Romeo and Juliet: Analysis of Act3, Scene 5.
...pulet shows Juliet no sympathy whatsoever. She tells her, “But much of grief shows still some want of wit.” This is totally inappropriate just a few days after Tybalt’s death because she is basically telling Juliet that she is being immature and stupid if she grieves for Tybalt anymore. She tells Juliet not to weep because Tybalt is dead but because Romeo lives on. Juliet says aside to the audience, “Villain he may be miles asunder.” This means that Juliet thinks that Romeo is anything but a villain. From this point Juliet starts talking ambiguously so that her mother thinks that she wants to kill Romeo but the audience can understand that her real meaning is totally the opposite. Lady Capulet tells Juliet that she will arrange for Romeo to ‘keep Tybalt company’ and Juliet replies, “Indeed, I never shall be satisfied with Romeo until I behold him; dead is my poor heart, so for a kinsman vex’d.” The part of the sentence when Juliet says ‘him; dead’ is very important because the semi colon breaks up the sentence so her mother thinks that she will not be happy until Romeo is dead but the audience know that she really means that her heart feels dead because she is not with Romeo. She also asks her mother, “If you could find out but a man to bear a poison, I would temper it that Romeo should upon receipt thereof soon sleep in quiet.” Lady Capulet interprets the phrase as Juliet wanting a poison so that she can kill Romeo but what she really means is that she wants a poison to send Romeo to sleep so that he can be peaceful and get away from all of the hassle. She goes on to say, “How my heart abhors to hear his name and cannot come to him,” Lady Capulet again, doesn’t understand what Juliet is saying and thinks that Juliet means that her heart hates the fact that she can hear the name of Tybalt but not talk to him or see him. What she really means is that her heart hates the fact that she cannot talk to or see Romeo. After all of the heartache and emotion that Juliet has been poring out to her mother Lady Capulet gives us yet another example of her ignorance towards her daughter, although she does tell Juliet of the ‘joyful tidings’ gradually when she does tell Juliet what the ‘day of joy’ is she is very blunt and to the point. “Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn, the gallant, young and noble gentleman, the County Paris, at St Peters church, shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.” Lady Capulet does not ask Juliet if she wants to get married, she tells her that she will get married. We can see this especially when she says, ‘ shall make thee a joyful bride.’ Juliet’s response to these demands is understandably one of absolute outrage; she is astonished that her mother could ever ask her to marry somebody that she hardly knows. She throws her mothers suggestions straight back in her face by saying, “Now, by St Peters church, and Peter too, he shall not make me there a joyful bride.” This response would have stunned Lady Capulet because Juliet has always been such and obedient child and bother she and Capulet had just presumed that Juliet will do Ben Robinson. anything that they ask of her. The best example of this is in Act 3 Scene 4 when Capulet tells Paris that, “Of my child’s love. I think she will be ruled in all respects by me: nay, more, I doubt it not.” For the first time we see Juliet standing up for herself against her parents face to face instead of doing exactly as her parents ask. She goes on to say, “I will not marry yet; and when I do I swear it will be Romeo, whom you know I hate rather than Paris.” Juliet is once again using ambiguous meanings when she speaks because she gives her mother the impression that she would rather marry someone that she hates rather than Paris. However, the audience already know of the marriage of Romeo and Juliet so she is really expressing how much she loves Romeo. Lady Capulet then tries to scare Juliet by challenging her to tell her father what she has just told her because she knows that Capulet will be distraught with Juliet. Yet another example of the weak relationship between mother and daughter is when Lady Capulet tells Capulet in the presence of Juliet that, “I would the fool be married to her grave!” This is an awful thing to say about her daughter and it turns out to be a tragic irony at the end of the play. Lady Capulet would have felt extremely guilty when Juliet dies at the end of the play because of what she said. But when Capulet starts becoming violent and starts to vent his anger on Juliet Lady Capulet feels very uncomfortable because she wants to protect Juliet from Capulet but she doesn’t want to challenge him because she is worried that he may turn on her as well. Lady Capulet’s final worlds in this scene would have left Juliet feeling very hurt and wondering who she can confide in now. She tells Juliet, “Talk to me not, for I’ll not speak a word. Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.” She is telling Juliet not to plead with her because she will not put in a good word for her to her father. She casts off Juliet and says that she wants nothing more to do with her. Shakespeare keeps the audience entangled in the tragic and heartbreaking situation that Juliet has found herself in throughout the various conversations with her mother throughout the scene. Firstly he uses the ambiguous conversation that Juliet uses to keep the audience alert to what is going on. He then adds a twist to the Juliet’s character when we see her stand up to her parents for the first time. This would have inspired the audience. Lastly we see Juliet breaking down as her mother discards her bringing the tension to a dramatic climax. When Capulet first enters the room he is, unlike his wife full of sympathy for Juliet as she ‘grieves the death of Tybalt’. However, this is only really because he is very pleased with himself for organising the marriage of Paris and Juliet. Juliet would have been feeling extremely nervous and uncomfortable at this point. Capulet constantly talks about water describing Juliet’s tearful state. He says, “Sailing in this salt flood; the wind thy sighs, who raging with thy tears, and they with them, without a sudden calm overset thy tempest-tossed body.” Capulet describes Juliet as a ship that will capsize if she doesn’t stop crying soon. But when he is told that Juliet has not agreed to their decree he is in total disbelief. “Take me with you wife.” Ben Robinson. He says, he cannot believe what his wife has just told him. He starts off by referring to Juliet as she, which indicates that she is his possession, this shows the audience his growing anger. He says, “How will she none? Doth she not give us thanks? Is she not proud? Doth she not count her blest, unworthy as she is, that we have wrought so worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?” Capulet is also using the word she so that he does not have to talk directly to his daughter but instead he is asking Lady Capulet why Juliet will not agree to marry Paris. He is also doing this to degrade and humiliate Juliet so that she feels that she doesn’t even exist. Capulet is enraged further when Juliet thanks him for ‘hate that is meant love’, she is thanking him because she knows that her father means well. But this infuriates Capulet and...