Skip to main content

What is a quote from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet showing Juliet's determination?

In Act III, Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet learns that her father has promised her in marriage to Count Paris. Unknown to Lord Capulet, Juliet has already married Romeo. When Juliet refuses the commitment, Capulet becomes enraged and threatens to throw her out on the street. Despite her father's anger, Juliet is determined to avoid the marriage to Paris and to remain loyal to Romeo. She initially turns to the Nurse for advice,...

In Act III, Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet learns that her father has promised her in marriage to Count Paris. Unknown to Lord Capulet, Juliet has already married Romeo. When Juliet refuses the commitment, Capulet becomes enraged and threatens to throw her out on the street. Despite her father's anger, Juliet is determined to avoid the marriage to Paris and to remain loyal to Romeo. She initially turns to the Nurse for advice, but when the Nurse counsels her to forget Romeo and marry Paris, she privately curses the woman. She then turns to Friar Laurence, and in Act IV, Scene 1, puts her determination into words.


At first she is willing to kill herself if the Friar has no solution to her problem. She is carrying a dagger to prove her willingness to die rather than submit to her father's decree:



Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it.
If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help,
Do thou but call my resolution wise,
And with this knife I’ll help it presently.



She further shows her determination when she reveals to the Friar, who has a potential plan, that she would do anything, even endure the most frightening things she can think of:




O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of any tower,
Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk
Where serpents are. Chain me with roaring bears,
Or hide me nightly in a charnel house,
O’ercovered quite with dead men’s rattling bones,
With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls.
Or bid me go into a new-made grave
And hide me with a dead man in his shroud
(Things that to hear them told have made me
tremble),
And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstained wife to my sweet love.





Juliet is fearless in this scene and agrees to a plan that must have been extremely terrifying to a thirteen year old girl, involving drinking a potion which would bring on a deathlike sleep. Of course, through her loyalty to Romeo and her determination not to be married to Paris, she shows maturity far beyond her years.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What are some external and internal conflicts that Montag has in Fahrenheit 451?

 Montag, the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451, faces both external and internal conflicts throughout the novel. Some examples of these conflicts are: External Conflicts: Conflict with the society: Montag lives in a society that prohibits books and critical thinking. He faces opposition from the government and the people who enforce this law. Montag struggles to come to terms with the fact that his society is based on censorship and control. Conflict with his wife: Montag's wife, Mildred, is completely absorbed in the shallow and meaningless entertainment provided by the government. Montag's growing dissatisfaction with his marriage adds to his external conflict. Conflict with the fire captain: Montag's superior, Captain Beatty, is the personification of the oppressive regime that Montag is fighting against. Montag's struggle against Beatty represents his external conflict with the government. Internal Conflicts: Conflict with his own beliefs: Montag, at the beginning of th...

In A People's History of the United States, why does Howard Zinn feel that Wilson made a flimsy argument for entering World War I?

"War is the health of the state," the radical writer Randolph Bourne said, in the midst of the First World War. Indeed, as the nations of Europe went to war in 1914, the governments flourished, patriotism bloomed, class struggle was stilled, and young men died in frightful numbers on the battlefields-often for a hundred yards of land, a line of trenches. -- Chapter 14, Page 350, A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn outlines his arguments for why World War I was fought in the opening paragraph of Chapter 14 (referenced above). The nationalism that was created by the Great War benefited the elite political and financial leadership of the various countries involved. Socialism, which was gaining momentum in Europe, as was class struggle, took a backseat to mobilizing for war. Zinn believes that World War I was fought for the gain of the industrial capitalists of Europe in a competition for capital and resources. He states that humanity itself was punished by t...

Where did Atticus take the light and extension cord in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Atticus brings the light to the courthouse jail so that he can protect Tom Robinson.  Atticus learns that Tom Robinson, his client, is in danger.  A group of white men want to prevent the trial and lynch Robinson. He is warned by a small group of men that appear at his house.  He refuses to back down.  Atticus knows that the Cunninghams will target his client, so he plans to sit up all night with... Atticus brings the light to the courthouse jail so that he can protect Tom Robinson.  Atticus learns that Tom Robinson, his client, is in danger.  A group of white men want to prevent the trial and lynch Robinson. He is warned by a small group of men that appear at his house.  He refuses to back down.  Atticus knows that the Cunninghams will target his client, so he plans to sit up all night with Jim if that’s what it takes to protect him.  Atticus tells the men that he will make sure his client gets his fair shake at the law.  “Link, that boy might go to the chair, but he’s not going till ...