Juliet Soliloquy Act 4 Scene 3

In Act 4, Scene 3, Juliet prepares to drink the potion given to her by friar Laurence. Before drinking, she says a soliloquy in which shows us her fear, loneliness and worries. Her feelings are shown to us effectively due to Shakespeare’s use of language and imagery.The isolation of Juliet is clearly emphasized at the beginning of her soliloquy. This is done by the way she wants to call her Nurse back. “I’ll call them back again to comfort me:” We understand the loneliness and fear she experiences.

There’s no one she can trust, not even her Nurse.We can also feel Juliet’s doubts creeping out. “What if it be a poison?” “What if this mixture do not work at all?” She is afraid that the friar may have given her poison so as to conceal his own dishonor in having married her and Romeo. Shakespeare successfully plants the doubts here by making use of words to make Juliet seem scared and confused.

Juliet’s doubts in drinking the potion mirror that of Romeo’s in the coming scene, when he buys the poison from the apothecary.Juliet is also afraid with what could go wrong with the plan. Her terror is expressed by the frequent use of violent and gruesome language like “bloody Tybalt” and “play with my forefathers’ joints”. These are also imagery, which shows the horror of what could happen. The mouth imagery is also used her as she describes the vault as having a “foul mouth” where “no healthsome breath breathes in”.

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The imagery amplifies the terror and fear she has. Also, ironically, she worries about what would happen if she awakens too early but not what would happen if she awakens too late, which is exactly what happens.Juliet’s courage is expressed by her willingness to take the potion despite her fears and worries. This is due to the love she has for Romeo. She has taken the precaution of bring her knife with her in case the potion does not work. She clearly intends to carry out her threatened suicide if necessary and sadly, this is exactly what she does in the tomb.Shakespeare successfully conveys the emotions that Juliet experiences, through her soliloquy. Her fear, loneliness, worries and courage is clearly expressed to the audience by the use of imagery and the clever use of words. A great deal of irony is also used in this soliloquy and the image of Juliet drinking the potion as a toast to Romeo is full or irony and is also echoed later at the end of the play.

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