A Few Notes on Juliet (Romeo and Juliet)

As a tragedy, Romeo and Juliet is fairly engrossing; as a love story, it’s pretty ridiculous.  I think we all know this, so I won’t get into that.  What I will get into is an interesting nugget that struck me the last time I read the play, dealing with Juliet and her father at the end of Act III.

So, context.  At this point, Juliet has married Romeo in secret, and Romeo, having killed her cousin in a feud-related street fight on his way home from their wedding, has been banished to Mantua.  He’s just said his goodbyes to her, staying in town long enough for them to have a wedding night before making himself scarce.  Friar Laurence is their ally, and they’re planning to bide their time until he comes up with a way reconcile their families to their marriage and Romeo can come home.

That’s the state of affairs when Lord Capulet throws a huge wrench in the whole “bide their time” plan – he’s decided that Juliet will marry Paris in two days.  She makes every protest she can think of, both reasonable and emotional, but he hears none of it.  (In truth, he’s downright vicious.  At the start of the play, his approval of Paris depends on Juliet’s feelings:  “An she agree, within her scope of choice / Lies my consent and fair according voice.”  The second she says that she doesn’t want to marry Paris, however, he turns on her absolutely.  It’s creepy.)

This exchange understandably puts Juliet in a state, and it spurs Friar Laurence to come up with the fateful faked-death plan that culminates in both Romeo and Juliet killing themselves over what basically amounts to a miscommunication and bad timing.  (Harsh, right?)  But the thing is, there was no need for an overly-complicated stratagem that involved lots of subterfuge and relied on a message being delivered by hand in a timely manner.  There was no need for Juliet to take drugs that nearly stop her heart, make her family think she’s dead, or lay her in her family crypt and wait for someone to break her out when she comes to.  This is because, during the very conversation that incites the creation of this insane plan, her dad gives her an out.

In the midst of his tirade, Lord Capulet makes it clear that, if Juliet doesn’t marry Paris, she’s breaking with the family.  “Get thee to church o’ Thursday,” he tells her, “Or never after look me in the face.”  Essentially, marry Paris or get out.  And because this is the scene in which Lord Capulet shows how awful he is, he makes no bones about it.  He goes on to say, “An you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend; / And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, / For, by my soul, I'll ne’er acknowledge thee, / Nor what is mine shall never do thee good.”

This is Juliet’s chance.  She couldn’t have gone with Romeo to Mantua earlier, because her movements are too heavily dictated by her parents.  But here, her dad is saying that, if she doesn’t fall in line, she can leave home and never come back, starving for all he cares (once again – such a standup guy.)  Leaving home, what would she be able to do?  Join Romeo, be with him like she wants.  No crazy plan necessary – her dad is practically holding the door open for her.  But Juliet doesn’t take this chance.  Why?  It seems there are two forces pulling Juliet here.  She wants to be with Romeo, but she doesn’t want her family to think less of her.  She doesn’t want to be anything other than their good daughter.  At the end of the day, she would rather have them believe she’s dead than think that she defied them.  And that desire, in its own way, contributes to the end of her life.