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Macey Bearden

3/8/18

Language & Literature 8B

What it is, Not What Appears to Be

Naïvity is often defined as the lack of experience, wisdom, or judgement. In many works

of art, the naïve character is often rendered the victim for their lack of these vital traits. The

simple lack of knowledge that is in their character can make them the target of more malevolent

and intelligent characters. This simple, typically seemingly harmless, flaw in character holds the

potential to lead to death, tragedy, and/or heartbreak. A stellar example of naïvity leading a

character to a bad fate would be Little Emily in David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. In this

book, Emily has her own Romeo and Juliet story with a slightly different ending. Emily is a

naïve character that is destined to marry another, more practical man, but she falls in love with

who she should not have fallen in love with. Because of her lack of judgement, she is allowed to

live but must suffer the consequences of her decision for the rest of her life. In Shakespeare’s

Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare makes Juliet into a naïve character so that he is able to

demonstrate and explain the consequences of making decisions based on a belief instead of

reality.

Shakespeare sets Juliet as an innocent and naïve character from the very beginning of the

play to lay a foundation for the reader to learn his lesson that there are major consequences to

making unfounded decisions. Juliet is only a little girl, the ideal prey to set up for more predatory

characters such as Romeo and the perfect character to use for his demonstration. Upon their first

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encounter, Romeo shows the reader that Juliet’s opinion of a person can be easily changed.

Romeo’s first words to her are a request to kiss her hand, “If I profane with my unworthiest hand

/ this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this, my lips two blushing pilgrims ready stand / To smooth

that rough touch with a tender kiss.” (I v, 95-98). While this should have been a warning sign to

Juliet, she instead continues to converse with Romeo by flirting back. A few exchanges later and

the characters have their first kiss, even though Juliet knows that Romeo is prone to changing

love interests. She tells him after their first kiss that “you kiss by th’ book” (I v, 113). By telling

him this, Juliet is explaining to the reader that she is aware of Romeo’s many former kisses with

women. Despite knowing that her newfound love interest is directed by almost solely eros, she is

still interested in Romeo. After only a few exchanges between the two of them, Juliet has

forgotten who she was supposed to marry and is now focused on Romeo. With this simple

choice, Juliet has managed to destroy her life. What Juliet imagines to be her future with Romeo

is far from what could be the truth. Juliet is too occupied with fantasizing about her future to

realize that there is no future between the two. They have not conversed enough to realise the

major differences in their personalities, as this difference will become very apparent much later

on. The pair is not beneficial for either of them, yet their opinions and mindset say that it is

because they are focusing on the appearances of the other and not their personalities.

Shakespeare chose to make Juliet a naïve character through the middle of the play so that

he may continue to drive his point, that an image is not always reality, to the reader. Their

marriage would likely have been forbidden by both of their households, yet the two young

characters choose to pursue a marriage with one another. Soon after their first encounter, Juliet

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privately confesses to herself her love for Romeo. Romeo, lurking nearby, hears Juliet’s

soliloquy. Despite being unaware of Romeo’s presence, Juliet exposed her confusion and a love

for a man that she has just met. No real bond has been made yet, and despite this they both are

drawn to each other because of their looks and not their character. When Romeo finally

announces his presence in what will be the second encounter between the two, Juliet is left

vulnerable as her feelings have already been said to whatever lies beyond her balcony. Juliet has

not given herself the time to think through her choices, as she was questioning herself just short

moments before. After warning Romeo to go away, she tells Romeo “I have no joy of this

contract to-night, it is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden, too like the lightning, which doth

cease to be / Ere one can say, it lightens. Sweet, good night. This bud of love by summer’s

ripening breath / May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.” (II ii, 116-124). Juliet

herself knows that loving Romeo is not good, although she continues to love him. In Juliet’s

mind, she entirely believes that once she is married to Romeo, everything will be alright. Friar

Laurence also contributes to this rash decisions, and marries the two in the hopes of uniting the

Capulet and Montague households. However, if their marriage had been successful, there would

have been another conflict that would have arisen. To define a ‘successful’ marriage of the two,

Romeo would not have been banished for murdering Tybalt. Without Romeo’s banishment,

Tybalt would most likely have been alive. Once the Capulets had discovered that Romeo had

married their daughter without consulting them beforehand, it would have been seen as an insult.

Tybalt, young and fiery, would likely have challenged Romeo to attempt to defend the honor that

the Capulets had lost at the hands of Romeo. Considering Tybalt’s competence in a duel, Juliet

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would be left without a spouse. As Juliet is no longer a virgin and not as complacent as many

men would like her to be in her time period, she would likely no longer be attractive to men that

she was formerly attractive to such as Paris. Juliet’s life would have likely been made miserably

with almost any scenario possible involving her marriage to Romeo, but Juliet is unable to see

ahead of the present and thus will be unable to predict the consequences of her choices. Juliet

reacted to Romeo in this way in the first place because Shakespeare needs Juliet to make his

message obvious to whoever reads or watches his plays. If Juliet had a more well-developed and

intelligent character, especially in the time period that Romeo and Juliet is set in, she would

have chosen to marry Paris out of practicality given his social status. Juliet’s life was laid out for

her, and she would have remained pampered and sheltered as she had been previously. Her

unfounded choice to rebel against this path that was laid out for her was the perfect scenario for

Shakespeare to demonstrate the necessity of making well-founded decisions.

To the end of the play, Shakespeare chooses to make Juliet into a rather naïve as well as

desperate woman. Her actions quickly become desperately rash, to the point where she commits

suicide. She could have lived an average life with Paris, who seems to have a similar personality

to Romeo. Paris also attempts to get Juliet to tell him how much she loves him, and Juliet says, “I

will confess to you that I love him,” to which Paris responds, “So will ye, I am sure, that you

love me” (IV i, 25-26). Paris has a significant amount of ego which is a character trait that he

shares with his fellow upperclassmen, Romeo. Juliet, still bent on trying to salvage her marriage

with Romeo, has to deliberately obscure the true meaning behind her answers to Paris’s

questions. Because of Juliet’s constantly growing anxiety and desperation, she becomes even

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more unstable and threatens to commit suicide to avoid her fate of bigamy. By now, Juliet is able

to recognize that her future is almost beyond repair and shows the reader this for the first time.

Her decisions have finally caught up to her, and Juliet is looking towards a dark future. A plan by

the Friar as a final attempt to save Juliet, as well as his own reputation, fails so that Shakespeare

is able to draw his point to a close. Juliet’s ultimate punishment for making her unfounded

decision to pursue a future with Romeo led to her death, proving that making decisions based on

beliefs and not facts can lead to a horrible demise.

Juliet’s decisions in her life lead to her death, which can be considered by many as the

ultimate punishment. Her choices were solely on what she believed to be, Romeo being a perfect

husband for her because he is handsome, instead of what is. Romeo isn’t perfect because he’s

handsome, he’s imperfect because of his flaws in character that Juliet is unable to see because

she cannot see beyond his looks. Shakespeare has successfully proved that Juliet’s lack of

judgement in her choice of marriage led to her downfall. With this play, Shakespeare hoped to

convey the message to his audience that marriage should be based on personality instead of

looks, and that decisions should be well-founded before being made. Shakespeare has

successfully communicated his point by providing a vivid example of a tragic story driven by a

little girl’s lack of judgement.

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Citations

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Everbind, 1965.