Throughout the novel Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses many diverse techniques through the two main characters Romeo and Juliet to portray the development of their personalities. This can primarily be seen in Juliets two soliloquies; one full of love, passion, and innocence while the other shows Juliet as a more mature, decisive but also anguished individual. This is achieved through the use of diction, imagery, pace, and tone. These techniques also affect the theme of tragedy in the play as it gives the reader a sense of mood changes from seeing Juliet as a light-hearted and nave girl to a bitter and despairing young adult. In both soliloquies, the structures are somewhat similar. However, the punctuation of the first soliloquy makes the poem faster, continuous and more dynamic, whereas the second soliloquy is of a much slower and pensive pace. This helps us to comprehend Juliets mood and the ambience around her, and is achieved through the use of literary techniques such as caesuras.
In the first soliloquy, Shakespeare starts with an excited mood saying Gallop apace, in the first line. This gives a very horsey-like rhythm to the speech, which suggests Juliets yearning for Romeo to come to her quickly. Shakespeare also uses alliteration such as fiery-footed and would whip you to the west, also showing Juliets longing and desire for Romeo to come swiftly. In the second and third line, Shakespeare introduces Phoebus (the Sun God) and his son Phaeton (who died from an accident from driving his chariot too fast). Using Phaeton in this context suggests that Juliet wants Romeo to come as rapidly as Phaeton travelled on his chariot. In the fourth line, Shakespeare also brings in the idea of night into the soliloquy (e.g. and bring the cloudy night immediately) to add to Juliets joyful mood. He does this by speaking of night in a positive manner, not a negative one (as other writers would normally describe the word night). This also emphasises Juliets impatience and eagerness for the night to come so that she could see Romeo.
The first speech is written in iambic pentameter, which adds a steadier rhythm to the speech. As iambic pentameter is based on the way we normally speak, this shows the audience how safe Juliet feels, as her speech is not as dramatic as usual. In the other soliloquy however, the pace of the speech speeds up as the soliloquy goes on, which shows that Juliet is getting more and more agitated as she contemplates strange and terrifying scenarios of what might happen to her once she drinks from the vial. This contrast between the two rhythms creates a sense of building tension which prepares us for the tragic ending of the play. Furthermore, it shows us that although Juliet has matured throughout the play, and has turned from acting in a child-like manner to a more sophisticated young lady, she still has a very vivid imagination and is still easily scared.
In addition, in the first soliloquy, Juliet uses diction to emphasise her yearning for Romeo. She includes words that refer to love in almost all of her metaphors and other descriptions. These are often used in relation to the night such as love-performing night in which lovers can see to do their amorous rights. She also uses astronomical imagery to show how light hearted she is in contrast with the audiences knowledge that she and Romeo have to be separated. We can see that Juliet associates the night with love, and a safe haven where she and Romeo can display their feelings for each other, and she feels she has time to say everything she wants to say. Shakespeare also uses dramatic irony as we know that Romeo has killed Tybalt and he and Juliet will be separated while she does not. This causes a lot of tension and emotion for the audience and we feel pathos for Juliet. This tension escalates further due to the caesura in the line and may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse- as we know Juliet is about to find out what really happened.
While Juliet describes the night, she uses a lot of imagery that has to do with disguise such as cloudy night, close curtain, and unseen. This indicates how she feels about the night as a dark hood where she and Romeo can hide behind from the rest of the world. The cloudy night also symbolises how clouded with love she is. Night is also referred to as a sober-suited matron, which is a metaphor that reminds us of Juliets nurse who is to protect her and Romeos love. Throughout the play, Juliet very much relies on others to take care of her, and when she does not have Romeo by her side or the night to protect her, she relies on her nurse. We can see this when she interrupts mid line as her nurse comes in towards the end of the soliloquy And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse. She is constantly in need of her nurse and in his case, is anxious to see her. Juliets candid behaviour is contrasted with the sexual references she makes in relation to what she and Romeo are about to do, such as learn me how to lose a winning match. In this line she is talking about winning Romeos physical love.
Within the soliloquy, Juliet also tends to jump from subject to subject which is similar to the actions of children. For example, she goes from being very juvenile, composed and pensive (thinking about Romeos arrival) to a sudden antagonism and impatience due to Romeo taking a long time to arrive. We are reminded that Juliet knows she is still a child as she uses the metaphor impatient child for herself. She also uses the word playd, which implies she is thinking about games that children would play. Moreover, we can see Juliets impatience by her continuous repetition of the word come (for example, Come, night, come, Romeo, come, thou day in night). She also uses a lot of imagery involving fast moving things such as fiery footed steeds. The use of alliteration in this phrase also adds to the fast moving beat of her soliloquy.
