Romeo and Juliet is a play of love and hatred. In the centre of it all is Juliet, a thirteen year old girl, still relying on her nurse, but she is willing to take her own life than having to live without the one she loves. In the short four days, in which the play takes place, Juliet faces many things.
She is forced into marriage, with Paris, when Lady Capulet tells her about Paris and their marriage; she responds that she will try to see if she can love him, a response that seems childish in its obedience and in its immature start of love.Juliet, an obedient, innocent and nai??ve young girl who is faithful to her family meets Romeo and falls in love with him, so she secretly marries him, although Romeo is an enemy of her house. The love she experiences with Romeo begins to change her. After Juliet meets Romeo, and marries him, many of her opinions and interests begin to change.
Juliet is now fuller of love. This shows us how Juliet changed her opinion about love; at the beginning of the play Juliet seems to love anyone her mother wants to.Juliet’s character is the one that changes the most in the play; she changes from being an innocent and obedient girl to a disobedient and independent young woman. In Act 1 Scene 3 we can see how Juliet is with her parents and her obedience toward them, Juliet says that she will love, but only if it pleases her parents.
“I’ll look to like, if looking liking move; but no more deep will I endart mine eye than your consent gives strength to make it fly. ” Here Juliet is telling Lady Capulet that she will try to love Paris, but she won’t let herself fall for him any more than her permission allows.Juliet is telling her mother that she will not do it for love; she will do it because it makes her parents happy. She is being a very obedient girl, as small child, she is afraid to make her own decisions.
We can see Juliet’s obedience towards her mother in Act 1 Scene 3, were she is willing to do anything her mother requires. “Madam what is your will”. Juliet is very obedient with her parents at the beginning, but when she meets Romeo, she becomes more and more self-confident about her future decisions of life.We can see that she changes in Act 3 Scene 5 where she is now confessing to her mother about how she feels, but not being as obedient as before, but at the same time trying to be polite.
“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 love”. Juliet is telling her mother that she is not proud of what she found for her but thankful she had. She is telling her that she hates Paris, she says she could never be proud of what she hates, referring to Paris, but at the same time she can be thankful for what she hates if it was meant with love.The language she uses here reflects a mass of contradiction.
Juliet is being very disobedient with her mother, as she is finally confessing her that she hates Paris, and the idea of her being forced into marrying him, as it is no for love. In Act 4 scene 3, in her soliloquy Juliet shows a completely different type of character. In Act 4 scene 3 is set in her bedroom, where the Capulets are preparing for Juliet and Paris’s wedding and Juliet and the Friar are preparing for her “death”.Juliet’s soliloquy can be divided into three parts, the first of which shows us Juliet’s maturity developing.
This is clearly portrayed when Juliet decides that she doesn’t need to rely on her Nurse anymore and is brave enough to act alone. It is likely that Juliet’s confidence is resting upon the fact that the plan is simply a performance. The second part of this soliloquy seems to illustrate that Juliet is still unsure and childish. She is afraid that marring Paris while she is married to Romeo will bring bad luck to her marriage and her family.
The third part of this soliloquy is that Juliet now is taking very risky actions, like drinking the potion, her soliloquy tells us about what she is thinking, she thinks very careful to take the potion and if she does what could happen, but the finally takes the potion. This decision Juliet took shows us how in love with Romeo is and how she has changed since she met Romeo. Juliet’s character mainly changed because when she met Romeo she started feeling more and more confident about herself, Romeo made Juliet’s opinions to change a lot. She felt more confident when talking with Friar Lawrence, which she asked for a potion to “kill her”.
Juliet really changed with County Paris, at the beginning she was very obedient and polite, but when she met Romeo, she started to tell the truth about him, which she didn’t really love him. “…
he shall not make me a joyful bride… ” This shows that Juliet’s feelings about marrying Paris will not make her happy.
Not only Juliet’s character changed, her emotions also changed, in Act 4 scene 2 Juliet shows her relationship with her father, which is not very close, as they are discussing about her marriage with Paris. In this act Juliet feels paranoia, she is confused and she is in a state of terror.Juliet’s character changed for better and for worse, for better because she learned many things she didn’t knew before, as she was only 13 years old. Juliet learned how to take important decisions without having to rely on someone.
We can see this happen when she takes the potion and she secretly marries Romeo. And she also changed for worse because at the end she killed herself, but at least she died happy and killed herself because she rather not live that live without those that she loves. As the play progresses, Juliet makes a number of important decisions. She falls in love, gets married, and finally kills herself.
After experiencing all these things, it is impossible for her to remain as innocent as she once was. Her loss of innocence leads to her downfall. We can see how much Juliet loves Romeo, if she had hated Romeo because he is a Montague, as her family did, she would have married Paris and lived a happy, sheltered life. Instead, she realized that she loved Romeo in spite of his name.
It was this love that caused her death. Juliet’s maturity and courage in pursuing her will ultimately leads to the reconciliation between the families, even though she was not prepared to survive pursuing her dreams.
