Equilibrium
Since writers have been writing they have been using characters relationships to make a
strong statements about the human traits we all posses. William Shakespeare used three sets of
characters in Romeo and Juliet to demonstrate that the balance or imbalance of the wisdom of
age and the innocence of youth produces one main human characteristic present in each
character. This trait that the characters balance or imbalance generates will follow them through
the rest of the play and drastically effect their decisions. This is proved with three relationships:
Juliet and her nurse, Romeo and Friar Lawrence, and Juliet and her parents. There is a delicate
balance of the wisdom of age and the innocence of youth that Shakespeare chooses to tamper
with in order to make a statement for human nature.
Firstly is the admirable quality of respect that the stability achieved by Juliet and her
nurse bond produces. The balance between the wisdom of age and the innocence of youth is at
peace within this relationship; advice is taken and virtue is admired. Shakespeare realizes that
life is a series of joyful and appalling acts of human nature; he uses Juliet’s relationship with her
nurse to show us the greatest human characteristic we can acquire if we uncover the balance
between wisdom and innocence. In these next lines we see the proof of the respect and love the
two women share for each other: “Nurse: Beshrew your heart for sending me about, / To catch
my death with jaunting up and down! / Juliet: I’ faith, I am sorry thast thou art not well”
(II.iv.44-46). The respect and caring is oozing out of their words as Juliet withholds her burning
desire for news to consol her nurse. A balance of wisdom and innocence that creates respect is
instilled in both characters. This sense of balance is what makes it possible for the infamous
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wedding between Romeo and Juliet to transpire. William Shakespeare shows us the light in a
bundle of dark human traits within the balance the two ladies achieve.
Friar Lawrence and Romeos relationship is an uneven balance of wisdom and innocence.
Romeos innocence, foolishness, and lust completely overshadows any wisdom that the gracious
friar tries to exercise. The inequality causes irrationality to rear its ugly head as the unruly human
trait Romeo will seize. This passage demonstrates the obvious lack of equilibrium between the
two characters:
Friar Lawrence: Not in a grave,
To lay one in, another out to have.
Romeo: I pray thee, chide not. Her [Juliet] I love now
Doth grace and love allow
The other [Rosaline] did not so (II.iii.82-87).
It is clearly shown in this last passage that Romeo is completely disregarding Friar Lawrence’s
opinion of his abrupt change of affection from Rosaline to Juliet. With this the fragile balance
has been shifted and now cruel, unloving irrationality leads Romeo by the hand down the path to
his ultimate demise. The illogical actions Romeo makes carts him down into the world of death.
William Shakespeare illustrates his disgust for the irrationality that sweeps us all away; he
confirmed for us that when the imbalanced was reinstated Romeo was given this atrocious
characteristic that ultimately leads to his death.
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Shakespeare uses Juliet and her parents (Capulet and Lady Capulet) to pay tribute to the
most dishonorable human trait that is deceit. The imbalance between the wisdom of age and the
innocence of youth is very drastic within this relationship. Juliet exhibits a recklessly innocent
attitude when dealing with her parents. The wisdom of Capulet and lady Capulet is lost on her
lust crazed heart which causes an even greater unsteadiness. “Tell me not, Friar, that thou hear’st
of this, / Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it” (IV.i.51-52). In this last passage Juliet is
entreating Friar Lawrence to assist her in impeding her upcoming marriage to Paris that her
parents so wisely assembled for her. Doing this Juliet causes the greater disruption of the
balance resulting in severe unchangeable consequences. William Shakespeare has the human
trait of deceit push Juliet into a pit of death that will eternally swallow her. Juliet’s lack of care
when dealing with the stability of the wisdom of age and the innocence of youth gives her a
horrid human characteristic that directly causes her death.
Shakespeare was not a kind man to his characters but he was honest with us; showing that
the balance between the wisdom of age and the innocence of youth must be maintained. With
each Balance or imbalance a human characteristic surfaced and controlled characters decisions
for the remainder of the play. The three relationships were analyzed are: Juliet and her nurse’s
stability showed us the human trait of respect, Romeo and Friar Lawrence imbalance produces
irrationality, and Juliet and her parents drastic imbalance illustrated deceit. Within yourself find
the steady point where wisdom found with age and innocence possessed in youth live in
harmony so the characteristics that are most dominate in you are not the cause of your ruin.
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