ACT IV | RandJ1

JULIET

Hey guys, it’s Juliet. So I’ve had a very scary week, in fact everyone thinks I’m dead now. I have been very happy with my love, Romeo, and to know that I will have to marry another is a horrible thought. Uh, there is nothing I want to do less than marry Paris. I would rather be chained up with roaring bears, be placed in a newly made grave still alive, become a thief, and fall off yonder tower. These fears will be endured with great pleasure, anything to get out of this unhappy marriage with Paris. My father is forcing love to get rid of his only daughter. He thinks that having me married will be much easier because he won’t have to deal with his crying, hormonal daughter anymore. The fight showed the way he really cared and I had to go to the one person I can now trust, The Friar. I cried before him until my eyes were as dry as the desert that Romeo was banished to. He soon helped me get out of this horrid marriage and I was quite nervous. Friar Lawrence gave me a potion that was said to put me into a death like state, so they would put me into the Capulet vault until I awoke and Romeo was going to come and save me. I soon was going to take the potion, but all my fears that I would have endured scare me more than they ever have. I wouldn’t want to see my dear cousin’s decaying body in the tomb where I lay, or wake up hearing the shrieks of the dead, or waking with no one to save my life. So I drank the potion and now my parents, the nurse, Paris will all think I’m dead. I, being as cold as a winter’s night and as breathless as my deceased cousin hopefully will soon show that my love of Romeo is stronger than any feud or the supposed love with Paris. I hope Romeo will be there when I wake up, because then we can go off to Mantua together. Please let this work.

CHECK IN

Status: Juliet. “Do thou but call my resolution wise/And with this knife I’ll help it presently./ God joined my heart and Romeo’s,/thou our hands;/And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo’s sealed,/ Shall be the label to another deed,/Or my true heart with treacherous revolt/Turn to another, this shall slay them both.” (R&J, IV:i Ln.54-59)

Reply: This quote demonstrates Juliet’s strong love for Romeo and how much she dislikes the thought of marrying Paris. In the following scene, she picks up a knife and basically says that she’d rather kill herself than marry Paris. She still believes that Romeo is her one true love, wanting to do anything to prevent marrying Paris, and even threatens to take her own life to Friar Laurence. As she married Romeo on Monday, it will be a sin marrying more than one person, and she dislikes the thought of that as well. This is significant to the text because it shows the audience how strong Juliet’s love is for Romeo.

Status: Juliet. “What if it be a poison which the friar/ Subtly has ministered to have me dead,/ Lest in this marriage he should be dishonored/ Because he married me before to Romeo?/ I fear it is; and yet methinks is should not,/ For he hath been tried a holy man.” (R&J, IV:iii In.24-29)

Reply: This quote demonstrates that Juliet is scared about the near future because she is very doubtful of Friar Laurence; she's scared of the thought of being around her dead ancestors, she is very uncertain of the effects of the position before she drinks the it. This quote is significant because it shows that Juliet is unsure about her future and will doubt anyone even if it is someone she trusts. This contributes to the text because it shows the audience that Juliet is still a little girl who is uncertain about her future.

Status: Juliet. “O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught, / Environed with all these hideous fears, / And madly play with my forefathers’ joints, / And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud, / And, in this rage, with some great kinsman’s bone / As with a club dash out my desp’rate brains?” (R&J, IV:iii ln 49-54)

Reply: This quote is part of her soliloquy which she says before she is about to drink the potion. This quote explains Juliet’s fears of what could happen when she wakes up in the tomb. She fears that Romeo won’t come in time and she will be left alone in the dark. She also fears she will be left alone next to her cousins dead body, grab one of her ancestors bones and bash her skull, and see her cousin Tybalt’s ghost.

