Juliet

Juliet

In among all the characters of Shakespeare’s romance to this point, Juliet seems to grow and mature most, seemingly young and childish at the start of the play and progressing towards a thoughtful yet headstrong woman to the very end. On one side she is doubtful and reasonable, though obedient to her elders, but on the other she can be willful and determined, despite being a tad naïve at her age of thirteen.

Her child-like nature and obedience are shown at the very beginning in Act 1 Scene 3, when she presented with the prospect of marrying Paris. Her young age shows when she states that marriage is “an honor I dream not of.” It seems as though she has never thought of the prospect at this point and is compliant in any decision her mother makes. Juliet says that her consent is not the most important thing, but that of her families.  Also her naivety shows further on during the scene on the balcony for all her questioning and reasonable mind, she still rushes in with no backward glance and says that she will marry him tomorrow if he is serious and what not. It is truly a young mind that just jumps into it with such thoughtlessness.

On the other hand she is cautious, witty and demanding of others, as when Romeo first encounters her she engages in a witty banter with him and plays along with his metaphor. She also shown caution in Act 2 Scene 2 when Romeo is all but keen to vow his love for her, but she says it is all “too sudden, rash, unadvised…” She seems to understand that she cannot believe his word for they are young and passionate, but what then? Juliet is quite demanding as well, stating that if he indeed is serious she will send a messenger to him tomorrow and have all the arrangements of the wedding to hand. Quite hard on Romeo, is she not, for who can organize such an outing in a single night?

As well as all that she shows a clever reasoning in her. She seems to not agree with the feud between their parents and also seems reasonable in her set of priorities. When Romeo ambushes her on the balcony she is first wary and suspicious of the man’s identity and reason for intruding upon the mansion and then start worrying over him herself having true claims on him being killed as a trespasser. Juliet seems to run over all the possibilities and more “real” claims before letting go and starting into the romance between the pair. In this she is quite mature and more thoughtful than her choice of partner.

Currently we have not seen all of Juliet and not all of her personality, but in general we see that for her disobedience and romance are all anew. She still seems underdeveloped in this moral topic of love and family, but in the future we already have the means of seeing how fast she will progress and mature through her life and upon her untimely death.

By Valentina C.