In this essay I will answer the question focusing on how William

Shakespeare uses the characters to show thoughts and feelings

which take place in Act 3 scene 5.the main point of Act 3 Scene
5 from Romeo and Juliet is that Lord Capulet (Juliet’s Father)
learns of her refusal to get married to Paris. The scene in the
play takes place just after Romeo said goodbye to Juliet which
left her crying in despair. This scene is important because it
marks a change in the atmosphere and resulted in Juliet being
emotionally isolated. The characters in this scene were Lord
Capulet; who was by far the most dominant character in the
scene; his wife Lady Capulet who seemed lenient on her
husband as just before he walked she said “here comes your
father; tell him so yourself”. Juliet’s nurse also takes place in
this scene by trying to support Juliet while Lord Capulet insults
them both; the last character that takes part in this specific
scene is Juliet who the scene centres around as she is the one
being ordered to remarry another man and her refusal is what
brought Lord Capulet to express such hasty words in her
direction. The language techniques William Shakespeare used
in this scene consist of skills such as emotive language,
rhetorical questions and metaphorical context.

Lord Capulet can be compassionate or understanding as he was

worried when he first entered Juliet’s room by asking her what
was wrong. “How now! A conduit, girl? What, still in tears?
Evermore showering?” This shows that Lord Capulet can be a
caring person understanding people around him and how they
are feeling. Furthermore Lord Capulet does have more than just
his compassionate side do him. He can be an extremely short-
tempered man as shown in this scene. “Be quiet you mumbling
idiot”. This quote shows how angry Lord can get who whoever
he is talking to and however he is feeling which is true because
right before this scene he was feeling happy for his daughter
until he heard of her refusal to get married to Paris. In this
scene William Shakespeare has presented Lord Capulet’s
feelings by merging them slowly and forgetting one and
keeping to another as he showed by going from his confused
state to his angry/disgusted mood. This affects the rest of the
plays because his character is quite a major one meaning if he
acted differently it would have the same effect possibly
changing the storyline. Different performances would affect
different because it could be a different play or type of acting
that they are used to seeing.

Act 3 scene 5, for Juliet is emotionally isolated character in this

scene as she was left alone to decide whether to live on the
streets or marry Paris, the ‘soon to be son in law’. In this scene
we learn that her feelings, thoughts and emotions change quite
suddenly as it was shown in this scene on multiple occasions.
Juliet has expressed some of these emotions such as when her
mother walked in and asked her what was wrong, she replied:
“madam, I am not well,” which has two meanings being either
she is upset about the death of her cousin Tybalt, or she is
upset about the banishment of her husband, Romeo. This
shows how far her sorrow and disappointment can extend to;
causing her to isolate herself emotionally which means she
cannot show any other emotion while communicating with
others. Furthermore, I think a Shakespearean audience would
pity her but not as much as a modern audience as they would
focus on her totally until she came out of her state of
depression.

In her own mind, The Nurse’s main role in Act 3 scene 5 was to
support Juliet as shown somewhere near mid scene when Lord
Capulet raged at Juliet she stepped in and interrupted by
saying; “God in heaven bless her! You are to blame my lord, to
rate her so”, meaning that Lord Capulet is the only reason they
were in this situation which could be true because he is the one
who forced his only daughter Juliet, to have an arranged
marriage to Paris who was a rich young man around the same
age as Romeo. Nearer to the end of the scene, The Nurse
decided to switch her point of view and attempted to change
her mind and try to convince Juliet to marry Paris - but
persistent to her opinion, she remained in refusal to the Nurse’s
request. In addition, a Shakespearean audience may object to
her refusal because females in those days were seen as a kind
of ‘object’ to males, whereas a modern audience would respect
her opposing to Lord Capulet.

For lady Capulet in Act 3 scene 5, she is stubborn at the

beginning yet she becomes lenient on Lord Capulet as it
progresses as shown just before he walks in she says; “here
comes your father” which shows just how lenient and arrogant
she acts. Furthermore when Lord Capulet actually enters the
room, she takes a back-seat but still manages to leak her anger
through a few words at a time mid-way. I think a
Shakespearean audience would think she was powerful and
obstinate character as she only expresses her anger only
through a few words and also think they would honour her
slightly because of her not part-taking to the argument Juliet
had with her father, whereas a modern audience might get a
bit irritated by her arrogant act.

Overall, this scene is very important because it marked a

magnificent change in atmosphere only because if that scene
would have a big effect on the storyline as it shows the limits of
Lord Capulet especially how fierce he can be if his order or
request is ignored