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Matt Spencer

Ms. Jennah Lalley

English I

20 April 2010

Juliet’s Patience

Romeo and Juliet is a famous play by William Shakespeare. It is a love story and a
tragedy that has been told over years. Romeo and Juliet is the story of two feuding families,
when one generation of the families falls in love things go wrong. The main characters, Romeo
Montague and Juliet Capulet, are “star-crossed” lovers. Because of their lack of patience, they
both lose their lives. After the pass away, the fathers offer peace and will erect gold statues of
their children. In the William Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet, the lack of patience of Juliet is
shown through dramatic irony, foreshadowing, and metaphors.

Shakespeare uses a lot of dramatic irony in the play to point out the lack of patience in
the character Juliet. Romeo’s cousin, Mercutio and Romeo’s friend, Benvolio, do not realize that
he and Juliet are in love; they believe that he is still in love with a former girl he likes named,
Rosaline. Benvolio and Mercutio question Romeo about his old love for Rosaline, and they are
unaware of his sudden new love for Juliet. “O thou art deceived! I would have made it short; for
I was come to the whole depth of my tale and meant indeed to occupy the argument no longer”
(Shakespeare 2. 4. 90-95). The first night that Romeo and Juliet meet, they fall in love. “Then
move not, while my prayer’s effect I take [kisses her] thus from my lips by yours my sin is
purged” (Shakespeare 1.5.106-107). Romeo just met Juliet and he kisses her. This shows the lack
of patience in Juliet because Juliet kisses back. The lack of patience is caused by the feud and the
lovers do not want their families to find out about their love. Romeo and Juliet are victims of the
feud. Kenneth John Atchity states in his article,”…their tragedy if greater because of their
innocence” (Atchity 5699). The feud is passed down to them. Their marriage is a possible way to
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drop the feud but after Romeo and Juliet pass away at the end that is when the father’s offer
peace and drop the feud. Shakespeare uses other literary devices as well.

Shakespeare uses foreshadowing. Juliet comes back from Paris’s party and meets Romeo.
She says to the nurse, “Go ask his name-If he is married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed”
(Shakespeare 1.5.134-135). This foreshadows that Romeo and Juliet get married in the future.
After Romeo is banished for killing Tybalt, Juliet goes to Friar Lawrence to get the potion she
takes to avoid marrying Paris. She says, “No, no! This shall forbid it. Lie thou there… [Lays
down the dagger]” (Shakespeare 4.4.23-24). Juliet is very impatient and she says she will kill
herself with a dagger if the potion does not work. This also tells us that her mother and Father are
oblivious to her suffering. Ruth Nevo states, “Their suffering is powerfully delineated. It is
Romeo’s despair at Friar Lawrence’s cell: it is Juliet’s horror as she contemplates the Friar’s
drug: and her greater horror as she contemplates her betrothal to Paris” (Nevo 83). Romeo and
Juliet suffer without each other, and without Romeo in Verona, Juliet cannot say that she and
Romeo were married. This leaves Juliet no other choice but to take the Friar’s drug. Many of
Juliet’s worries are about if she will wake up in time, if Romeo arrives on time, and if the drug
does not work. Juliet does not have the patience with her relationship. Not only does
foreshadowing tell us about this character but so do one other common device.

Shakespeare makes everything seem better or worse by comparison, using metaphors.

Lord Capulet thinks that his daughter, Juliet, is a good little girl who is innocent and pure.
“Flower as she was, deflowered by him” (Shakespeare 4.5.38). He is unaware of her loss of
virginity. Juliet is perfect to him, until she passed away. Juliet is already married to Romeo, and
she pleads with her parents to change their minds about making her marry Paris. She cries about
not being able to back out of the marriage. Lord Capulet says, “For still thy eyes, which I may
call the sea” (Shakespeare 3.5.133). Lord Capulet compares Juliet’s tears to the ocean. In such
little time of Juliet knowing Romeo, she cries because she is unable to back out of the marriage.
Juliet’s lack of patience is also caused by external circumstances and Ian Scott-Kilvert states,
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“The tragic outcome of the lovers’ passion is the result of external circumstances: the
timelessness of Romeo and Juliet’s inward experience, perfectly conveyed at the balcony scene,
is threatened and finally destroyed by the time-tied processes of the public feud between their
families.” (Kilvert 305). Romeo and Juliet’s love at first sight is fate, but once they found each
other, the reality of the feud finds its way in; the reality of their families’ feud is what causes
them to want to be together more. In Shakespeare’s play, Juliet is being compared to something
many situations.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy because of the deaths of the main characters. Romeo and
Juliet are meant to be together, but because of the feud, they cannot wait for things to get better
over time. Irony plays a major role in the play. The irony of the play shows the cluelessness that
the characters have. Juliet does not know Romeo at all the first night they meet, and says she
loves him. Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to give the audience more information on what to
expect in the play. He foreshadows the deaths, specifically the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Juliet
takes the potion is easy for the audience to understand that Romeo comes too late and she is
being buried alive in the tomb with Tybalt. Paris comes to the tomb to bring Juliet flowers.
Romeo sees Paris and strikes him down. Juliet is always being compared to various things.
Shakespeare uses metaphors to compare Juliet to many things. In the comparison of Juliet, to
whatever it maybe, there is guilt, and anxiety for Romeo. She has to look so good for her father
when yet, she is bad. She marries a member of the Montague the family in which hers feuds
with. Shakespeare ends his play with the following couplet, “For never was a story of more woe,
than this of Juliet and Romeo” (Shakespeare 5.3.320-321). Patience is a virtue; Romeo and Juliet
lack patience and the outcome is death. The lesson the audience can learn from this play is, don’t
rush into a relationship with a “stranger.” Despite all the signals that Romeo and Juliet’s
relationship will not work, Romeo and Juliet still give the relationship a shot, as a result of the
relationship both lose their lives (as stated before). The entire play of Romeo and Juliet is based
on what happens in a week. Each act is about a day. Romeo and Juliet shows what two people
experience in about a week, the audience experiences in a few hours. The most remarkable part
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to the audience is that a love that is so strong dies with so much ease. Queen Elizabeth II once
said, “Greif is the price we pay for love.” This is what Romeo and Juliet is about, love is
miserable when not appreciated or accepted, which leads to grief and sadness. It causes people to
do crazy things. In conclusion Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is filled with grief but,
is truly the greatest love story ever told.
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Works cited

Atchity, Kenneth John. “Critical Evolution” Masterplots. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Pasadena. Salem
Press. 1996. 5696-5700. Print.

Nevo, Ruth. Tragic from in Romeo and Juliet. Modern critical interpretations William
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Ed. Harold Bloom. Chelsea House Publishers. 200. 71,
83. Print.

Scott-Kilvert Ian. William Shakespeare.. British Writers. Ed. Ian Scott-Kilvert. Charles Scriber’s
Sons. 1979. 305-306. Print.

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Literature: timeless voices, timeless
themes. Ed. Ellen Bowler, and et. Al. Upper Saddle River: Prentice hall. 1999. 673-775.
Print.