Shakespearean Drama
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Act 3: Introduction


In less than two days, Romeo and Juliet have met, flirted, and
married – without so much as a date squeezed in between.
They live intensely in the moment. To fit those moments,
Shakespeare sets his scenes during vividly specific times:
The play’s first scene takes place in the morning, when the sun brings
out the hot tempers.
 But in the secret, half-lit time between sunset and dawn, love blooms in
soft-spoken privacy.



Juliet’s parents start to take a much more active interest in Juliet’s
love life. And the Elizabethan-era power lines are drawn: Man
(Capulet) ruled woman (Lady Capulet), and parent (Capulets) ruled
child (Juliet).
Tybalt stirs things up, too: He already has a hot temper. Now, we
will see that he’s a dangerous swordsman, too.
Romeo and Juliet
Act 3 highlights:
 The Nurse’s arrival with the news about Tybalt
and Romeo drives home the point that this is
surely a tragedy, not a comedy. This contrast
can be seen in the Nurse’s behavior:


In Act 2, scene 5, she is playfully devious in telling
Juliet about where Romeo wants to meet her for their
marriage.
However, that playfulness is no longer comic but
infuriating by Act 3, scene 2, when she doesn’t
indicate right away who has died.
Romeo and Juliet


Juliet’s dedication to Romeo truly emerges at this point: She states
she would sacrifice 10,000 Tybalts to be with Romeo, and later
includes her parents on the list of people she would rather lose than
Romeo.
The conflict between the older generation and the younger is clearly
seen in the final scene of Act 3:
The Nurse encourages Juliet to forget about Romeo and focus on Paris,
whom the Nurse prefers.
 Juliet’s response is dripping with poisonously sweet sarcasm and the
aside: “Ancient damnation!” (3.3.236) This is both a reference to the
Nurse’s age and to Juliet’s problems. Juliet is now truly alone to face
the hostile world.



Romeo’s misery is shown in his preference for death over
banishment.
Key foreshadowing comes from Lady Capulet: “I would (wish) the
fool were married to her grave” (3.5.140)
Romeo and Juliet
Night and day
 Night is a time when the rigidity of the
family feud can be suspended and the
young lovers can be free from what
society dictates. It is the benign and
romantic time that shields them. The
nightingale is their bird. The morning lark
brings danger.
Romeo and Juliet
Night and day
 In Act 1, the brawl takes place in broad daylight, which undermines the
security that is supposed to exist during the day. One of the play’s
conflicting images is day overtaking night.
 Conversely, important love scenes take place in the dark, away from the
disorder of the day. For example, Romeo loves Juliet at night, but kills
Tybalt during the day.
 The conflict of night and day and light and dark is raised to new levels in
Act 2:
Benvolio states “Blind is his love, and best befits the dark” (2.1.32), in reference
to Romeo’s passion.
 When Romeo finally sees Juliet again, he wonders, “But soft, what light through
yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and
kill the envious moon” (2.2.2-4)
 Romeo then invokes the darkness as a form of protection from harm: “I have
night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes” (2.2.75).
 Remember in Act 1, Romeo compares Juliet to “a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear”
when he first sees her: a play on light and dark.

Romeo and Juliet

By Act 3, this all comes together in one of
the play’s most beautiful soliloquies, from
Juliet: “Come gentle night; come blackbrowed night. Give me my Romeo, and
when he shall die, take him and cut him
out in little stars; and he will make the
face of heaven so fine, that all the world
will be in love with night, and pay no
worship to the garish sun” (3.2.20-25).
Romeo and Juliet
Act 4: Recap
 Love conquers all: But Romeo and Juliet’s
love faces huge challenges:
 Romeo
has killed Tybalt and is banished to
Mantua.
 Lord Capulet has arranged Juliet’s marriage to
Paris.
 After one glorious night together, Romeo and
Juliet are forced to split.
Romeo and Juliet
As Juliet struggles to preserve her happiness,
she faces (and makes) some extreme decisions.
 Romeo does not appear in Act 4. This gives
more time to analyze his rival, Paris:
 Paris is a wealthy nobleman whose alliance
with the Capulets could help the family “move
up” in the world.
 If the Nurse is reliable, we know Paris is good
looking – but that’s about where his appeal
ends.

Romeo and Juliet

Notes of interest:
 In
Shakespeare’s England, the average age of
marriage was 24 for women and 27 for men.
 Members of the nobility often married when
they were younger, but even so, Elizabethans
would have regarded Juliet’s marrying age of
13-14 as extremely young.
 In the long poem Shakespeare used as his
source for the plot, Juliet is slightly older: 16.