ANALYSIS OF SCENES FROM ROMEO AND JULIET
As the third scene comes onto the stage, We see Lady Capulet and the
Capulets’ loyal Nurse, in conversation. Lady Capulet commands Nurse to
summon her daughter this instant, she does so immediately. Here we are
finally introduced to Juliet, a girl of barely thirteen. Upon arriving, Juliet
ponders her purpose of being here. She asks innocently,” Madam, I am here.
What is your will?”. In this dialogue she makes her uncertainty clear to her mother
and nurse. This dialogue also shows the fact that in olden times even children
needed to greet their parents with utmost respect. The word Madam makes this
clear. She then asks what her mother wishes? Lady Capulet feels at first that she
must talk to Juliet in private yet she considers the Nurse’s presence as she knows
Juliet almost inside out.
Lady Capulet begins to put forward her point. Yet the fact remains that Juliet is quite
young for their purpose. The Nurse contradicts the fact by reminding that Juliet will
turn 14 in about a fortnight. Then begins one of the longest monologues yet at the
words of the nurse where she begins to convince the Lady that she must marry Juliet
until she has the chance. She emphasizes and strengthens her words by adding her
own tragedies such as loss of her daughter and husband. It is noteworthy that
everytime she remembers them she utters the words “may god be with their souls”.
This depicts the strong belief in god as well as the nurse’s emotion that as she has
lost them she wants their souls to be in peace.
The monologue ends with Lady’s words, who suggests in kind words that they should
stop beating around the bush and tell Juliet about their plans. “Marry, that “marry” is
the very theme I came to talk of.—Tell me, daughter Juliet, How stands your
disposition to be married?” She asks Juliet if she wants to get married. Juliet
describes marriage as an “honor she has not dreamt of”. The Lady makes it clear that
this is no ordinary marriage as the valiant Paris is asking for her hand. Paris is then
described as a book that lacks a cover, which is a metaphor which says that paris’
love is complete only by Juliet’s reciprocation(“This precious book of love, this
unbound lover, To beautify him only lacks a cover”). As a mother Lady Capulet
also tells Juliet that by marrying she would not make herself any lesser than
now but only bigger as her groom is certainly an important man. The nurse is
in agreement.[ Women grow by men.]
SCENE 5
The scene opens into a busy stage, with servingmen of the house of capulet,
decorating and arranging a banquet. In accordance to the previous scenes as told by
Lord Capulet, he is hosting a ball at his residence. The servingmen are in charge of
setting tables, crockery etc and are doing their best to make the setting perfect for
the guests. They attempt to do so while chatting. Soon the guests seem to start
entering with masks on their faces. This shows the relevance to culture of the era in
which the play is set in as the mask- ball tradition was common in the Elizabethan era
and was very common in Italy around and after the renaissance period. The event
progresses and Capulet invites the ladies and lords to begin their dance.
Meanwhile, as the dance continues Capulet also commands his servants to change
the atmosphere as per public comfort, the proof is provided by the sentence,” More
light, you knaves, and turn the tables up, And quench the fire; the room is grown too
hot” to make sure the setting is appropriate capulet sometimes becomes harder on
them, for example he calls them “knaves” which not a very pleasant word for the
servingmen. This shows the fact that Capulet wanted the evening to be perfect for
maybe his own social image or the fact that Paris, a royal, was also invited to the
celebration. We are then introduced to a new character, the cousin of Capulet as the
two then relax and begin to reminisce about the time either of them wore a mask
and went for a similar event. We now see Romeo present in the place he is least
expected to be in. in the Capulet house. His identity is secret as he doesn’t want to
start a brawl at the Capulet’s.
By these lines it shows that old Capulet has a
certain amount of respect for Romeo unlike tybalt who is aggressive in nature.
When Tybalt doesn’t listen to Capulet ,he states his authority upon Tybalt
emphasising that he is the boss not Tybalt. Capulet asks his cousin to behave
and not ruin their image in front of their guests. On the other hand, Romeo
lures Juliet to the stage for a dance and starts wooing her with charming
compliments. Their actions move very fast when Juliet gives Romeo the
consent to kiss her. This line proves that Romeo has already been awestruck by
Juliet’s presence and his feelings have also been reciprocated this time. Their
kiss was broken by the nurse who says that Juliet has been summoned by her
mother.
Once Juliet exits the stage to meet her mother, Romeo asks the nurse about
Juliet’s Mother’s identity.He learns that Juliet’s mom is Lady Capulet and
moans about his deceitful fate that made him fall in love with his enemy.
Similarly when Juliet asks the nurse to find out Romeo’s identity, she vows
that she’d rather die if Romeo was married.