The tension increases as Lady Capulet callously vows to have her revenge on Romeo; ‘shall give him such an unaccustomed dram that he shall soon keep Tybalt company’. Lady Capulet uses dramatic irony; ‘And then, I hope, thou wilt be satisfied.’ We know that Romeo will indeed join Tybalt in the end of the play because he dies by drinking poison. Lady Capulet says that she will avenge Tybalt's death by sending a servant to Mantua to poison Romeo, an ironic foreshadowing of Romeo's poisoning at his own hands. Juliet pretends to enter into her mother's plan and answers her with a wonderful play on words
“Indeed I shall never be satisfied with Romeo, till I behold him dead is my poor heart.” (Act 3 scene 5 lines 94-95)
Indeed, Juliet does want to see Romeo ‘to behold him’. In her adulthood and affection to her husband, she is prepared to deceive her parents for the sake of her love. Juliet manipulates lady Capulet by using chop logic and riddles.
In Italy many people used poison to get rid off disliked people it was a well known strategy.
As lady Capulet soothes Juliet’s feelings she alarms Juliet of suggesting a day of joy, a wedding night. ‘Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy’, Juliet gets furious showing disrespect and confidence of disobedience.
“I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo.”
(Act 3 scene 5 Lines 121-122).
After hearing this sudden shock of news Lady Capulet is totally exacerbated by Juliet. Juliet swore ‘by saint peters church, and peter too’, that she would not marry Paris.
When she swears “by Saint Peter's Church and Peter too”, her mother thinks she is just using a strong oath so she is swearing by the saint who would disallow a bigamous marriage. Later, Juliet speaks sarcastically to the Nurse who thinks she is sincere when she says that the Nurse has comforted her “marvellous much”, with her suggestion of “marrying” Paris. At this point we can see the tension is really building between lady Capulet and Juliet.
The most important feature of Juliet's speech in this scene is doubt or double meanings. When Lady Capulet says that Romeo (by killing Tybalt) has caused Juliet's grief, she agrees that Romeo has made her sad and that she would like to get her hands on him. By placing one word - “dead” - between two sentences, Juliet makes her mother think she wants Romeo dead, while really saying that her heart is dead because of him.
Towards the beginning of the play in act 1 scene 2, Paris asks Capulet for permission to marry his daughter. In Elizabethan times it was the job of the father to give away the daughter, as if she were a present or his property, rather than her own person. Instead of giving his daughter away to Paris, a young nobleman and someone who would be seen as a ‘good catch’ for a husband, he tells him;
‘but going o’er what I have said before, my child is yet a stranger in the world, she hath not seen the change of fourteen years, let two more summers wither in their pride, ere we may think her ripe to be a bride’. (act 1 scene 2)
We can see from this speech that Capulet is protective of his daughter although he wants her to marry a fine man, but doesn’t want her to grow up too quickly.
The next part of the scene is in sharp contrast to this quiet anxious farewell between the two lovers. Both Capulets are intense as they criticize their daughter when she refuses to marry Paris. They are perplexed and furious over her disobedience. She says that she wishes the fool were married to her grave!’ this is the first sign of the rift crated between Juliet and her parents. Capulet asks of Juliet’s motivation for not marrying Paris.
“Soft! Take me with you, wife. How! Will she none? Doth she not count her blest, unworthy as she is, that we have wrought so worthy a gentlemen to be her bridegroom?” (Act 3 Scene 5 lines 141-145).
Here, Capulet shows his apparent anger that Juliet isn’t thankful for her father arranging this marriage, saying that she should be proud and count herself as blessed. This shows Juliet and her father’s relationship is starting to waver. This is where the tension is approaching its peak.
Lord Capulet is a man who demands respect; when Juliet refuses him he goes mad. Capulet, whose temper has been shown before, explodes into a violent rage and criticizes his daughter for her lack of gratitude. Capulet now starts verbally assaulting his daughter; due to her not wishing to have a marriage to a man she does not know, forced upon here. After calling her illogical, he throws her own words back in her face, mocking her, telling her not to bother thanking him but just to be ready to marry Paris – because he will drag her to the church regardless. He finishes by aggressively insulting her. He calls her ‘young baggage’ and ‘disobedient wretch’ and threatens to disinherit her if she does not obey his commands. ‘My fingers itch’, Lord Capulet uses a lot of insults to discipline Juliet. Lady Capulet asks her husband if he is mad, but by trying to calm her husband this creates yet more tension. He threatens to throw her out ; ‘graze where you will you shall not house with me’, he also uses the word ‘ graze’ reducing her level to that of a cattle and warns her that he is not joking about this by saying ‘I do not jest’. He finishes his insulting speech by saying she should die or live a life of misery.
