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Romeo And Juliet Act 3 Scene 5 Essay

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Romeo And Juliet Act 3 Scene 5 Essay
Romeo and Juliet Analysing Act 3 Scene 5

Act 3, scene 5 is a crucial scene in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. The scene is a springboard from which the play plummets to a grizzly end and the subtle climax of the series of events before it. It also contains elements of many of the main themes of the play, love, trust, family, hate, fate and some interesting theatrical techniques such as dramatic irony and double meanings. The scene is quite easy to analyse being constructed of four duologues and Juliet’s soliloquy. It is therefore a good scene to look at in more detail.

Shakespeare begins his play by establishing the core conflict that drives the plot of Romeo and Juliet; the pointless feud between the Capulet and Montague families
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She suddenly has an “ill divining soul” and wonders if she will ever see Romeo again, emulating Romeo’s unconscious tragic foreshadowing in their duologue and continuing the theme of fate. Then her father, mother and finally her Nurse abandon her in a series of duologues. During this part of the scene Juliet uses sarcasm, irony, ambiguities and double meanings. This would be a wonderful opportunity for a director to contrast the playful, innocent Juliet that comes alive when Romeo is around with a flat, upset and even spiteful Juliet that emerges when he is not. When her Nurse suggests she should marry Paris, Juliet is sarcastic saying the Nurse has comforted her “marvellous much” and later calls the Nurse an “ancient damnation” behind her back. The way Juliet suddenly changes her opinion of the Nurse who she used to see as a great friend could be taken as Shakespeare making a statement about love, that in a society where love is rejected, with arranged marriages or any other tool, love can become a platform for hate and injustice, represented by Juliet’s sinister side. This message is reinforced when Juliet says “thankful, even for hate that is meant by love” to her

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