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

765 Words2 Pages

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

Before act 3 scene 5 happens many important events take place, these

include Romeo and Juliet secretly getting married, then Romeo killing

Tybolt as revenge for Mercutio's death. As a result of this Romeo is

going to be banished while this is happening Juliet's father is

arranging for her to marry Paris.

At the beginning of the scene Romeo and Juliet wake up and Juliet

tries to tell Romeo it is not day 'wilt thou be gone, it is not yet

near day'. This is because she doesn't want Romeo to leave. Romeo then

reminds her that if he is caught in Verona he will automatically be

killed 'come death and welcome Juliet wills it so'. This part of the

scene is not yet very tense, it is very romantic and emotional and the

audience will feel sad for Romeo and Juliet because they can't be

together. In this part of the scene there are a lot of images of love.

This makes the audience feel more emotional because they know that

they both will die. This is called dramatic irony. This part of the

scene is very calm; this is like the calm before a storm. As the nurse

enters and says that Juliet's mother is on the way this creates

tension because Romeo and Juliet have now got to rush their final

goodbye. This quickens up the pace of the scene and creates more

tension. This also adds sympathy toward Romeo and Juliet from the

audience.

When Lady Capulet enters and finds Juliet crying she immediately

assumes it is for Tybolt's death when it is more for Romeo leaving.

When Juliet is talking to her mother about killing Romeo Juliet uses

double meanings, for example 'Indeed I never shall be satisfied...

... middle of paper ...

...urns her back on Juliet she has no choice but to turn to Friar

Lawrence.

At the end of the scene Shakespeare leaves the audience with a final

image of Juliet on her own because it shows how everyone has turned

their back on her, first Romeo, then her father, then her mother and

then the nurse. She has no-one left to turn to. This makes it a tense

and effective ending because the audience don't know what Juliet will

do next. Will she kill herself because she has become so isolated? The

audience may believe she will when she says 'If all else fail, myself

have power to die'. This shows that if Friar Lawrence's poison doesn't

work she would rather be dead than marry Paris and stay part of her

family. This leaves the audience on a 'cliff hanger' and eager to know

how Romeo and Juliet will die and if they will meet again.

Open Document