Juliet
by Zachary Bryce Pedigo
Theme
Romeo & Juliet follows two star crossed lovers in their quest to find love in a world where Juliet is supposed to marry another man. The Theme of the play is people should make responsible choices. A responsible choice is a choice that will most benefit you in the near and far future.
Text Collection
Act 1 Scene 1
"Marry, that 'marry' is the very theme i came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet, how stands your disposition to be married? It is an honor that i dream not of. (995,l. 22-24). Lady Capulet is speaking to Juliet about getting married because she wants Juliet to marry Paris for his money. Here, Juliet must decide whether to get married to Paris simply for his money or to wait for someone to come into her life that she truly loves. Which in this case is Romeo. Therefore making this an internal conflict and an either irresponsible choice which would be to wait for someone else because its most likely just going to go bad for her. Or to just marry Paris for his money, because this will make her relationship with her family better for her on all levels because she probably wont be dead.
Act 2 Scene 2
"Tis they name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot" (1023 l. 25-38). Juliet is talking to Romeo because she is not sure whether to marry him or just turn away. This shows how Juliet is thinking about how Romeo is a Montague and her only enemy that her family has taught her to hate are Montague's. So she is making a choice whether to love him or to just turn away from his love. This can also affect how she internally thinks about herself and the Capulet feud. So she has a choice whether to make the responsible choice and love Romeo or to make the irresponsible choice and to just turn away from Romeo.
Act 3 Scene 5
"O God! O Nurse, how shall this be prevented? My husband is on earth, my faith is in heaven." (p. 1068 l. 233-234). Juliet is speaking to Nurse sbecause her father has just forced Juliet to marry Paris and she wants to marry Romeo. This segment shows that Juliet has to make a choice whether to take the responsible choice and marry Paris or to do the irresponsible thing and marry Romeo. I say that that would be the irresponsible thing because if she was to marry Paris she could just leave him or run away to Romeo rather than further anger her family. This is also an internal conflict because she has no one to help her with her choice between Romeo and Paris. She is required to make the choice on her own and her parents are already angry with her because she didn't want to marry Paris and they claimed that they were done with her prior to the marriage choice.
Act 4 Scene 3
"Stay, Tybalt, stay! Romeo, I come! This do I drink to thee." (p. 1079 l. 59-60). That last quote shows Juliet about to drink the potion so that she can be with Romeo but she has a choice. Her choice is to either drink the potion irresponsibly or to just attempt another way to avoid marrying Paris which would be the more responsible thing to do as to not further anger anyone or get into lots of trouble with her community. It's also an internal conflict because she is thinking about whether she should drink the potion or not.