The character Juliet, in the play “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare, is a young beautiful girl who falls in love with a young gentleman called Romeo. From the beginning we know that a tragic end lies await for these young lovers. I feel Juliet was caught in a vicious cycle of love and hate between the two rival houses of the Montague and the Capulets. She herself was not remotely to blame except for the fact she fell in love with Romeo. Romeo was a Montague, which forced them to keep their relationship a secret until the time was right.
Romeo has just been shortly married to Juliet when he goes to see his best friend, Mercutio. When he finds Mercutio, he is in an argument with Tybalt a Capulet. Tybalt wishes to duel with Romeo. Romeo declines the offer, as he is the cousin of Juliet. (This is the first time anyone takes in consideration of Juliet’s feelings). Mercutio takes the place of Romeo but is slain by Tybalt. Romeo in a blind fury kills Tybalt:
“Either thou or I, or both must go with him”
However, this leaves Juliet an emotional wreck as one of her dearest cousins has been killed by her true love. Romeo did not take into account Juliet’s feelings and think about what he was doing. He of all people should have thought about the consequences and now he is banished from Verona:
“A dammed saint, an honourable villain”
When she first hears the news she curses Romeo:
“O what a beast was I to chide him!”
However, she changes her mind about him, as he is her true love. I think it was extremely unfair of Romeo to put Juliet through this anguish and grief due to one outburst of anger.
When Juliet’s father tells her that she is to be married on Thursday she is upset and tells him that she is not going to marry Paris. I feel it is unfair for Juliet to be forced into marriage and if she does not, she will be castaway by her father. Your father is someone whom you can look to for support and love in no matter what circumstances. Juliet’s father, however, does not give it a second thought to discarded her if he does not get his own way:
“But now I see this one is too much,
And that we have a curse in having her”.
Once this happens Juliet looks to her mother to comfort her after the dispute she has with her father. Her mother plainly says:
“Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word”.
Again, I have great amount of sympathy for Juliet, as the person who gave birth to you should never turn their back on their child, as this should be the most precious person to them.
After Romeo kills himself, as he thinks Juliet is dead, Juliet wakes to find Romeo.She is upset and in distress over the matter. Friar Lawrence enters the tomb to be greeted by a dead Romeo and a sobbing Juliet. The Friar begins to talk to Juliet when he is startled by a noise and runs away. This I feel was pure selfishness on Friar Lawrence’s behalf as he was only thinking of himself losing his job as he has been helping Romeo and Juliet:
“I hear some noise, lady come from that nest……
Come go, good Juliet, I dare no longer stay”.
Here we find Juliet once again out on a limb by herself to make a decision with no guidance as the Friar has fled and left her in confusion. In the end, she takes her own life as she is acting irrationally due to the death of her beloved Romeo.
Through the whole play Juliet is treated very foully by the people, she loved. At every turn of the play, someone is making her emotionally upset either by forcing her to do something or by killing or punishing her loved ones. I feel very sympathetic towards Juliet, as she is the only one who did not contribute in any way to the tragic deaths to all the houses. Maybe if everyone was not so hot headed there could have been a preferred outcome to this story.
