Act 3 Scene 5 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Act 3 Scene 5 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Act 3 Scene 5 is a key scene of the play and shows Juliet's dilemma as

her parents try to force her to marry Paris, a respectable young man,

when she is already secretly married to Romeo. The scene is set on a

Tuesday, and Romeo and Juliet only met on the previous Sunday.

Furthermore, the scene is described as a pivotal scene. This is

because events happening before the scene are to blame for what

happens during the rest of the play.

The atmosphere in this scene changes throughout, and I think this will

have a knock on effect to how the audience feel. The scene would

probably affect a modern day audience differently to an Elizabethan

audience because times have changed and the way we view things in this

day and age is different to then. For instance, when Juliet refuses to

marry Paris, an Elizabethan audience would be shocked because children

of Juliet's age were supposed to obey their parents. They would see

Juliet as disobedient and badly behaved child.

Their sympathy would be towards the father who believes he's being a

good father by finding a respectable young man for his daughter. As

for the modern audience, they would see the situation in a completely

different light. They would be sympathetic of Juliet because her

marriage was being arranged with someone she may not love and wish to

spend the rest of her life with. We must take into account how during

the Elizabethan time, marriage was about gaining money and power, not

love. Therefore, the Elizabethan audience would have a totally

different opinion of the play to the modern. In addition, with the

play being set i...

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...he mark earlier

on, simply to keep her job. For this reason, she should seem nervous

when Juliet asks, "Speak'st thou from thy heart?" She would make

direct eye contact for a second and then look away as soon as finished

her response.

Juliet realises how her trust with the nurse has ended so doesn't feel

badly when lying to her, by saying that she will "marry, and this is

wisely done". Following on from this, Juliet has a soliloquy, making

clear to the audience how she is feeling "O most wicked fiend". She

feels betrayed by the nurse. She should be shaking her head at this

point in disgust. Juliet continues on to say that "if all else fail,

myself have power to die". This is the ending sentence of the scene

and I would want the actress to sound out the last word "die" to

create suspense leading into the next act.