Marriage In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare introduces and later develops Romeo and Juliet throughout the play. We first see Romeo as very light and poetic, but his demeanor then shifts to a more dark and depressing outlook. Around the beginning of the play, we see Juliet as a young woman who has never thought of marriage. Nearing the end, Juliet’s opinion on marriage shifts completely. During Shakespeare’s play, we see Romeo go from light and poetic, to depressing and dark. His first presentation of being light and poetic occurs in Shakespeare 1.1.207-213, he is speaking with Benvolio about Rosaline. While Romeo is heartbroken he states that, “She will not be hit/ With Cupid’s arrow. She hath Dian’s wit.../ O, She is rich in beauty.” …show more content…
For example, at the beginning of the play, (Shakespeare 1.3.67) Juliet says, “It [marriage] is an honor that I dream not of.” From this, we see that Juliet is respectful of the thought but it is not something she wants at the moment. This view, falters after she meets Romeo, we officially see her change in view when she begins exchanging vows. In Shakespeare 2.2.48-49, Juliet says, “Romeo doff thy name/ And for thy name take all myself…” Here, we see the proof of Juliet’s ignorance, because of her rash decisions, and we also see her change in beliefs. Although her shift was not too big, it is still clearly there. Once again, Juliet shows a change in her values, after marrying Romeo, as she waits to meet with him again, she states, “Give me my Romeo and when I shall die/ Take him and cut him out in little stars/ And he will make the face of heaven so fine.”(Shakespeare 3.2.21-23) Not only is this somewhat concerning, this seems quite obsessive, and it seems that Juliet is not in love, but infatuated. This shows her change in behavior because Juliet has gone from never thinking of marriage, to being totally focused on her new