The second soliloquy, in contrast to the first line of Juliets first speech, starts with an abrupt caesura in the middle of the first line Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again which shows the finality of the speech and slows down the pace. This helps to create a more sombre and despairing mood in the scene. It also signifies that Juliet has a more adult, decisive outlook. Although Shakespeare has used the same technique in both the soliloquies, the different placement of the caesura defines what effect it has on the soliloquy.
In the second soliloquy, Juliets character is much more grown up and less innocent. This starts from the first sentence where the caesura shows her as a more independent person. This continues on through the stanza as she thinks of calling back her nurse but then chooses not to in the lines Nurse! What should she do here? My dismal scene I needs must act alone. This phrase shows the reader her changing character. However, even though she has become more mature, she still retains some of her childish features such as her impatience, and the feeling in which she needs someone beside her to help her. We can see this in the stage direction for her laying down the dagger. This symbolises Juliet laying down her childish security on the ground while still making sure she is not completely alone by personifying the dagger in the line lie thou there and using it as an accomplice which she relies on. Juliet also retains her childish imagination, which made the first soliloquy more exhilarating and energetic in contrast to the second soliloquy which shows her terrified emotions. This is especially seen in the last part of the soliloquy where she imagines herself starting to madly play with my forefathers joints. In this line, we can see how Shakespeare is trying to illustrate how her childhood has been disrupted by the events that have taken place since she fell in love with Romeo. This is because the image is too surreal, as we normally do not think of children playing with bones. We can also see this in her command Come, vial. She does not repeat the command to come unlike in the other soliloquy. This emphasises Juliets finality and determination.
However, as the speech progresses, Juliet is less and less convinced about what she is going to do. She asks rhetorical questions such as What if this mixture do not work at all? and starts to question whether the mixture is a poison by saying I fear it is. However, she then goes back on her word and decides it could not be possible for he (the friar) hath still been tried a holy man. Throughout the rest of the soliloquy, Juliet also uses negative, dark, and earthly imagery to convey the mood of the scene and her emotions. This enables the reader to feel pity towards Juliet as we note how carefree she was just a few days before, and how now she is frantic to clutch onto any hope. The vial becomes a hope, a way to escape her mad imagination as she thinks she is seeing Tybalts ghost in the line O, look! I see my cousins ghost. The caesura in this line emphasises her anxiety and fear.
The feelings Juliet experiences during her last soliloquy nearly drives her towards insanity and paranoia. She uses long sentences that go on for several lines but frequently contradicts what she says within them, emphasising the panic within her feelings. Once she starts to give in to this terror inside her, she verges towards madness and asks herself questions, replying to them herself. This shows signs paranoia as Juliet starts to see everything around her as an enemy (such as the vault she will be placed in). She uses personification to describe it as having a foul mouth which makes her feelings towards the vault to be even more fearful. Juliet also talks about death and night in the same sentence, showing that she does not think of the night as a helpful friend anymore but as something much more terrifying and something she wants to avoid at all costs. When scared, she still talks about Romeo which comforts her and reminds her of the need in doing something so unpleasant. This is turn shows her strong, passionate love for Romeo which enables her to keep strong enough to drink the concoction. This is shown in the last line when she says Romeo, I come! This do I drink to thee. Even though we know she will wake up from her sleep, the soliloquy is still filled with death, and towards the end, Juliet uses short and abrupt sentences which emphasise the inevitability of both her and Romeo dying, something that we have known will happen right from the start of the play in the first sonnet where we find out that the play is about A pair of start-crosss lovers who take their life. This created further dramatic irony as we know from the start of the play that their relationship will turn out badly and they will end up taking their life. This causes the reader feel somewhat sympathetic towards the two adolescent characters and ensures that we support their side in the play while thinking of their families as the evil characters in the play.
Overall, we can see the clear development of Juliets character throughout the play, which has mainly developed in the time between the two soliloquies. Juliet has become more of a mature and self-regulating young lady and is no longer the reckless, immature girl we saw at the beginning of the play. However, as her personality develops, she still retains some of her childish features (such as her extraordinary imagination which is visible throughout both of the soliloquies). This also creates a stronger bond between the audience and the characters in Romeo and Juliet. The audience becomes more enthralled in Juliets story towards the end of the play as it becomes more despairing and terrifying. This is evidently shown in these two soliloquies as the first one is full of life and happiness like Juliet at the beginning of the play, but the second is more sombre and mature. These two soliloquies are very constructive as they engage us and truly show us what Juliet as a character is like. The dissimilarity between the soliloquies portrays the changes that occur throughout the play and reveal the changes within the setting and mood of the characters inner emotions.
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