2.5 Juliet Receives Romeo's News

Prompt A: Summary-
Juliet is impatient, having to wait three hours for the Nurse to return with the new from Romeo.  When the Nurse finally returns, the Nurse complains that she is tired, her body aches, and the ride was very bumpy.  Juliet bombards the Nurse with questions, but sticking to the point of whether or not Romeo will marry her, and if so, where and when.  The Nurse then turns the conversation around, making Juliet feel bad for causing the Nurse such discomfort and teases her by almost telling her the answer several times.  At the end of the scene, the Nurse finally tells Juliet that Romeo has decided to marry her in Friar Lawrence's cell today during shrift.  Juliet is very excited by this news, and the Nurse seems as if she secretly approves of this decision.

Prompt C: Questions-
Nurse- What is the benefit of dragging out the conversation instead of telling Juliet the news from  
            Romeo immediately?
Juliet- Do you believe that you will not act like the Nurse, "Unwieldy, slow, heavy, and pale as lead," 
           when you become much older? 
Peter- Were you listening in on the conversation while you stayed at the gate?
Nurse- As you were about to answer Juliet's question about Romeo's message, what made you ask, 
            "Where is your mother?"?
Nurse- Did you say that, "[Romeo] is not the flower of courtesy" because of how his friend Mercutio 
            treated you?

Prompt F: Relationships-
The Nurse and Juliet do not seem to get along very well in this scene, both being frustrated with the other.  Throughout the scene, the Nurse complains about how her head, bones, and back all hurt from the delivery of Romeo's message.  The Nurse exclaims, "[Curse] your heart for sending me about to catch my death with jauncing up and down."  Juliet is also very annoyed about how the Nurse will not repeat Romeo's message right away.  She becomes frustrated when the Nurse complains that she is tired and out of breath and responds by saying that, "How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath to say to me that thou art out of breath?"  This shows her impatience because on other occasions, Juliet would probably let the Nurse catch her breath instead of criticizing her.  At the end of the scene, the Nurse still complains about her servitude to Juliet, saying that, "[The Nurse is] the drudge and toil in [Juliet's] delight."  The snippet of the movie we watched in class also emphasizes the point that the Nurse complains a lot about being bossed around by Juliet.

1.3 Juliet's Plight

Prompt B: Theme-
There is an age range in which people are mature enough to get married. (Juliet is not old enough to want to be married)

Prompt D: Quotes-
When Lady Capulet mentions that Juliet is coming of age and is almost ready for marriage, Juliet responds that, "It is an honour that I dream not of."  This line indicates that Juliet does not believe she is ready to be married off to a wealthy noble.  Unfortunately, this goes against the norm of the time period.  Lady Capulet mentions that, "Here in Verona, ladies of esteem...Are already made mothers."  In the sixteenth century, noble women would be married off to rich nobles almost two times their age, in order to expand the wealth and improve the rank of the family.  Juliet may have no choice whether or not she marries to Paris now, or puts it off until a few months later, because in the end, it is her family's decision, not Juliet's.

Prompt E: Image-

http://www.portrait-photos.org/photo/17837.html
This image symbolizes Juliet's plight because she feels trapped by her mother's decision that she is going to get married to Paris.  The fence represents her inability to escape the marriage and the heart represents the love that she does not have for Paris.