SCENE ONE SCENE TWO SCENE THREE SCENE FOUR SCENE FIVE
SUMMARY:
In scene 4.1, the county Paris approaches Friar
Laurence to ask to marry Juliet
the next day (Thursday). The Friar is hesitant to agree, as he is
well aware of Juliet's prior marriage to Romeo,
but Paris insists that a hasty marriage will help end Juliet's sorrow over
Tybalt's
death.
Juliet enters, and basically gives Paris a very cold reception. She
speaks with much cynicism, and brushes Paris off by asking to speak with
the Friar. Paris exits at the request of Friar Laurence, and Juliet
finally lets all her sorrow and fear out. She pleads with the Friar
to help her solve her dilemma, for she would rather die than marry Paris.
The Friar gives Juliet a special potion which she is instructed to drink
that night before she sleeps. The next morning, she will appear to
be dead: "No warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest", and will
be placed in the Capulet vault. Meanwhile, while Juliet is in her
coma, Friar Laurence plans to send for Romeo to bid him to return
for his wife. Juliet, desperate, agrees to the plan, and bids the
Friar farewell.
ANALYSIS:
The action in 4.1 is driven forward by personal desire of all
kinds. Paris desires only to marry his love and end her suffering
so that she may be happy. Juliet desires to stay faithful to her
true husband and avoid marriage to Paris at all costs. The Friar
desires to do what is honorable and bring peace to Verona. He also
sees that Juliet should not be doubly married, and knows that Paris does
not deserve to be involved in a marriage where he is ignorant of the true
circumstances. Therefore, these "triggers" lead to the Friar's taking
control of the situation and offering to assist Juliet. The audience
is left with an enticing forward at the conclusion of the scene,
in which the uncertainty of Juliet's scheme is of paramount interest.
SUMMARY:
This scene occurs in the Capulet household, in which Father Capulet
is deeply involved with the plans for Juliet's wedding to Paris.
He consorts with the servants while also speaking with the
Nurse about his daughter. Capulet comments that he is glad
that Juliet went to visit Friar Laurence, as his daughter is essentially
a good-for-nothing, and hopefully the Friar can talk some sense into her.
Juliet arrives home and humbly falls to her knees, asking forgiveness from
her father for her disobedient behavior. Capulet is rightly pleased
by his daughter's turn-around and proclaims that the Friar is the one to
thank for righting the situation. Juliet requests the nurse's presence
as she prepares her clothing for the wedding, and her father sends both
her nurse and Lady Capulet with Juliet. He ends the scene by commenting
how happy Juliet has made him by finally submitting to his wishes.
ANALYSIS:
This scene does much to manipulate the audience's reaction. Shakespeare
is very clever to allow the audience to feel as though it is "in on a secret",
which makes them not just spectators but actually cohorts of Juliet.
Juliet's personal desire has caused her to forsake her honesty to her family
and lie to her father in order to make her coming "death" appear accidental.
She has placed the action in a snowball that is now gaining momentum quickly
and cannot be slowed down as events progress. We are left yet again
with a forward that keeps us on the edge of our seats and anticipating
the next scene.
SUMMARY:
Juliet quickly rids herself of her mother and nurseat the opening of
this scene, stating, "For I have need of many orisons/To move the
heavens to smile upon my state". She means that she needs time alone
to ask God for forgiveness because she disobeyed her father and sinned.
They leave Juliet, and Juliet delivers a poignant monologue in which she
acknowledges her fears about taking the poison. She considers that
the mixture may not work at all and she may still have to marry Paris in
the morning, that the Friar actually gave her a deadly poison so that he
would not be dishonored, or that she make wake in the vault before Romeo
has returned to rescue her. The concept of waking in the vault terrifies
her the most, but she bravely drinks the poison in Romeo's name and falls
upon her bed.
ANALYSIS:
Juliet's action in 4.3 illustrates how masterfully Shakespeare conveys
conflict in his plays. Juliet's only desire is to be with Romeo,
and she now has no other concerns in life. Yet she still has huge
doubts about the action she is about to make. The conflicts her mind
presents her with are reasonable doubts, which makes her dilemma
even more realistic. The audience realizes just how dedicated Juliet
is to Romeo with her final, dramatic action in the scene: the
defiant swallowing of the potion and her successive fainting onto the bed.
This is an extremely cunning forward to propel the action in 4.4.
SUMMARY:
4.4 begins the next morning with the nurse, Lady Capulet,
and Father Capulet busily preparing for the wedding. They are all
in a jovial mood, and speak to each other with a hurried warmth.
Capulet directs his servants in every task, and notes that Paris will be
arriving soon. He suggests that the nurse go wake Juliet and make
haste to get her ready for the day.
ANALYSIS:
The action in this scene causes the audience to remember that
there are those in Shakespeare's world who have an entirely different perspective
of the action. The audience is witnessing a "soap opera" of sorts
that is almost humorous due to Capulet's naivete. The forwards Shakespeare
has utilized have been holding out on finally seeing the reality of Juliet's
world collide with the ignorance of her family. The audience must
wait yet again to see this collision occur.
SUMMARY:
In Scene 4.5, the nurse attempts to wake Juliet and discovers
with horror that her mistress is dead. She calls for Juliet's mother
and the two women are distraught with sorrow. Capulet enters and
touches Juliet to see if she is really dead, and he is so sorrowed that
he can hardly speak of his "sweetest flower of all the field". Friar
Laurence arrives with Paris and the musicians and innocently asks if the
wedding is ready to begin. Capulet tells of Juliet's death and each
character speaks in anger and sadness of her death. Friar Laurence
tries to console them by saying that heaven has welcomed her, and suggests
that Juliet be taken to the church for her funeral and subsequent burial
in the vault. Everyone leaves except for the musicians, who talk
about what to do now that their job at the wedding has been canceled.
They seem melancholy over Juliet's death at first, and suggest music's
healing properties. However, they determine that their sincerity is actually
a falsehood. They really don't care about making people feel better.
They just want to make money.
ANALYSIS:
In this scene Shakespeare's forward is finally fulfilled and
we see the collision of Juliet's world with that
of her family's. Friar Laurence drives the action forward in
an attempt to satisfy Juliet's plan, and his desires are honorably
unselfish as he tries to help his young friends. The end of the scene
with the musicians seems very odd to be included, as it does not
flow with the rest of the action. However, one interpretation of
the musician's words can provide an interesting parallel with the Capulet
family. Juliet's sincerity with her family was a falsehood, and she
was willing to forsake her family to achieve her own goals, just
as the musicians pretend to be sincere to make money. Also, Capulet's
sincerity may be viewed as false, because he didn't really care about his
daughter's emotions. He wanted her to be obedient so he could marry
her off and have an heir. This is a clever way for Shakespeare to
help his audience discover his characters motives through action.
It is even more clever when he achieves this through the actions of other
seemingly insignificant characters.
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