Juliet's maturity

Juliet is the main female character in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Juliet, a young Capulet, who is only thirteen, begins the play as a naive, obedient and immature girl who hasn't experienced love until she meets Romeo. Her true love to Romeo, her wedding and the plan with Friar Laurence makes her to grow up quickly and to mature at the end of the play.

Juliet is immature, so her parents control her. In the family, Juliet doesn't have the right to control her marriage or her life. Her mother asks her to marry Paris (a highly respectable man) to gain higher reputation, wealth and to be in the higher society. Also her father, head of the Capulet, told Paris that she is too young to get married, "My child is yet a stranger to the world" (1.2.8), "Let two more summers wither in their pride ere we may think her ripe into a bride." (1.2.10-11). Juliet's mother told Juliet the news about Paris' proposal. Juliet wished not to marry him, but she is submitted to her father's arrangement. All evidence suggests that Juliet is not yet physically and mentally developed to marry with Paris.

The turning point of Juliet's maturity is at the time when she meets Romeo at the feast. They fall in love at first sight, and they plan to get married. At this point, Juliet becomes more mature because she has her own opinions of her future and she strongly decides to marry Romeo. Her control of her marriage leads to maturity. The nurse always talks of vulgar jokes in front of Juliet. It passively makes Juliet more aware of wedding and real (sexual) life.

The betraying of the nurse and Lady Capulet strengthens her independence. When the nurse and Juliet's mother suggest she should marry Paris, she didn't take any of their advices. Juliet asks them to leave her alone. When Tybalt died, the nurse advised Juliet to forget Romeo and marry Paris, "Shame come to Romeo!" (3.2.91), "Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin?"(3.2.97). At that point Juliet knew that she lost nurse's loyalty, but she did not react or complain against her. She knew what she was doing and she made logical and heartfelt decisions.

Finally when she sees the Friar, she decides to drink the sleeping potion and avoid marrying Paris. From this action we can see her maturity to make her own choices. Juliet's death shows that she is fully matured. She sees Romeo dead beside her. Juliet can think for herself at that moment, so she commits suicide to be again with Romeo in "another world".

In conclusion, Juliet's Character and life changed very fast. The undying love for Romeo made her mature. The whole play was about four days. Just for four days, from an innocent and naive girl she transformed into a mature woman. Love is strong, that you cannot brake it, but you can kill it.