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How does Shakespeare present Juliet after the balcony scene?

The next time the audience sees Juliet after the balcony scene is when her nurse returns from a meeting with Romeo to learn what provisions he has made for his marriage to Juliet.  Juliet is excited, hopeful, and impatient, especially because the nurse is purposely delaying and teasing her.  Juliet says, exasperatedly, "How are thou out of breath, when thou hast breath / To say to me that thou art out of breath?" (II.5.33-34).  The...

The next time the audience sees Juliet after the balcony scene is when her nurse returns from a meeting with Romeo to learn what provisions he has made for his marriage to Juliet.  Juliet is excited, hopeful, and impatient, especially because the nurse is purposely delaying and teasing her.  Juliet says, exasperatedly, "How are thou out of breath, when thou hast breath / To say to me that thou art out of breath?" (II.5.33-34).  The nurse makes all manner of excuses to prolong Juliet's suspense: complaining about her aching head and back, talking about how handsome Romeo is, asking about the location of Juliet's mother.  Poor Juliet begins to lose patience with her, but recovers herself once she learns Romeo has sent word of their wedding.


Later, though Juliet seems to mourn the death of Tybalt sincerely, she also understands she owes her love to her husband.  She is quite thoughtful in Act III, Scene 2, when she wonders how "deceit should dwell / In such a gorgeous palace" (III.2.90-91).  Juliet knows she should hate the man who murdered her cousin, but also knows she ought to love the man who is her husband.  It's a terrible situation for her to be in, and her thoughtfulness (and even her wordplay and use of oxymora to describe Romeo's simultaneous treachery and beauty) conveys a sense of Juliet's maturity, even though she is but thirteen.


Still later, it is Juliet who visits Friar Lawrence's cell and commits to the plan to fake her own death as a means of escaping the wedding her father has planned for her to County Paris.  She is brave and independent, acting outside of her nurse's advice for what seems to be the first time in her life.  

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