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   joanncimato Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   In just a few stage minutes of this scene Juliet is thrust from a newlywed exploring sexuality with her secret husband, to a woman promising her own death in light of her parent’s promise to marry her off to someone else.

   This tension in the scene is manifest in Juliet. Her character goes through a profound transformation in this scene. In essence this is the scene where Juliet grows up and becomes self aware.

   The drama is echoed in the foreboding images embedded in the scene, the quickening tempo of the action, and the many intrusions into Juliet’s private chamber.

    For example, Juliet plays with Romeo that the Nightingale sings heralding another romantic night, but really it is morning and the Lark is calling in a new day. Then when Romeo escapes he descends the balcony in a very foreboding way that is echoed at the end of the scene when compares her grief is bottomless. The images of downward motion are consistent throughout.

   As Lady Capulet explodes into her daughter's chamber tempo and tension of the scene speed up. The lines are shorter. The word choice is more direct. Then the presence of Lord Capulet is even more startling. He is violent in his threats to disown his daughter. She tries to cover up that she is already married to the enemy. Here Juliet is torn between her own relationship to a god she feels blessed her union to Romeo and her obligation to her parents who cannot know about her relationship with Romeo at all.

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/romeo-text/act-v-scene-iii

   http://www.enotes.com/romeo/themes

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   Posted by joanncimato on Wednesday November 19, 2008 at 6:58 PM