English Instrument 2

Study of Shakespeare
Act 3 Scene 2
Henry Stevens
Plan

Introduction:
Structure: Open sentence/definition, hypothesis, points, link

‘Romeo and Juliet’, a true tragedy written by William Shakespeare about two star-crossed lovers
whose passionate love for each other ends in death because of the senseless feud between their
families. The topics of love and tragedy, clearly evident throughout the film, will be analysed and
language features will be identified in order to capture the attention of the audience. These
language features will contribute to the overall tragedy of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and will provide a
powerful message to an Elizabethan audience and to a contemporary audience. GOOD
Body Paragraph 1:
Tragedy Paragraph:
Including the plot, characterisation and themes
Structure: PEEL – Point, evidence, explanation, link
The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in Act 3 scene 2 does indeed contribute to affecting the plot of the
film.

 Towards the middle of the scene, the character of Nurse comes in to bring news to Juliet.
“Enter Nurse, with cords. And she brings news, every tongue that speaks… Now, Nurse what
news? What hast thou there?”.
 Juliet’s first reaction – Romeo has died
o Romeo has been killed
o Nurse: “He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead” … “He’s gone, he’s killed, he’s dead”
o Nurse: “O Romeo, Romeo, Who ever would have thought it? Romeo!”
o Juliet: “Hath Romeo slay himself?”
o Juliet: “O, break my heart!
 Juliet’s second reaction – Romeo is slaughtered, and Tybalt is dead
o Nurse: “O Tybalt, Tybalt the best friend I had … That ever I should live to see thee
dead”.
o Juliet: “Is Romeo slaughtered, and is Tybalt dead? My dearest cousin and my dearest
lord?”
 Juliet’s third reaction – Romeo is banished for the death of Tybalt
o Nurse: “Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished. Romeo that killed him, he is banished”.
o Juliet: “O God! Did Romeo’s hand shed Tybalt’s blood?”
o Nurse: “It did, it did, alas the day, it did!”.

These specific actions and emotions used by Shakespeare for the character of Juliet portray to the
audience that she is very confused. GOOD This is because of her continuous emotions for Romeo, as
it is a true tragedy that Tybalt’s death is on Romeo’s hands. Good insight

Love Paragraph:
Including the plot, characterisation and themes
Structure: PEEL – Point, evidence, explanation, link

The love element that Shakespeare has used, is pinned towards the characters of Romeo and Juliet.

In Act 3 scene 2, pg 77, Nurse abruptly surprisingly clunky given your ability - causes Romeo and
continuously does so until Juliet interrupts her.

 Nurse: “There’s no trust, No faith, no honest in men. All perjured, All forsworn, all naught, all
dissemblers. … Shame come to Romeo.”
 Juliet: “Blistered be thy tongue. For such a wish! He was not born to shame”.
 Nurse: “Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin?”
 Juliet: “Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?”

Not only does this demonstrate Juliet’s love for Romeo but also shows her loyalties for her
husband. The death of Tybalt may have caused some loss of loyalties with her husband, Romeo,
but she still loves him dearly. Nurse has adopted a bit of a #metoo moment here and it serves to
 jolt Juliet out of her funk/ confusion. My Romeo isn’t like all men! How dare you group him with
the others….

Body Paragraph 2:
Language Features Paragraph
Shakespeare’s specific use of features throughout the scene
Structure: PEEL – Point, evidence, explanation, link

There is indeed a wide variety of language features that are depicted throughout Romeo and Juliet,
Act 3, scene 2. Devices that will be analysed include repetition, rule of three, oxymoron and
rhetorical question.

 Repetition
o Nurse: “He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead”
 This repetition phrase emphasises the supposed death of Romeo, portraying
to the audience that Juliet has lost Romeo.
 Rule of Three
o Nurse: “He’s gone, he’s killed, he’s dead”
 This specific rule of three ties with the repetition phrase, as Nurse has given
the news to Juliet about the supposed death of Romeo. The use of “he’s” is
continuously used while “gone, killed and dead” are the emotive words.
o Nurse: “There’s no trust, No faith, no honest in men. All perjured, All forsworn, all
naught, all dissemblers.
 The character of Nurse in this circumstance is cursing Romeo, as he killed
Tybalt. Shakespeare has certainly tried to portray this specific feature to the
audience as he used two different types of rule of three, with the same
meaning. In the first technique the use of “no” is used three times, with the
emotive words being “trust, faith and honest”. In the second technique the
use of “all” is applied four consecutive times, and “perjured, forsworn,
naught and dissemblers” are the emotive words. Well the use of all also
highlights that she isn’t just talking about Romeo. Old, single women who
has nursed other children during her life but would appear to be short on
romance and affection in her own life.
 Oxymoron
o There are indeed several oxymorons used by the character of Juliet throughout this
scene.
o Juliet: “O serpent heart, hid with a flowing face”.
 Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to
create an effect. The common oxymoron phrase is a combination of
an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings.
 This oxymoron is about the character of Romeo as Juliet is very emotionally
disappointed in her husband for the death of Tybalt. Throughout this
emotion Juliet continuously condemns her sorrow for Tybalt but also her
anger towards Romeo.
 “Serpent heart” and “flowing face”, this phrase demonstrates that Romeo is
quiet attractive as Juliet has fallen for his love, but he has a terrible soul; the
killing of Tybalt.
 o Throughout this outburst of oxymorons, the audience could identify the language
device of five stages of grief. The use of oxymorons is continuously portrayed by
Juliet – especially when she was going through the five stages of grief. These stages
were apprehended within a very short period, almost depicted to the audience as
five stages of confusion.
o Just worried about your depth Henry. This is essentially outstanding but do you have
enough word length that would allow you to develop such an extensive reply. No
problem with the quality or insights you are a natural in this area which is great but
just bear in mind you might not be able to cover everything.

Body Paragraph 3:
Elizabethan Audience Paragraph
Cultural assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs
Structure: PEEL – Point, evidence, explanation, link

Elizabethan audience – would have effectively thought that Juliet’s decision was very unusual

 Juliet deciding on sexual love – Romeo

 Juliet not deciding on immediate family – Tybalt

The Elizabethan audience would have thought this because they were very traditional people and
very on- sided opinions – ‘whether something was right or wrong’. This would have influenced their
decisions on the Romeo and Juliet play as they would have gone against Juliet’s decision; making the
‘right’ decision of choosing family rather than loved ones.

Contemporary Audience Paragraph

Cultural assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs
Structure: PEEL – Point, evidence, explanation, link

Contemporary audience (modern day) – would understand this decision of Juliet choosing her own
sexual love for Romeo. However, the modern-day audience may have thought that it was odd to fall
in love in 48 hours and to marry one another.

 This would have been very unusual as modern-day society values long love for over a period
of one year.
 The attitude for the contemporary audience in making this decision to fall in love would have
been quite negative, due to several opinions in modern day; ‘not being about to fall in love
within 48 hours’.
 Really good as usual Henry. You task now is just to develop the cohesion so that your overall
perspective ‘flows’. Not in the sense that your perspective isn’t coherent- just that you have
soooooo much material! Make sure you fulfil the key requirements as per the task sheet
and use the language of the task where possible to provide a clear connection with task.
Thanks for the hard work. Much appreciated.
