3.2.2
Tragic Character
Juliet as a Tragic Character
Juliet as a Tragic Character
Juliet is presented as being isolated and without options on two key occasions:
Marriage drama
Marriage drama
- After Lord Capulet tells Juliet that she must marry Paris, and both Lady Capulet and the Nurse refuse to help, she can see no way out of the marriage, even though she knows she is already married.
- When she visits Friar Laurence in Act 4, she tells him, 'I long to die'.
- The audience may feel a lot of sympathy for Juliet at this point. For the first time in the play, she is alone and without help – even her Nurse has taken away her support. She visits Friar Laurence because she has no other option.
- Juliet is tragic because she is trapped – she has no choice but to follow the Friar’s plan.
Death
Death
- Juliet’s isolation and uncertainty is reinforced when she is preparing to take the sleeping potion.
- She questions the Friar’s motives – 'What if it be a poison, which the friar subtly had minister’d to have me dead, lest in this marriage he should be dishonour’d'. She worries that Friar Laurence may not be being honest with her and may, in fact, be trying to kill her. She thinks he could be doing this so he doesn’t get into trouble for marrying her and Romeo.
- This quote shows Juliet to be a tragic heroine as she is facing this on her own. She is willing to risk death to be with Romeo.
Significance of Juliet's Tragic Death
Significance of Juliet's Tragic Death
The audience is likely to feel enormous sympathy for Juliet when she wakes up in the tomb.
'Where is my Romeo'
'Where is my Romeo'
- Juliet’s first thought is 'Where is my Romeo?.
- The audience knows that Romeo has killed himself because he thinks she is dead.
- Here, the tragedy reaches its highest point. The audience remembers that Juliet and the Friar had created this plan to fake her death so that Romeo and Juliet could be together.
- Instead, the plan has backfired and will (as the audience knows) result in the death of both protagonists (main characters).
Response to seeing Romeo
Response to seeing Romeo
- When Juliet sees Romeo dead beside her, she picks up his dagger to kill herself.
- This highlights the tragedy of the story again because we are reminded of how simple her hopes were – she just wanted to be with Romeo, but the family feud (fight) has caused her to kill herself.
1Context
2Plot Summary
2.1Prologue
2.2Act 1
2.5Act 4
3Key Characters
3.1Romeo
3.2Juliet
3.3Mercutio
3.4The Nurse, Benvolio & Tybalt
3.5Friar Laurence
3.6Grade 9 - Key Characters
4Key Themes & Concepts
4.1Power & Danger of Love
5Writing Techniques
Jump to other topics
1Context
2Plot Summary
2.1Prologue
2.2Act 1
2.5Act 4
3Key Characters
3.1Romeo
3.2Juliet
3.3Mercutio
3.4The Nurse, Benvolio & Tybalt
3.5Friar Laurence
3.6Grade 9 - Key Characters
4Key Themes & Concepts
4.1Power & Danger of Love
5Writing Techniques
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