Character Analysis: Juliet

Initial Impression

• Start with your initial impression to discuss character development.

Initial Presentation: Young, Innocent, Dutiful Daughter

• First introduced through Lord Capulet in Act One, Scene Two.

  • Described as a "stranger in the world".

  • Indicates youth and inexperience.

• Age: 13 years old.

  • Raises questions about her relationship with Romeo:

    • Skepticism due to her age and inexperience?

    • Is it just a first crush mistaken for true love?

Relationship with Parents

• Formal language: Refers to her mother as "Madame" in Act One, Scene Three.

  • Indicates respect but also a distant relationship (common for wealthy families at the time).

  • Explains later rebelliousness due to lack of parental closeness.

Views on Marriage

• Response to her mother's question about marriage: "It is an honor that I dream not of."

  • Emphasizes her youth.

  • In Elizabethan times, girls as young as 12 could legally marry.

  • Makes her relationship with Romeo seem more serious as she wasn't seeking marriage.

  • Romeo seems to be in love with the idea of being in love (cf. Rosaline).

  • Juliet's love may be more authentic because she had not considered it before.

Alternative Interpretations

• Explore multiple interpretations for high marks.

• Response to Paris: "I will 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."

  • She will control her emotions as her parents wish.

  • Practical view of love; naive perspective and inexperience.

Shift in Character

• Sense of duty to parents is discarded after meeting Romeo.

• If the play started with her meeting Romeo, she would seem like a rebellious teenager.

• Shakespeare establishes her as dutiful to highlight the drastic change after meeting Romeo.

  • Suggests strong feelings for Romeo to cause such a transformation.

Context: Expectations of Daughters

• Daughters of respectable (wealthy) families:

  • Fathers involved in choosing husbands.

  • Girls seen as commodities.

  • Marriages formed alliances for social status and financial security (dowry).

• Sheltered lives:

  • Stayed at home, learned domestic skills, homeschooled.

  • Prepared to be wives with limited opportunities.

• Obedience:

  • Children expected to be as obedient as a servant to their master.

  • Explains formal language and distant relationship with parents.

• No concept of adolescence:

  • Transitioned from child to adult overnight, especially upon marriage.

• Juliet's abrupt change aligns with societal expectations of sudden adulthood through marriage.

Spiritual Connection with Romeo

• Spiritual language: Calls Romeo "God of my idolatry" and "my lord".

  • Depicts a sacred relationship, deeper than transactional marriage.

  • "My bounty is as boundless as the sea."

    • Simile emphasizes the depth of love without boundaries, like the sea.

    • Alliteration and assonance draw attention to the depth of her love.

• Unlike Romeo at the beginning, Juliet's words have meaning.

Transcending Tradition

• "More rich in matter than in words…"

  • Cannot explain her strong feelings for Romeo in words.

  • Transcends courtly tradition of poetic expressions of love.

  • Adjective "rich" emphasizes complexity and depth of her love.

Contrasting Views on Love

• Contrast with Lady Capulet and Nurse's pragmatic approach to love (Act One, Scene Three).

  • Lady Capulet: Read over Paris's face to decide if you love him.

  • Nurse: Marrying Paris won't decrease your social standing.

• Juliet's love is real and deep.

  • May not belong in her society, leading to her downfall.

Critical Analysis: Skepticism

• Juliet as a metaphorical light (Romeo: "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!").

  • Symbol of warmth and happiness for Romeo.

  • Light is strengthened by darkness (Romeo's depressive state).

  • Does Romeo's sadness exaggerate Juliet's appeal?

• Darkness as a symbol of the secretive nature of their relationship.

  • Does the forbidden nature intensify their feelings?

  • Would they feel as strongly without the secrecy?

  • Would Romeo respond the same if he weren't desperate for love?

  • Skeptical but logical interpretation.

Context: Elizabethan Society and Religion

• Religious society: Attributing god-like qualities to Romeo is blasphemous.

  • Creates tension as nothing good can come of this intense love.

• Pragmatic marriages: Emphasis was placed on resources and alliances.

  • Audience may view Romeo and Juliet's love as foolish.

  • "This is just a disaster waiting to happen."

• Common proverb: "Hot love is soon cold."

  • Passionate love is an unsafe basis for marriage.

  • Foreshadows danger associated with their intense love.

Boldness

• Kissing Romeo upon first meeting is bold.

  • Not typical in Elizabethan times; girls might not kiss until marriage.

• Comments on his kiss ("You kiss by the book").

  • Compliment (perfect kiss) or criticism (clichéd kiss).

  • Either way, she's direct; girls were supposed to be coy.

Directness

• Balcony scene (Act Two, Scene Two): "If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully."

  • Challenges Romeo's sincerity.

  • Demands faithfulness; spiritual love over clichés.

