Juliet

• Key Words/Phrases

  Fervid

  Defiance of societal and familial boundaries

  Impetuous

  Recklessness

  Love transcends mortal limitations

  Folly of youth

  Blind passion

  Disillusioned with their love

  Naive idealism
• My only love sprung from my only hate - A1

  Individual vs Society + Violence + Youth + Family + Love

  The juxtaposing 'love' and 'hate' encapsulates the core conflict of these two concepts which underpins the play. This foreshadows at the intertwined nature of passion and violence - these two forces will become indistinguishable, catalysing the tragedy further. The repeated use of the personal pronoun 'my' highlights Juliet's prioritisation of her own love over the societal and familial expectations that once restricted her.
• If he be married/My grave is like to be wedding bed - A1

  Violence + Individual v Society + Love + Destiny/Fate

  This creates dramatic irony since Juliet remains unaware of her impending fate. Her impulsive nature becomes her hamartia as she fails to grasp the true consequences of pursuing forbidden love. Shakespeare follows Aristotle's conventions of tragedy, aiming to produce pathos from the audience. Here pathos arises from Juliet's youthful recklessness in love, ultimately leading to her demise.
• Deny thy father and refuse thy name - A2.


  Individual vs Society + Love + Violence + Family +Youth

  Deny and refuse creates a semantic field of defiance, illustrating her rebellion and defiance against the constraints of her family feud and commitment to true love. Juliet's statement to 'deny thy father' goes against the norms of a patriarchal society where daughters were considered their father's property, used to enhance his political and social standing through arranged marriages.
• O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face - A3

  Love + Individual v Society + Violence + Family

  The term 'serpent' carries a biblical allusion to the story of Adam and Eve's fall in Genesis. Juliet's use of this term suggests her disillusionment with their love. Just as the serpent brought sin and suffering into the world in Genesis, Juliet realises that Romeo's involvement in her life will lead to similar consequences. The religious undertones may also reflect Juliet's recognition of her deviation from religious teachings. By defying societal norms for the sake of love, she now questions the strength of their love.
• "Then I'll be brief. O, happy dagger'

  Violence + Love + Individual vs Society + Family + Youth


  The term is oxymoronic, as the joyous connotations of 'happy' starkly contrasts with the deadly imagery 'dagger'. This juxtaposition illustrates Juliet's profound sorrow as she seeks comfort in death, seeing it as an eternal reunion with Romeo. The diction on 'brief' shows Juliet's urgent desire to escape from a world where their forbidden love challenges societal norms enforced by law, family, and religion. In death, they can finally be together, free from those obstacles. Her urgency to speed up the process highlights in her final moments, that her impulsiveness and recklessness are her hamartia-the very qualities that have led directly to her imminent demise.
• O, swear not by the moon, th'inconstant moon, 


  Youth

  She implies that the moon is inconsistent and not something she would want love to be synonymous with. This shows she has set standards and is not too quick to settle, despite her hastiness. The moon also typically represents virginity, as it is associated with the goddess Diana, which shows she is aware of the value of her virginity and thus the consequences of her rashness.
• 'No longer be a Capulet


  Love + Family

  She is passionate in her declaration of love; she is willing to forgo her lineage for this man she has just met. This declaration exemplifies her to be rather impulsive and fervid in the way she loves, which is again, a characteristic of the sign she was born under, Leo. The Elizabethans believed celestial bodies to have an enormous influence over a person's disposition, which explains why Juliet is so akin to those traits of her star sign.