Another feature of the language is Capulet's range of insults. He claims that Juliet is proud: she insists that she is not, and Capulet repeats the word as evidence of her “chop-logic” or splitting hairs. These insults may seem mild or funny today, but were far more powerful in the 16th Century: “green-sickness carrion”, “tallow-face”, “baggage...wretch” and “hilding”.
Capulet compares Paris's merits as a husband with Juliet's immature objections. He says that Paris is “Of fair demesnes, youthful and nobly ligned” and “stuffed...with honourable parts”. He calls his daughter a “wretched puling fool” and a “whining mammet”, before sarcastically mimicking her objections to the match: “I cannot love...I am too young”. The audience knows of course that she can and does love, and that she is obviously not “too young” to marry.
‘Good father, I beseech you on my knees, hear me with patience but to speak a word.’ (Act 3 scene 5 Lines 159-160)
Juliet now pleads with her father on her knees. You can really feel the tension now; as it seems the relationship between Juliet and her father are coming to the point of no return. Kneeling down is also a very dramatic and meaningful gesture; she is putting herself at her fathers mercy. The irony is that in her own mind she has already been exiled from her family when Romeo left Verona.
Luckily, at this peak, the nurse decides to join the quarrel, siding with Juliet. She stands up to her employer on Juliet’s behalf, and tells him that he is the one who is wrong, ‘god in heaven bless her! You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.’ Standing up to your employer in the Elizabethan era would have been strongly discouraged and rare. Capulet then tells the nurse to be quiet, and dismisses her as a gossiper. The nurse changes tactics slightly and becomes polite, saying that she ‘speaks no treason’ and asks him politely for permission to talk. Capulet however is still in a foul mood and so calls her a ‘mumbling fool’ and tells her to be quiet.
Also, when Capulet becomes angry, he uses language inventively - so the adjective, ‘proud, becomes both verb and noun: “proud me no prouds”. And finally, he reminds us of his power over Juliet by speaking of her as if she were a pure-bred horse, which he can sell at will - “fettle your fine joints”, he says, meaning that she must prepare herself for marriage.
Lady Capulet also shows unexpected cruelty. Juliet pleads at her mother to delay the marriage for a short period of time so that she could commit suicide. However her mother replies with,
“Talk not to me, for ill not speak a word: do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.” (Act 3 scene 5 Lines 203 – 204)
She makes no attempt to sympathize with her daughter or to understand her feelings. Her wicked nature is seen in her plan to poison Romeo and in her preference to see ‘Juliet married to her grave’ rather than to endure Juliet's disobedience to herself and her husband.
Juliet's next hope of comfort lies with her Nurse. This caution also fails to give Juliet the comfort she needs. The Nurse's deceitful and unfaithful advice to the young bride is to forget Romeo and marry Paris. Juliet gets angry by calling her a ‘wicked fiend’. Nurse was offended by this comment and no longer interacted with her throughout the play. Juliet realizes that she can no longer trust the Nurse's advice and that she must think and act on her own. Her love for Romeo has rapidly changed her from childish ways to maturity.
Juliet's last hope for comfort is with Friar Lawrence. She plans to go to him for confession, liberty, and advice. She declares that if the Friar does not help her to avoid the marriage to Paris, she will kill herself, an indication of what is soon too happen.
Juliet's last speech in this scene, as she is alone on stage, is of course, a soliloquy; it shows what she is thinking. Both parents use interesting comparisons for Juliet's tears. Lady Capulet suggests that Juliet is trying to wash Tybalt from his grave, because she is crying so much - she tells her daughter that she is crying too much, and makes a play on the words much and some - “Some grief shows much of love”, but “much grief shows some want (lack) of wit.” Lady Capulet means that Juliet is overdoing her show of grief. Capulet also notices Juliet's tears but uses a metaphor. He compares the light rain of a real sunset with the heavy downpour of Juliet's tears for the death of his brother's son (Tybalt). He develops this into the idea of a ship in a storm at sea - Juliet's eyes are the sea, her body is the bark (ship) and her sighs are the winds.
In conclusion there was a lot of tension throughout Act 3 scene 5; the tension started building up as Romeo left Juliet and Verona. As soon as Lady Capulet Entered Juliet’s chamber the tension reached its peak. Juliet got insults from her father (Lord Capulet). Juliet received Brutality from her mother as well as dishonesty from Nurse. Juliet had been rejected from her family which made her feel that there was no point for her to live any further and so poisoned herself.
