juliet

• 'it is an honour that i dream not of'

  • honour- noun, shows the importance and gravity of marriage to a elizabethen woman
  • dream- abstract noun, she clearly has other ambitions than marriage, this could be due to her young age or she just doesnt look forward to it
  • AO3- juliet recognises the importance of marriage and reveals she is uninterested in it the same sentance, this was unusual for victorian women as their whole role in society was to be a good mother and wife
• 'I'll look to like if looking liking move'

  • repetition of the verb look, suggests it would depend on initial attraction, she is challenging expectations as she does not submit to having no choice
  • alliterative ring- suggests intelligence and playfullness in her manner
  • AO3- she seem unimpressed at marrying paris although many girls in the victorian era would have been married to men regardless of physical atrributes or age, paris was an exceptionally desireable match
• Juliets message as a character:

  • question society
  • let children be young
  • a warning to parent not to pass their grudges onto their children
  • love is more powerful than anything ? (debatable)
• '... thy propose marriage, send me word tomorrow'

  • send- imperative, Juliet is taking control over her marriage, contrasts to her fathers arrangement with Paris in scene 2
  • marriage- noun, she is no longer calling it an honour, instead she is almost insisting on it
  • purpose- abstract noun, her 'purpose' is very clear, she is now taking control over her future and who she will marry
  • AO3- This scene shows a reversal of gender roles, Romeo is overly emotional and polite and Juliet is much more practical and uses language which shows she is in control (typical masculine traits)
• 'O happy dagger'

  • happy- adjective, suggests that she is welcoming death and is almost excited to potentially meet romeo in the afterlife
  • dagger- noun, was associated with male power, and yet she uses to end her life
  • personification- has sexual connotations, stage directions state she takes romeos dagger, could suggest that this is the last time he will penetrate her
  • AO3- reminds the audience that up until this point juliet has been disenfranchised (powerless), and now only has the power to kill herself, shakespear could be blaming societies expectations for her death