Prophecies in Romeo and Juliet

“A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life...” From the first paragraph of the play we can see how through the dialogues their fate is stated. Romeo and Juliet’s love was forbidden by society, yet was their tragic end just their parents’ fault? Or there was something else?

From the beginning we see this constant association with death that is always presented in the whole storyline. First we see Romeo playing his role as the romantic hero, and sharing with us his dark thoughts about unrequired love. Moreover, while the story follows its course, not only he gives a hint of what’s going to happen next, Juliet is the chosen one to show us which are the results of so much hate. Maybe, those thoughts that we thought as premonitions of the worst, are no more than a judgment based on so much hate that she perceived around their love. Juliet says:

“Give me my Romeo. And when I shall die

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love with night..”

This shadowy revelation that Juliet experiments after her cousin’s death, might give us a sense of monopolizing feelings over her beloved; however, Romeo died after seen her in her grave as she asked the destiny to do so. Then, Shakespeare through those monologues gave us the feeling of losing and leads us to the end we already experimented.

          Reflections, premonitions, intuitions, signs, foreseeing; all of them are mechanisms that helps the reader to sense tragedy and their love as a destiny’s decision towards characters life.

                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                            

Juliet or Portia: passivity in the main role

In Romeo and Juliet, the role of the man is one aggressive, brave and passionate. The book is plenty of references to duels, which were the way to solve situations and arguments back in those times, and sex in the forms of puns and allegories. But, where are the women? Women play a quiet role in the plays of Shakespeare albeit they are without a shadow of a doubt the most important characters in those plays.

Juliet is portrayed as a girl whose presence, although vital in importance, is merely a entity waiting for something to happen. She enters into scene when she is told about the party, but especially when she meets Romeo. However, she is important for the play since she may have gone on with Paris in a relationship but Romeo could not have been successful in love without Juliet.

Juliet + Portia, Original drawing

Portia is a girl who was betrothed to whoever opens the right "casket" out of three, being one of them of gold, one of silver, and one of lead. Again, the passive attitude from the woman in another of the Shakespeare's plays. Nevertheless, she is the one who sets the story in motion from Belmont by just being...beautiful. Without her, Bassanio would not have fell in love, he would not have asked Antonio for money and none of the action would have happened.

As it can be read in my words, women play an essential role in at least the two plays of Shakespeare I have recalled, but is it really that they are the puppeteers of the story? without them, would the story have even seen the final page?

Juliet: From Girl to Woman

As the play develops, Romeo and Juliet go through a process of transformation and maturity. Romeo, for example, faces reality, and he is forced to change his perspective and the way he thinks, acts and love.

But I would like to focus on Juliet. She is the central character and the one who reaches a certain state of maturity through the play—in a more noticeable way than Romeo. Juliet, for instance, plays two roles at the same time: the obedient daughter and innocent kid, and the mature and independent woman and wife. Even though she was supposed to keep playing the role of a daughter—and Paris’ wife—she did what she wanted to do and took responsibility for her own desires. In this regard, Juliet plays both roles as Shakespeare wanted to: play roles as criticism of the play of roles in society.

In this sense, there is also a clear confusion of roles as non of the characters in the play is aware of the change that is happening, unlike us, spectators, that notice and know the reason why Juliet struggles with these roles.

Many of you may say that she went through this process because she was in love and followed her heart. I think Romeo was the excuse she wanted to finally breakaway and show herself as an independent woman. In other words, she went through this process of maturity in a way of rebellion against her father, her family, against the old order. I think she took advantage of this situation to become a woman—an individualistic woman.

Do you think that Juliet just followed her heart because she was blindly in love, or followed her heart because she saw an opportunity to become a woman and stop being treated like a kid? 

The "Betrayal" of the Nurse

In the play Romeo and Juliet we can appreciate one of the most significant characters—besides the two lead ones: this is Angelica, the nurse who has spent all Juliet’s life with the Capulet family. Such a strong bond almost mother-daughter like, since Angelica even breastfed Juliet, full of love, trust and care remained between them; what really matters for Angelica is her girl’s happiness and this is why she helped her to marry Romeo in spite of their families’ disapproval and keep this relationship as a clandestine romance. However, there is a moment in this drama in which, after Juliet’s father communicated her she would join in matrimony with Paris, Angelica has a conversation with her:

Nurse: “Faith, here it is.

Romeo is banished, and all the world to nothing

That he dares ne’er come back to challenge you,

Or if he do, it needs must be by stealth.

Then, since the case so stands as now it doth,

I think it best you married with the County.

O he’s a lovely gentleman.

Romeo’s a dishclout to him. An eagle, madam,

Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye

As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart,

I think you are happy in this second match,

For it excels your first, or if it did not,

Your first is dead – or ’twere as good he were

As living here and you no use of him.”

The nurse suggests Juliet to accept her father’s pronouncement; nonetheless, Juliet does not take this well and sees it as a betrayal. Given this situation, Juliet decides not to entrust her judgments to Angelica anymore and her secrets would remain as secrets without considering her “deserter” in her decisions. However, wouldn’t this be an overreaction from Juliet if what Angelica intended was not to be disloyal to her but to lead her to a virtuous path? In my opinion, Juliet took the words of the nurse too seriously and maybe she was saying that just because she was afraid of her girl getting into trouble with her father. I think that this was not really a betrayal; it was just the words that Juliet did not want to hear from her protector in that particular moment.