the NURSE

I feel as if Juliet is being very naive, but although even if she did go behind her father’s back I am very proud of her for standing up for herself, being independent, and following what she truly has passion for. This reveals that I am a very caring person but at the same time very obedient to Lord Capulet which is a con for Juliet because it expresses the fact that the I’m a loyal person. The reader of Romeo and Juliet must know that I want the absolute best for Juliet to be happy, but she she doesn’t approve of fallacious motives to become happy. I also wish that Juliet wouldn’t have got all caught up with Romeo because, if they had never met a lot of unfortunate events would have been avoided. All I want is for Juliet to be happy, for me to get my pay, and to just enjoy life as much as I can, or what’s left of it at least. My job is to contribute my part to the Capulets’ and to help when I’m needed, my personal mission (which i set for myself) is to get Juliet through rough times, to counsel her and to make sure she has a great life. Personally I am all about love, but love can happen for the worst just as it is for Juliet and because of love it has caused a butterfly effect in Juliet’s life which was most definitely not for the better. I think that I am a very important person in Juliet’s life especially because I think of myself as her second mom, I mean think about it I am more supportive of her than her own flesh and blood, and I BREAST FED her for crying out loud and I feel she would be WAY different if I wasn’t here for her , not to flatter myself or anything, but yes I do for one believe I have a big role in all of this.

CHECK IN

STATUS:

REPLY:

FRIAR LAURENCE

Paris had arrived to my cell to to conversate of his marriage proposal to Juliet on Thursday but I told him that he doesn’t know how Juliet feels about this arrangement and it would be a very uncertain plan. He believes that she is weeping for Tybalt and this marriage will stop the inundation of her tears. When Paris saw Juliet, he exchanged his loving thoughts to her but she was still scarred by Romeo’s banishment. After Paris departed from my cell, Juliet was so indignant by this sudden proposal that she couldn't bare it anymore and was going to commit suicide. She said that if my experience can’t aid her, she will clear up the conflict herself.

I advised her that if she is desperate enough into killing herself, then she would be daring enough to try the solution that I proposed. She agreed to my plan and told me that she would rather jump off a tower, be chained with roaring bears, be covered with dead men or into a newly-made grave than marry Paris. My plan was that she would take a vile that would make her seem as if she is dead. Her lips and eyes would become pale, there would be no pulse and she would appear like she is dead. After she is seen dead, she will be taken to the tomb of the Capulets and Romeo will come to pick her up after receiving a letter from my most trusted advisor. Together they would then move to Mantua. She was eager for the potion and so i gave it so her and farewell.

I had heeded the Capulets’ agonized wailings only to find that my plan was going accordingly. Juliet had taken the vial and her body had become stiff, stark, and cold. The rose color of her cheeks had faded away. There was no warmth, no breath, no pulse; her appearance was that of death itself. I urged Lord Capulet to move on with her funeral in order to lay her in the Capulet’s tomb as swiftly as conceivable. Part of me knows that it was unwise and selfish to trick the Capulets like I did, to let them believe that the heavens frown upon them, but the other part of me really cares about the future of my young boy Romeo. Now by the grace of God, may my most trusted aid be able to deliver the letter to Romeo, our plan be carried out properly, and may troubles not try to down this already conflicting day.

CHECK IN

STATUS: “A cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse/Shall keep his native progress, but surcease;/ No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest;/The roses in my lips and cheeks shall fade/ To paly ashes, thy eyes’ windows fall/ Like death when he shuts up the life;/ Each part, deprived of supple government,/ Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death.” pg 255 lines 96-103

REPLY: Friar Laurence is explaining how the potion will make Juliet seem as if she was dead. But actually Juliet is alive btu her pulse will stop and she’ll turn cold, pale, and stiff. The whole reason that Juliet is doing this is because she is already married to Romeo who she actually loves. But if she marries Paris she feels that she will be betraying Romeo and committing a sin.

STATUS: “Heaven and yourself/ Had part in this fair maid! now heaven hath all,/ And all the better is it for the maid./ Your part in her could you not keep from death/ But heaven keeps his part in eternal life.” pg. 262 lines 66-70

REPLY: Friar Laurence is trying to consol the distraught Capulet family by assuring them that their daughter is in good hands now, and that her life in Heaven will exceed her life on Earth. It is his job as a holy man to issue religious advice and counsel to the family of the deceased. He is implying that Juliet was once shared between Heaven and her family, but now she is entirely in God’s possession. He is saying that they are blameless in her death, and that she is now in a better place and will remain as perfect in God’s eyes forever.

