Changes in Romeo and Juliet Essay Example

Romeo has changed massively throughout the course of the play we know this as when we first meet him, he is heartbroken because Rosaline does not return the love, he has for her we know this from the line “Ay me Sad hours seem long. Was my father that went hence so fast”. However, things change as soon as he meets Juliet at the party. Romeo transforms nearly entirely, at the start, Romeo wouldn’t harm or kill any one for someone else but close to the end he would   kill everyone for Juliet we know this as he did kill 6 people (some indirectly). Romeo transformation starts around Act 2. Exactly it starts act 2, scene three, lines 20-25. In these lines Romeo states that “inside the Little mind of this susceptible flower, there’s each poison and powerful remedy” this quote is largely synthesizing that love may be desirable or evil. If you smell it, you feel great. But if you taste it, you die. What he means by using that is that loving Juliet can affect him with pain and hurt but Romeo does not care because all he desires is Juliet’s love so much he doesn’t care if it hurts him.

Additionally, that is where Romeo turns for just trying love too, going crazy for it this change of character makes Romeo an extremely impulsive by the end of the play. this can be backed up by Romeo killing 3 people spontaneously even saying “that one of their souls must accompany the next life “this line does not sound like anything Romeo would say at the start of the play and arguably.

The scene he changes most is act 5 scene 3 when he cannot find a strong enough reason to live after Juliet's death, and so he takes his own life. This progression is rapidly different from when he lost Rosaline, he was sad but when he losses Juliet, he kills himself, this certainly shows that he has changed immensely throughout the play.

Throughout the course of the play, Juliet ’s relationship with the Nurse changes several times. The Nurse brought Juliet up from childhood, breast-feeding her and caring for her like a mother. In the play, Shakespeare presents the Nurse as Juliet's surrogate mother.

When the Nurse first meets Romeo, she criticizes him and warns him that he had better not be toying with Juliet. We know this as she says, “Lead her (Juliet) into a fool's paradise" she tells him that Juliet is young and that no gentleman would toy with her. But after this interaction it seems Nurse is very much in favour of Romeo and Juliet's marriage, as she indicates in act 2, scene 5 urging Juliet to go to Friar Laurence's cell to get married to Romeo, and volunteering to find a rope ladder that Romeo can use to climb up to Juliet's bedroom after the marriage.

Juliet’s nurse agrees to help her secretly marry Romeo because she cares about Juliet and wants her to be happy, and she knows she loves Romeo. But we see change in the nurse in act 3 scene 2 when they find out the Romeo has been exiled and killed Juliet’s cousin. At this point, the nurse’s pragmatism kicks in, and she stops helping Juliet pursue Romeo and starts encouraging her to make the safer choice of listening to her parents and marrying Paris. The nurse tries to explain to Juliet that she is better off with Paris, because “Paris is a gentleman”. But at this point we then see Juliet turned away from the nurse she has an argument in act 3 scene 5 with her scolding the nurse saying “Blister’s be thy tongue for such a wish! he was not born to shame” we then see Juliet going on her own having only Romeo and frier Lawrence to trust.

Initially, Lord Capulet is portrayed as an understanding, sensitive father who is willing to respect his daughters wishes and for her to get married as she pleases, even though they lived in a time when woman did not have the same equal rights as men.

Most kids of Juliet’s age would already be involved in an arranged marriage. In Act 1 Scene 2, Juliet’s father, talks to Paris about Juliet as he wishes to marry her. Shakespeare shows Capulet’s role as a father saying, “My child is yet a stranger in the world.” By saying this, it suggests Capulet role as a father to Juliet is respectful and caring, but protective. By saying ‘My child’ indicates he is protective over Juliet, as ‘my’ is a possessive pronoun; it tells us Capulet sees Juliet as an object which belongs to him which emphasises his power over her. The audience may be astonished by this, as they would not expect a father to treat his daughter in the way in which he does. However, after Tybalt’s death Juliet is his only surviving child, so when young Tybalt is killed unexpectedly in his duel with Romeo, Capulet remembers how easily people die in and decides that he wants Juliet to marry Paris as soon as possible. He forgets the trust and happiness of his daughter and makes the final decision to make Juliet marry Paris when she refuses, he scolds her saying “Starve, die in the streets.” he changes all aspect of personality and turns violent as a result of Juliet’s disobedience when she refuses to marry Paris his want to gain money and greater influence over the Montagues. Overpowers the love for his own daughter 

We first meet Juliet in act one scene 3 we initially see her as a very polite person saying, “Madame I'm here what is your will”, the start of the play she is also seen as quite childlike as we see from her relationship with the nurse, we are also aware at the start of the play that her parents still make the decisions for her

In act 2 scene 2 despite feeling passionately towards Romeo she still remains organised sensible and, on the departure, says that “if thy bent of love be thy purpose marriage send me word tomorrow”. This is the first we have seen Juliet speak for herself and the start of her making her own decisions.

Lord Capulet argues with Juliet in Act 3 Scene when that Lord Capulet has arranged her marriage to Paris in four days' time. Juliet refuses to marry saying” I will not marry yet and when I do I swear it shall be Romeo whom you know I hate rather than Paris”, and her father threatens to disown her. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is set during the Elizabethan period. During this period, daughters had to marry according to their father’s wishes. This was a Patriarchal Society. The father would decide the husband because he thought his choice would be suitable.

It was unheard of for women to refuse marriage, but if they did, they would have nowhere to go. Women were ‘inferior’. If disowned they would die on the street. That shows how serious the Juliet is over Romeo she faces her dad making him so angry with her refusal, calling her a “disobedient wretch” and telling her “My fingers itch”

When she awakes in Act 5 Scene three to find Romeo dead, she stabs herself. There is a strong contrast to how we first see Juliet in Act one Scene 5, as an obedient young girl who up too this point let all decisions be made for her to an independent young woman who has made the most important and final decision there is, whether to live or die. We can see therefore that during the play Juliet develops significantly.