Juliet’s speech in Act 4, Scene 3 Essay

Juliet’s address in Act 4. Scene 3. filled with much authoritative Shakesperean imagination. is a turning point in the drama for Juliet in which she wrestles with the struggles in her life and so finally comes to a determination. It encompasses all the major subjects in the drama and many thoughts all come together for the first clip in this transition. First of all. this soliloquy trades with fright. of what will go on if she takes the potion and of what will go on if she doesn’t. Second. it concerns clip. specifically the repeating dark and darkness motive. Third. it discusses love and decease. the two major contrasting subjects. Last. it introduces or reintroduces other antonyms. such as world versus visual aspect. which was the major metaphor in Juliet’s before address.

If one had to sum up this address in merely a few words. one would state it was an interior soliloquy about fright. in which Juliet worries about all the possible jobs that could bechance her. When she says “I have a swoon cold fright bangs through my venas. that about freezes up the heat of life” . she is stating that she has a bad feeling something unfortunate is traveling to go on that may ensue in decease. She even says. “God knows when we shall run into again” which shows that she isn’t certain what awful effects there may be from imbibing the potion. Initially she worries “What if it do non work at all? ” and that she’ll have to “be married so to-morrow morning” with Paris. Then. she becomes afraid that it’s a toxicant. which the mendicant “subtly hath minister’d to hold me dead” so that he should non be punished for get marrieding her to Romeo.

Following. she fears that she should rouse before Romeo arrives. Here. she imagines herself “stifled in the vault” . in other words that she dies suffocated because there is no “healthsome air” . or scared to decease because of “the panic of the place” . and being “packed” amidst “the castanetss of all my buried ancestors” . including Tybalt. After that. she envisions the liquors she has heard narratives about coming out to stalk her at the cemetery. Last. she worries she’s traveling to travel brainsick and. in her lunacy. kill herself. This is evidently adumbrative. peculiarly in the lines “if I wake. shall I non be distraught” . since when she does wake. she finds Romeo’s dead organic structure. and in the lines “dash out my despairing brains” . which represents that she is traveling to perpetrate self-destruction. Clearly. fright is present throughout the full address until she gets carried off plenty to make bold to imbibe the potion.

Another repeating subject in this address. which comes up once more and once more in the drama. is dark. The line “the atrocious amour propre of decease and night” is really of import as it ties together for the first clip the two chief antitheses in the drama. life and decease and twenty-four hours and dark. Here she is stating that if it is wholly dark. she will be scared to decease and hence to lie at that place in the darkness of the vault is to be every bit good as dead. Before. darkness meant Romeo could be hidden by the dark so he could travel see Juliet and was hence ironically associated with good things while visible radiation and the twenty-four hours brought them separation and problems and was hence associated with bad things.

However. now the dark represents for Juliet what it normally does for us. which is darkness. wretchedness and decease. Later. Shakespeare returns to the dry deductions of dark as brighter times as it is during the dark that Juliet is safe and things go harmonizing to program. whereas the minute morning interruptions. confusion reigns once more and the lovers take their lives. The night-related imagination is used here to paint a dark and glooming image of the grave to do Juliet look even more brave and therefore for the audience to sympathise with her.

Love and decease are two of the major subjects throughout the drama. which in a manner contrast one another and in a manner are dependent on one another. The full address is about Juliet oppugning her love for Romeo and whether she is willing to give her life to stay true to her love. She contrasts what will go on if she doesn’t drink the potion and has to get married Paris. with the chance of decease if she does imbibe it. After naming all the possible catastrophes that could bechance her as a consequence of imbibing the spirits. she ends with “Romeo. Romeo. Romeo. here’s drink! I drink to thee! ” . This tells us that to Juliet. get marrieding Paris is a destiny worse than decease and that she is willing to put on the line her life for Romeo.

So. her love toward him is both a Jesus as that is what motivated her to imbibe the potion and get away her day of reckoning but it is besides her ruin as their worship for each other is what kills them both in the terminal. Another manner to state this is that put on the lining decease will convey her love but decease itself will take him off. Throughout this full transition. there is this baleful menace of decease. boding the result of the drama. Specifically. the phrases “God knows when we shall run into again” . “freezes up the heat of life” . “if I wake. shall I non be distraught” and “dash out my despairing brains” all intimation at what will go on and state us that Juliet had made up her head and is willing to decease for Romeo.

This address incorporates many antonyms or antitheses that Shakespeare employs invariably in this play. Some of these are in the concrete linguistic communication such as the contrast at the beginning of this address between hot and cold. The simile “I have a swoon cold fear…that about freezes up the heat of life” is really poetic and clever because life represents the heat and passion between the two lovers. their “heat” and her fright is of decease. which turns a organic structure cold. Another illustration of antonyms is when Juliet inquiries whether the potion is a toxicant or an counterpoison to her problems. There are besides metaphorical antonyms. below the surface of the text. such as world versus visual aspect.

The chief topic of this infusion is the false decease. which makes her seem dead but she is truly alive. Subsequently. the word “act” on line 19 besides ties in to this symbol as it relates to staginess and pretense to be person or something that you are non. Clearly. antonyms are really of import in this transition because during the full address. Juliet is weighing her possibilities and inquiring herself what will go on if she does imbibe it and what will go on if she doesn’t. Inside. she is comparing what her life will be like with Paris and what her life will be like with Romeo.

This address is. I believe. an highly of import one in the drama. It is genuinely the minute where what has happened and what will go on come together in Juliet’s determination that she would give herself out of love for Romeo. Parallel to that coming together in the secret plan is an gathering of many images that have been used antecedently. It is besides of import because it is in my sentiment the minute that Juliet enters into maturity. In the lines “I demands must move alone” . Juliet is eventually ready to go forth the comfort of being a kid and do her ain picks in life. Her frights are natural ; everyone fears alteration. the unfamiliar. and so. portion of Juliet’s concerns in this address are those of holding to travel on and do her ain manner for herself in a universe full of adversities and obstructions. In the terminal. she takes comfort in Romeo. whom she expects to be at that place when she awakens. and drinks to him. Throughout the address. beautiful imagination is used and the five senses are incorporated to do the scene come to life in order for the audience to sympathise with the lovers before their tragic deceases.