How does Shakespeare help the audience understand the changes in Juliet’s Character in Romeo and Juliet?
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly one of the greatest romantic tragedies of all time, expressing the story of two passionate and unique star-crossed lovers. However, beneath all the layers of love and Veronese 15th century culture, the reader is plunged into an unfamiliar environment where the two genders are treated and expected to behave in a completely different manner. Whilst trying to set the scene for this play, Shakespeare manages to convey an unambiguous message about the vast insignificance of females, by emphasizing their lack of a public role and allowing them to be treated rudely by men and even other women. This …show more content…
The audience is invited to follow Juliet’s development through the key moments of her life including when she first meets humans, being with Romeo, being with the people she has grown up with such as the Nurse and her parents, and when she hears bad news about Tybalt and Romeo.
Prior to introducing us to either of the dynamic characters in this play, Shakespeare makes sure that his audience understand the kind of world they live in. One thing that has been clearly emphasized about Juliet’s life is her role as the only daughter of a powerful family and the pressures that come with it, but also the general treatment of females at those times. As we discover later, Juliet is a very open-minded and creative thinker but the box society has classified her in, limits her from truly expressing herself and therefore forces her to make very irrational decisions. The dimensions of this …show more content…
It is clear from the very beginning that Juliet doesn’t frequently speak to her mother but when she does, it is extremely formal. The use of phrases like, ‘Madam I am here what is your will?’ in response to, ‘Call her forth to me’, suggest that Juliet didn’t have a strong connection with her mother as she did with her nurse. Juliet’s formality when speaking to one of the only three people she has grown up with, further highlights that girls her age didn’t have much of an opinion, or at least didn’t try to express it. As well as that, it helps inform the audience that powerful parents found it to be beneath them to speak to their own children. This lack of attention gives the reader the impression that Juliet may be quite timid as a young girl, since she doesn’t have anyone to turn to. However, after meeting the unconventionally bawdy character of the nurse who has clearly acted like the mother figure in Juliet’s life, we start to believe that her creativity and uniqueness are likely to be passed on to Juliet. Despite the fact that Juliet is the main focus in this scene, she is given merely seven lines to speak. She manages to sound extremely submissive, careless and uninterested in what the two women are telling her, when saying, ‘I will look to like, if looking liking move’, revealing that she will only pretend
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly one of the greatest romantic tragedies of all time, expressing the story of two passionate and unique star-crossed lovers. However, beneath all the layers of love and Veronese 15th century culture, the reader is plunged into an unfamiliar environment where the two genders are treated and expected to behave in a completely different manner. Whilst trying to set the scene for this play, Shakespeare manages to convey an unambiguous message about the vast insignificance of females, by emphasizing their lack of a public role and allowing them to be treated rudely by men and even other women. This …show more content…
The audience is invited to follow Juliet’s development through the key moments of her life including when she first meets humans, being with Romeo, being with the people she has grown up with such as the Nurse and her parents, and when she hears bad news about Tybalt and Romeo.
Prior to introducing us to either of the dynamic characters in this play, Shakespeare makes sure that his audience understand the kind of world they live in. One thing that has been clearly emphasized about Juliet’s life is her role as the only daughter of a powerful family and the pressures that come with it, but also the general treatment of females at those times. As we discover later, Juliet is a very open-minded and creative thinker but the box society has classified her in, limits her from truly expressing herself and therefore forces her to make very irrational decisions. The dimensions of this …show more content…
It is clear from the very beginning that Juliet doesn’t frequently speak to her mother but when she does, it is extremely formal. The use of phrases like, ‘Madam I am here what is your will?’ in response to, ‘Call her forth to me’, suggest that Juliet didn’t have a strong connection with her mother as she did with her nurse. Juliet’s formality when speaking to one of the only three people she has grown up with, further highlights that girls her age didn’t have much of an opinion, or at least didn’t try to express it. As well as that, it helps inform the audience that powerful parents found it to be beneath them to speak to their own children. This lack of attention gives the reader the impression that Juliet may be quite timid as a young girl, since she doesn’t have anyone to turn to. However, after meeting the unconventionally bawdy character of the nurse who has clearly acted like the mother figure in Juliet’s life, we start to believe that her creativity and uniqueness are likely to be passed on to Juliet. Despite the fact that Juliet is the main focus in this scene, she is given merely seven lines to speak. She manages to sound extremely submissive, careless and uninterested in what the two women are telling her, when saying, ‘I will look to like, if looking liking move’, revealing that she will only pretend