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.


Popular posts from this blog

In chapter one of The Great Gatsby, what advice does Nick's father give him? How does this make him a good person to tell this story?

Nick says that his father advised him that, before "criticizing anyone," he "remember that all the people in this world haven't had the same advantages" as Nick.  As a result, Nick claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgments," presenting himself to the reader as a fair and dispassionate arbiter of character, and thus, a reliable narrator.   The problem is that Nick immediately reveals himself as anything but reliable, as he then launches... Nick says that his father advised him that, before "criticizing anyone," he "remember that all the people in this world haven't had the same advantages" as Nick.  As a result, Nick claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgments," presenting himself to the reader as a fair and dispassionate arbiter of character, and thus, a reliable narrator.   The problem is that Nick immediately reveals himself as anything but reliable, as he then launches into a discussion of how pe...
Post a Comment
Read more

How did the United States become an imperial power?

"Imperial power" is a bit of a vague label. It tends to mean several things at once, so let's unpack it. In the sense of "this country was built on conquest by force," the "imperial power" part of America actually predates the United States proper. The territories that would become the United States were imperial colonies, established by the great European empires of the 17th and 18th centuries. Much of the US Constitution and American governance generally goes back to England, history's largest and most successful imperial power, but vital aspects of American culture come from other imperial powers, such as France and Spain. Much of American culture comes from sources other than the old empires, but they were key influences on what the United States became. In the sense of "this country treats conquest by force as a fundamental component of its culture, economy and politics," the United States has always been an imperial power. Even earl...
Post a Comment
Read more

How and why does James Gatz become Jay Gatsby? Describe the young Gatsby/Gatz.

James Gatz, a poor Midwestern boy of probable Jewish lineage, becomes Jay Gatsby, a presumed WASP and wealthy socialite, when he moves to New York City and acquires his fortune. It is wealth that has allowed Gatz to transform himself into Gatsby. However, those who know his background (e.g., Daisy and Tom Buchanan) never allow him to forget that he is nouveau riche -- that is, an upstart who has just recently made his fortune,... James Gatz, a poor Midwestern boy of probable Jewish lineage, becomes Jay Gatsby, a presumed WASP and wealthy socialite, when he moves to New York City and acquires his fortune. It is wealth that has allowed Gatz to transform himself into Gatsby. However, those who know his background (e.g., Daisy and Tom Buchanan) never allow him to forget that he is nouveau riche -- that is, an upstart who has just recently made his fortune, whereas they arose from well-to-do families. Gatz became Gatsby through determination and discipline. At the end of the novel, the narr...
Post a Comment
Read more