Skip to main content

How does Juliet deal with challenges in the play? Please provide quotations for support.

Juliet tends to deal with challenges by following her heart.  She knows that her family would not approve of her feelings for Romeo, but she pursues those feelings nonetheless.  She says, "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? / Deny thy father and refuse thy name, / Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, / And I'll no longer be a Capulet" (2.2.36-39).  She hopes that Romeo will be willing to stand...

Juliet tends to deal with challenges by following her heart.  She knows that her family would not approve of her feelings for Romeo, but she pursues those feelings nonetheless.  She says, "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? / Deny thy father and refuse thy name, / Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, / And I'll no longer be a Capulet" (2.2.36-39).  She hopes that Romeo will be willing to stand up to his father and even relinquish his family name and honor; if he will not, she is willing to give up her own.  Thus, she ranks the demands of her heart far above anything like family pride; any challenge her family would present to their marriage is nullified by her lack of concern for it.


After Romeo kills Tybalt, Juliet is unsure how to respond.  She knows that she should love her husband, but she also knows that she should hate the man who killed her cousin; the fact that both are the same man leaves her confused.  She wonders, "wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? / That villain cousin would have killed my husband. / Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring; / [....] / My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain, / And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my / husband" (3.2.112-117).  She first calls Romeo a villain for killing Tybalt, then she calls Tybalt a villain for wanting to kill Romeo.  Finally, she vows to stop her crying because her husband yet lives, and the man who would have him dead is dead himself.  Again, she chooses her heart over family obligation, nullifying the challenge presented by Romeo's murder of her kinsman.


When presented with her father's decision to marry Juliet to the County Paris, Juliet once again follows her heart to deal with the challenge.  Risking all her parents' displeasure, she tells her mother, "Now, by Saint Peter's Church, and Peter too, / [Paris] shall not make me there a joyful bride!" (3.5.121-122).  She flat out refuses to follow their orders, and when her father makes her desperate, she devises a reason to go to Friar Lawrence.  She will kill herself if he has no way to help her, and so she chooses to fake her own death -- a frightening prospect in itself -- and follows her heart to be with Romeo rather than marry a man she does not love.

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