Juliet

Juliet, one of the main characters in Shakespeare's play, is of the House of Capulet. She is still a young girl when the play begins, not yet fourteen, as we learn in Act I, Scene iii, by the Nurse: "Even or odd, of all days in the year,/ Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen"(18-19).Juliet and the Nurse The Nurse knows this date very well because she had a daughter that same day who was killed at birth; therefore, she raised Juliet perhaps as she would have raised her own child. Juliet sees the Nurse as a friend, confidante, and in some ways a mother. Throughout the play, Juliet relies on and trusts the Nurse in most of her endeavors. Each time Juliet needs to get in touch with Romeo the Nurse is there, helping her in any way she can. Juliet and her Parents Lady Capulet, Juliet's biological mother only tells her what to do, and has never been personally close with Juliet. When Juliet comes of age to get married, Lady Capulet wants her to marry Paris, and does not care how Juliet feels about it. Juliet tries to talk to her mother about it, and tell her that she does not want to marry Paris, but Lord Capulet walks in and angrily tells her that she will go and marry Paris even if he has to drag her there. Juliet again pleads with her mother to delay the marrige even for a week, but Lady Capulet only responds with, "Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word./ Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee"(3.5.214-215). Juliet and Romeo Juliet's relationship with Romeo, is far different than any other she has ever had. When Juliet sees Romeo at the Capulet's party, she instantly falls in love with him.(Act I, Scene v). Within a matter of hours, Romeo becomes the single most important person in her life. She decides that she wants to marry Romeo, but she knows that he is a Montague, and Montagues are hated among the Capulets. She knows that a relationship between a Montague and a Capulet could never realistically work out, but her immediate infactuation for him far exceeds any line of logical thinking. Therefore, thinking with her heart, not her mind, she decides to meet Romeo at Friar Laurence's cell, and subsequently marries Romeo. Upon marrying Romeo, Juliet is quite joyous and believes her troubles are over; however, her hasty decision actually becomes the beginning of many troubles to come. Juliet is completely devoted to Romeo the entire play in many ways. First, she says that if did not lose his name as a Montague, than she would give up her own. Also, when her parents tell her she has to marry Paris, she vows that she would rather die than be apart from Romeo: "I'll to the Friar to know his remedy./ If all else fail, myself have power to die"(3.5.255-256). The only moment in the entire play that Juliet feels against Romeo is when finding out about Romeo killing Tybalt, her cousin. She says, "O serpent heart hid with a flow'ring face!/Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?"(3.2.80). But this is felt only momentarily before she realizes that she is on Romeo's side throughout anything, as long as they are together. She says, "My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain,/ And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my/ husband./ All this is comfort"(115-118). Juliet realizes that she would rather have her husband Romeo alive, if she had to choose between the two. Juliet and her Independence About half way through the play, Juliet is starts to become an independent women. An example of this is when she finally gets the confidence to stand up against her parents, when they tell her that she will be marrying Paris. Juliet tells her mother, "I will not marry yet, and when I do I swear/ It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate,/ Rather than Paris. These are news indeed!"(3.5.126-128). A couple days prior to this, Juliet would not have had the confidence and maturity to speak up against her parent's wishes. For example, in Act I, scene iii, Lady Capulet asks Juliet if she has thought of marriage, and when Juliet says no, Lady Capulet says, "Well, think of marriage now"(69). Juliet does not argue at all, and tells her mother she will do what she orders. Then, when the Nurse tells her to marry Paris, Juliet becomes totally independent by losing faith in the Nurse and turning away from her. After the Nurse leaves she says, "Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend," and then goes off alone to talk to the Friar.(3.5.235) At the end of the play, young Juliet wakes up from her deep sleep and finds her only love, Romeo, dead beside her. She then follows through with her suicide that she has been foreshadowing the entire play, by stabbing herself to death to avoid living without her new husband Romeo.