STATUS: “You say you do not know the lady’s mind./ Uneven is the course; I like it not.” pg. 253 lines 4-5.

REPLY: Friar Laurence knows more about the situation than what he is letting on to Paris. He knows that Juliet is not happy at all about the wedding, but he can’t tell Paris that because Paris is too excited about the wedding to take into consideration Juliet’s reservations. It’s unfair that Juliet’s feelings are being ignored. So he is gently reminding Paris that he can’t make assumptions about Juliet because he hasn’t spoken to her yet.

STATUS: “Hold! Get you gone, be strong and prosperous/ In this resolve. I’ll send a friar with speed/ To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.” pg 256 lines 122-124

and

REPLY: Friar Laurence is telling Juliet to be strong and that we will get through these Times. He is also telling her that he will send somebody to the place where Romeo is and they’re going to tell him about the plan. The plan is that Juliet will drink the potion, she will get buried because they will think she is dead, and romeo will come and take her out of the tomb and run away with each Other. But we all know that this plan is not going to go through as planned have a turn of events

LORD CAPULET

Today was a day of many surprises both of joy and agony. My dear daughter Juliet finally

snapped out of the unrealistic world of hers and went to the Friar to beg for forgiveness for her actions towards me. I was very pleased that Juliet had calmed down and finally listened to me because I know what's best for her. I assigned the wedding day with Juliet and Paris for tomorrow and was very content that everything seemed to be going so well. Once Juliet is with Paris he can take of her and Juliet will finally not be my responsibility.

I was not prepared for the next morning. Juliet woke up late and someone was sent to her room to wake her up. That's when the I heard the devastating news. Juliet was dead. The wedding I was planning for will now become a funeral. Joy will also now be replaced with grief in the Capulet household. She didn't have a pulse and the life in her eyes was gone. Death took my only daughter, the light of my life. I don't believe anything will give me as much sadness as the death of my Juliet.

CHECK IN

STATUS: “Well, he may chance to do some good on her./ A peevish self-willed harlotry it is.”

(R&J, IV: ii ln.13-14).

REPLY: I am very excited, as I am getting ready for my daughter Juliet’s wedding with Paris. Paris is a noble, courteous young man, and I would love for him to be part of my family and take care of Juliet, as she is now out of my control. I believe that Paris will be able to calm Juliet and make her more sensible and obedient. Although at first I wanted Juliet to decide for herself whether or not she will love Paris. However, I now know that this is what is best for her. Paris is rich, handsome, and well known. He has a very high status, and our family will benefit greatly

from this union. If only Juliet would understand that, and not be such a blissfully ignorant and ill-behaved daughter.

STATUS: “Death, that hath ta’en her hence to make me wail,/ Ties up my tongue and will not let me speak.” (R&J, IV: v ln. 32-33)

REPLY: I, here, was absolutely shocked and confused that I could not summon words to describe what I was feeling. My tongue-tied demeanor was puzzling, even to myself. Two days ago, I was raging at her, threatening to kick her out and never speak to her again. But as the adage goes, you never know what you have until it’s gone. And the moment I thought Juliet was dead, I was just struck with unimaginable grief. I had lost my daughter, on the day I’d been so ready and willing to give her away. The irony is not lost on me.

STATUS: “Send for the County. Go tell him of this. I’ll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning” (R&J, IV: ii ln 23-24).

REPLY: I want my daughter Juliet to get married to Paris as soon as possible, just so I don’t have to worry about her. It would be in Juliet’s best interest to be with Paris who is not only handsome, but very wealthy. I’m so glad that Juliet agreed to this marriage because If she didn’t, then I will kick her out of this house and disown her.