Defiance

• Refusal to marry Paris: "I will not marry."

  • Contrasts with earlier obedience.

  • More defiant than Tybalt, who backed down from Lord Capulet.

• Seeks help from Friar Lawrence: "There is no way I am marrying Paris; I’d rather be chained to roaring bears."

  • Hyperbolic language showing courage.

  • Defies gender expectations by showing great courage--women were expected to be courageous, with fear considered womanish.

Suicide

• Kills herself: "O happy dagger!"

  • Interjection expressing heightened emotions and willingness to die.

  • Contrasts with Romeo, who takes poison (more cowardly).

  • More violent act paints her as masculine, contrasting Romeo as effeminate.

Critical Analysis: Recklessness

• Is her behavior bold or reckless?

• Flirting and kissing Romeo demonstrate impulsivity.

• Disrespectful to her parents.

• Naive in thinking love is enough, leading to their death.

• Recognizes her impulsiveness: "It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden."

  • Triplets emphasize impulsiveness.

  • Continues despite acknowledgment of recklessness.

  • Is she a silly, inexperienced 13-year-old getting carried away?

Context: Gender Expectations and Suicide

• Women were expected to follow a man's lead.

• Often takes the lead, proposing marriage and challenging Romeo.

• Takes the lead in killing herself.

• Fear was seen as a womanish emotion; Juliet appears masculine.

• Suicide was considered a mortal sin by the Elizabethans.

  • Shakespeare sets suicides in distant countries.

  • No word for suicide; called self-murder.

  • Failed suicides were treated as criminal acts.

Intelligence

• Rational thinker; understands complexity.

• Not just a silly crush; she understands the risks.

Equal Intellect

• Speaks with Romeo in a sonnet at the party (Act One, Scene Five).

  • Presented as Romeo's equal mentally.

  • Equally intelligent as a man, which was rare in Elizabethan society.

Questioning Societal Norms

• Questions the importance of a name before Romeo approaches her on the balcony.

  • Questions the generational feud between Montagues and Capulets.

  • Doesn't blindly subscribe to her family's beliefs.

  • Dramatic irony: Underestimates the power of a name.

Rationalization

• "My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain."

  • Rationalizes Romeo killing Tybalt: If he didn't, Tybalt would have killed him.

  • Contrasts with Romeo's hysterical reaction.

  • Seen as rational and controlled, more masculine than Romeo.

Deceit

• "No man like he does grieve my heart."

  • Uses double entendre to outwit her mother and Paris.

  • Appears truthful while being deceitful.

• Skilled in using double meanings to deceive.

• Understands the risks she's taking for love.

Context: Societal Expectations

• A child was expected to unquestioningly accept their parents' beliefs.

  • Her questioning the feud was unusual.

• Women were believed to be led by their emotions, men by their minds.

  • Juliet defies this norm.

Loyalty

• "Follow thee, my lord, throughout the world" (Act Two, Scene Two).

  • Religious language highlighting her unwavering devotion.

• Nurse criticizes Romeo, creating distance between them.

  • "Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain."

  • Won't share deep secrets with the Nurse anymore.

• After marriage, a woman's loyalty belonged to her husband.

• Impossible situation when asked to marry Paris; expected to be obedient to parents but loyal to her husband.

Victim of Fate

• Described as star-crossed lovers in the prologue.

  • Doomed from the start.

• The Nurse describes her as a lamb.

  • Symbol of sacrifice, foreshadowing her tragic end.

• "Can heaven be so envious?"

  • Celestial imagery demonstrates the power of fate.

• "What must be shall be."

  • Dramatic irony; her life will be sacrificed to end the feud.

• Elizabethans believed in predetermined fate.

Victim of Patriarchy

• Had she not lived in a patriarchal society, she would not have had a tragic end.

• Lord Capulet: "You baggage."

  • Metaphor objectifies Juliet, highlighting her as a burden on her father.

• Threats: "Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets."

  • Lexical field of suffering highlights the vulnerability of women.

  • Welfare depends on obedience to her father.

• "If all else fails, myself have power to die."

  • Paradoxical statement revealing limited options.

  • Chooses to take control of her destiny in the limited way she can.

• Her father would have seen protecting her social status and financial security as his duty.

  • He is frustrated because he has this sense of duty that she is getting in the way of.

• Women were financially dependent on men, which went hand in hand with obedience.

Shakespeare's Message

• Is Shakespeare holding Juliet in high esteem?

  • Matches Romeo mentally, has incredible concept and spiritual relationship.

• Female monarch, Queen Elizabeth I at this time.

• Or is she just a cautionary tale?

Inspiration

• Arthur Brooke's poem about Romeo and Juliet.

  • Warns against dishonest desire, neglecting duty to parents, and marrying to hide awful actions.