Write a character study for Juliet, using quotes from the play.

Essay by KesingtonHigh School, 10th gradeA+, June 2004

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Juliet is the 14 year old daughter of Capulet. She is innocent, naive, and at first comes across as being very blase about love (although this is a false impression). She has a special relationship with her nurse but is more distant with her parents. After Juliet has fallen in love with Romeo we learn a lot more about her character; her passion; her need to be loved and the desperate measures she will go to for Romeo. Despite her young age Juliet proves to be a complex and mature character.

In the first scene where Juliet is present, her nurse and mother are discussing her marriage. Shakespeare has provided a contrast between the way Juliet speaks to either adult, to establish the relationships. To her nurse (in the midst of a long, jumbled, inarticulate speech) she chides affectionately, as to a greatly loved one: "Stint thou to, I pray thee, nurse, say I" (1.3,

58), yet to her own mother her tone is more polite and polished , conveying the respect, but not warmth, that she feels for her. In a scene with just her and the nurse, Juliet appears even more free and comfortable with her speech, she cries without restraint: "O God, she comes: O honey nurse, what news?" (2.5, 18) therefore showing the honest and loving relationship between the two. A phrase that portrays the nurse's maternal affection for Juliet is "prettiest babe that e'er I nursed" (1.3, 60).

Juliet's attitude towards love and marriage changes quite drastically when she meets Romeo allowing us to understand the passionate and desperate way the two characters love one another. When Lady Capulet and the nurse attempt to persuade her Paris is a fine man (Shakespeare uses the metaphor "man of wax" to convey his handsome exterior...