STATUS: “O child! Oh child! My soul, and not my child!/ Dead art thou, dead! Alack, my child is dead,? And with my child my joys are buried”(R&J, IV: v ln. 62-64).

REPLY: My precious Juliet! My only daughter! The light of my day! I was too cruel to her and now I will have to take this regret to my grave. Although she was stubborn at times, I knew my Juliet always loved me and was a very independent young lady. Here death gives me deep grief and not only that, but she will not be able to wed with Paris today after all the time it took to convince her. Paris is a nice man and I was happy that he will be part of our family as my own son-in-law. With Juliet dead, all of the joy that I have felt for this wedding day is now gone and anguish replaces it.

PARIS

Hello diary, it’s me Paris again. It has been such a dreadful day. Oh how did I get so unlucky to have my soon to be wife to be dead the day of our wedding. It should have been one of the two happiest days with a woman. Let me go back and start at the beginning of Tuesday. These dreadful events all started in the holy church where I was delivering the happy news to Friar Laurence that our holy day would be held a day early. A Wednesday instead of a day so far away such as Thursday as decided by Lord Capulet himself and of course I was eager as well to have the wedding. His response was a little odd since he said that it was an uneven plan and that he didn’t know how Juliet felt, but soon after my poor Juliet came in and her tear streaked face showed all of her heartache and misery that she had in the past day. I kissed her on the cheek as I left and she didn’t seem to like it but I’m sure she is still sad about Tybalt’s death. The next day I came early on that Wednesday morning to make a wife wed and replace my lady’s sorrows with a new joy. When I arrived they quickly sent the nurse to find and awaken Juliet and she came upon my precious lady in bed. I can’t believe that she is dead. She lay there so still in her bed not moving, pale, and not stopping her sleep to take a breath of air. I am so distraught I don’t think I can write about it anymore. Well, goodbye for now diary, I will write again sometime soon.

CHECK IN

STATUS: “That may be must be, love, on Thursday Next.” (R & J 4:1 Ln-20).

REPLY: Paris is currently talking to Juliet in this quote and basically what he is saying is that he wants to get married next Thursday. This quote has significance because it shows that the marriage is going to happen, which is exactly what Juliet doesn’t want to happen, which puts tension on Juliet and it foreshadows that Juliet is going to do something about it, but she is not going to marry Paris, that is the last thing she wants to do. This also foreshadows that some crazy event is going to happen.

STATUS: “Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spited, slain!/ Most detestable Death, by thee beguiled, By cruel, cruel thee quite overthrown!/ O love! O life! not life, but love in death!” (R&J, Act 4:5 ln. 55-58).

REPLY: Paris is in sadness as he is saying this quote because he just found out that his fiance is dead. In this quote Paris is basically saying how horrible the death of Juliet is, how she was tricked, slain, and how she died in a dislikable way. This is a quote of significance because it shows how Paris loved her and how sad he is. This quote is kind of ironic because Paris is expressing how he loved her a lot, but Juliet disliked him as much as he loved her. This quote really contributes to the sadness everyone has for Juliet.

STATUS: “Thy face is mine, and thou hast slandered it” (R&J, Act 4:1 In. 35).

REPLY: Paris is talking to Juliet and he is telling her that her face is his because he is about to marry her, and when Juliet insults her face, it hurts him. This quote is significant because it shows how much love Paris has for Juliet and it shows his insight on Juliet. This quote contribute to the scene because in this scene Paris and Juliet meet each other in the church and there they talk about the marriage and this just ads on to how much Paris loves Juliet.

STATUS: “Do not deny to him that you love me” (R&J, Act 4:1 In. 24).

REPLY: In this quote, Paris is talking to Juliet about her love. In this quote, Paris is basically telling Juliet not to deny that she loves him.This contributes to the scene because Paris is showing how much he loves Juliet, but it's ironic because Juliet doesn’t love him at all. This quote gives insight on Paris’s feelings and what he thinks about Juliet, and his feeling is obviously that he loves her. Finally this quote is significant because it gives insight and it shows the feelings of Paris and contributes to the scene.

