’How Does Shakespeare Use Soliloquy to Present the Character of Juliet?

‘’How does Shakespeare use soliloquy to present the character of Juliet?’’
The daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet, Juliet begins the play as a naïve child who has thought little about love and marriage, but she quickly grows up when innocently falling in love with Romeo who is the family’s enemy. Using soliloquy Shakespeare is able to show how Juliet changes by the end of the play. Juliet shows amazing courage in trusting her entire life and future to Romeo. Juliet’s closest friend and confidant is her nurse, though she’s willing to shut the Nurse out of her life the moment the Nurse turns against Romeo.
Act 2 Scene 2 contains some of the more recognizable and memorable passages in all of Shakespeare. It is the famous balcony scene, Romeo and Juliet reveal their love to each other and at Juliet's suggestion, they plan to marry. Shakespeare uses light and dark imagery in this scene to describe the blossoming of Romeo and Juliet's romance, As Romeo stands in the shadows, he looks to the balcony and compares Juliet to the sun. Juliet's soliloquy examines another of the play's themes, the importance of words and names. Juliet compares Romeo to a rose and reasons that if a rose were given another name, it would still be a rose in its essence. The rose shows romance in her mood after meeting Romeo for the first time. If Romeo abandoned his family name, he would still be Romeo. Juliet calls into the night for Romeo to "refuse thy name" and in return, she will "no longer be a Capulet." Therein lies one of the great conflicts in the play. While their love blossoms in oblivion to any barriers, the people who affect their lives use their familial battles to impose separation upon the two young lovers. Juliet uses emotive exclamatives such as ‘O be some other name!’ this shows that she wants to be Romeo’s but doesn’t want to lose her family, however because she is so in love even though a different name would be better for her situation she no longer cares and would do anything for Romeo at this time. Juliet also shows the innocence in her love and ones self-due to the hyperbole that she uses when speaking about Romeo ‘perfection’ this shows that she is in ore of him and nothing could change her mind about him because she is love struck.
In Act 2 Scene 5 Juliet is waiting from the Nurse to see if she can marry Romeo. Juliet's soliloquy in Act 2 Scene 5 shows her youthful energy and enthusiasm in contrast with the Nurse, who is old, decrepit, and slow. Unlike acting mature like in other scenes, Juliet acts like a young teenage girl who has little patience for gratification. Since the Nurse has been much more of a mother figure to Juliet than Juliet's biological mother, it follows that Juliet would feel free to act her age in the Nurse's presence. Juliet's thought is that because Love is painted as swift, it ought to be swift. Instead, she is still waiting for the slow Nurse, who can't possibly care as much as Juliet does, because she's old. If she weren't old, "Had she affections and warm youthful blood, She would be as swift in motion as a ball; My words would bandy her to my sweet love, And his to me" The "ball" in Juliet's metaphor is a tennis ball, bandied back and forth between young generation and the Nurse who is old.
In Act 3 Scene 2, Juliet waits impatiently for night to fall so that she can celebrate her wedding night with Romeo. The Nurse arrives and in her grief, misleads Juliet into thinking that Romeo has been killed. When the Nurse eventually reveals that it is Tybalt who is dead, Juliet's fears are only slightly relieved. Light and dark imagery again play important roles in creating mood, foreshadowing action, and showing fate upon the characters in the play. Juliet beckons the darkness because it has been a sanctuary for the couple, "if love be blind, it best agrees with night." She and Romeo met under the cover of night; they agreed to marry as they were shrouded in darkness and were forced to part as dawn broke; they consummate their marriage at night; and they ultimately die together under the cover of night. Their affinity for the darkness illustrates their separation from the temporal, feuding world. Juliet begs fate to "cut Romeo out in little stars" so that "all the world be in love with night." These stars represent both the timeless quality of the couple's love and their fate as "star-crossed lovers" who will only truly be united in death.
Romeo and Juliet are in her bedroom as daylight approaches. They pretend for a short minute that it really is still the night, but the Nurse arrives to tell Juliet her mother approaches. Romeo descends from the balcony to the ground and bids her goodbye. Lady Capulet tells Juliet she has news to cheer her up, namely the planned wedding with Paris. Juliet tells her that she would sooner marry Romeo rather than Paris. Capulet himself enters and becomes furious when Juliet refuses to marry Paris. He calls Juliet "young baggage" and orders her to prepare to marry Paris the upcoming Thursday. Juliet turns to the Nurse for advice because she's the only left. Juliet stays loyal to her husband and as she is already married, marrying Paris would be a sin against God, as well as an unthinkable betrayal of Romeo. The Nurse tells her, marrying Paris would be a step up on the social ladder. He's better looking and a much better catch. Juliet cannot believe this is happening and she is devastated to find out that the nurse isn’t on her side anymore, her most confined companion. Juliet has only one ally left; Friar Laurence and if h can’t help her, she will be completely alone. Suicide would be her only option; this shows how courageous Juliet has become due to being isolated from her most important, Nurse and Romeo. Juliet would much rather kill herself than to live without Romeo.
Act 4 Scene 3, Juliet and her nurse make the final preparations for the wedding that is to take place the following morning. Lady Capulet offers her assistance, but Juliet asks to be left to her prayers and sends the Nurse and her mother away. Juliet then reflects on the Friar's plan. She wonders if the Friar has given her actual poison to cover his role in marrying a Capulet and a Montague. She decides she must trust the Friar. However if the potion fails to work, she resolves to die rather than marry Paris. To that end, she places a dagger by her bedside. Juliet asserts her independence in this scene by asking her betrayers, the Nurse and Lady Capulet, to leave her alone. By this action, she both physically separates herself from her family and proactively takes a step toward the fruition of her plan to be with Romeo. Juliet says ‘’I needs must act alone.’’ This shows imagery on stage, this is when what Juliet says is witnessed by her actions as a character on stage. Throughout the whole of the scene Juliet asks a large majority of questions such as ‘’he married me before to Romeo?’’ this shows that she is fearful as she has to keep going over all different questions in her head before she sleeps. Dreadful imagery of fear is used by Shakespeare to present the mental state of Juliet as a character, ‘’to whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in, and there die strangled.’’ This also shows gothic imagery. The scene as a whole is gothic as it presents suicide, fake death, dark imagery and very dark thoughts from Juliet. Juliet’s character has changed dramatically however she still has that innocent love for Romeo that she did when she first met him, ‘’Romeo, Romeo, Romeo.’’