LADY CAPULET

Wretched day! Oh wretched world! Taking my dear daughter right before her big day! Not only is Tybalt dead, now my Juliet is too! Things were going so well! At first, she wouldn’t agree to marriage. She was so stubborn then. When I came to tell her the good news, she railed and said if she were to be married, it would be to that villain Romeo! The very notion!

Now that I think about it, perhaps it was too soon to have her married. She was weeping only a few hours ago, and now we expect her to dry her tears? As her parents, we only wanted the best for her. Capulet had thought that a wedding would make her happy again and take her mind off poor Tybalt. When she blatantly refused however, I was shocked! We work so hard to get her a handsome man like Paris, and she simply says no? It was simply unacceptable!

My lord was very displeased. I remember him raving and practically foaming at the mouth. He did so much, only for her to turn nose up at it? He was furious, and rightly so. Now that I think about it, maybe we were a bit harsh on her, but she was so ungrateful at the time! Her lovely father had gone out of his way to find a fine man like the County that would treat her well. The effort that we put into their marriage is nothing to shake a stick at.

After our exchange with Juliet, she decided to go to Friar Laurence to absolve her sin. I remember being quite glad that Juliet knew that she was in the wrong. Stubbornness is not very attractive in a lady. I don’t know what that Friar did, but she came back as obedient as a dog. She no longer had any qualms about her joining to Paris, and actually seemed happy to be married!

I remember coming to visit her at night, to see if she needed any help preparing for her big day. She said she was fine though, and I thought that she would need rest for she would not get much sleep with Paris. Little did I know that she would never wake up again.

It was such a shock to find her dead! To find my little girl had lain with death before she could lay with Paris. I only wish that she will lie in peace, beside valiant Tybalt.

CHECK IN

STATUS: “Hold, take these keys and fetch more spices, nurse.” (R&J IV:iv ln:1)

“Ay, you have been a mouse-hunt in your time; But I will watch you from such watching now.” (R&J IV:iv ln:11)

REPLY: Lady Capulet does not seem to speak much in this act. However, even from these few lines, I can tell a lot about her personality. For example, this helps to structure her role as someone who doesn’t physically work a lot, and rather has people do work for her. Even though it’s a given, I can also tell she must be rich as Capulet so that she has servants to work for her. I also know that spices can be quite expensive, and to have some must be a sign that her family must be rich and maybe even have some experience in trade. She also isn’t completely bland and has a sense of humour too, as she jokes about Lord Capulet’s past as a woman chaser. I think she also seems to care about her husband, as she says that she’ll make sure he isn’t running off somewhere or getting sick while he rests. If she’s also married to him and obviously likes her own position as the wife of the head of the Capulet’s, she must also value her position and power, otherwise she wouldn’t care about what Lord Capulet’s health or relationship with her, something she decides to enforce.

STATUS: “Good night. Get thee to bed and rest, for thou hast need.” (R&J IV:iii ln:13-14)

REPLY: Lady Capulet said good night and that she should rest because she is going to need the rest and a lot of energy for tomorrow. Since Juliet is going to get married tomorrow she will need to get enough sleep because she will use a lot of her energy at the wedding and after the wedding they will most likely have sex. She wants to make sure that Juliet is prepared for tomorrow, she doesn’t want anything to go wrong and she wants her daughter to be happy.

STATUS: “O me, o me! My child, my only life! Revive, look up, or I will die with thee! Help! Help! Call help.”

(R&J IV: v ln:19-21

REPLY: In this quotations Lady Capulet just found Juliet after she took the vile. I chose this quotation because Lady Capulet has found Juliet dead. This also shows that she cares about her child and that she can’t live without her because as a mother she wants to see her child grow but now that she’s dead she can’t do that. No mother would also want their child to die. Lady Capulet during this whole play has been very cold in a way because the way she is portrayed isn’t the type of mother we are used to seeing and she really hasn’t shown any emotions since Tybalt’s death because he is family. She was also happy because Juliet was supposed to marry Paris and her death