If this entry feels similar to the one you did last night, it should. The difference, though, is that in the previous entry you were focused on Juliet and her feelings and now you should focus on the people in Juliet's life and how they perceive her death and marriage now that she is dead.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Juliet "Dies" on her Wedding Day (to be completed Thursday evening)
In Act IV, scenes 4 and 5 we see the various reactions of the people in Juliet's life when they believe she has died on her wedding day. Now the comparisons and metaphors between death and marriage become quite constant and intense. What do you notice about the language, comparisons and metaphors used to describe Juliet's death on the day of her wedding? Are there any themes? What do you think the audience is supposed to understand about how all the people in Juliet's life understand the meaning of life, marriage and death?
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On wedding morning, when Juliet lied "death" in her bed, her family members, even Friar Lawrence and Paris, expressed genuine grief for her death. Capulet, her father had a comparison of Death to his son in law. "Death is my son-in-law....Life, living, all is Death's." (line 44-46, Act 4 Scene 5) He referred to Death as Juliet's chosen husband, which in a sense, parallel with Juliet's initial decision of temporary dead rather than marrying Paris. He also implied that his wealth and living meant nothing without Juliet, everything belonged to Death. Along with him, everyone included the Nurse, Lady Capulet and Paris sees the marriage as an omen associated with life and Death, on the other hand, is a mischievous devil, stole her away from them. However, interestingly, Friar Lawrence later offered his own odd outside view of Capulet's decision about Juliet marrying Paris. "The most you sought was her promotion...as high as heaven itself?" (line 77-80, Act 4, Scene 5) Friar, who considered to be one of the wisest man in Verona, on the contrary to Capulet, observed Death as a positive thing rather than negative. His comparison of Juliet's position on heaven to her position in the society reflected an important point. This implied that if the marriage sole purpose was just to lift up her position in the society then death offered her a much better spot above all mundane, up on the heaven. Therefore, in an ironic way, since Friar was the only one who knew that she hasn't completely dead, claimed that death is a better measure than marriage.
ReplyDeleteOn wedding morning, when Juliet lied "death" in her bed, her family members, even Friar Lawrence and Paris, expressed genuine grief for her death. Capulet, her father had a comparison of Death to his son in law. "Death is my son-in-law....Life, living, all is Death's." (line 44-46, Act 4 Scene 5) He referred to Death as Juliet's chosen husband, which in a sense, parallel with Juliet's initial decision of temporary dead rather than marrying Paris. He also implied that his wealth and living meant nothing without Juliet, everything belonged to Death. Along with him, everyone included the Nurse, Lady Capulet and Paris sees the marriage as an omen associated with life and Death, on the other hand, is a mischievous devil, stole her away from them. However, interestingly, Friar Lawrence later offered his own odd outside view of Capulet's decision about Juliet marrying Paris. "The most you sought was her promotion...as high as heaven itself?" (line 77-80, Act 4, Scene 5) Friar, who considered to be one of the wisest man in Verona, on the contrary to Capulet, observed Death as a positive thing rather than negative. His comparison of Juliet's position on heaven to her position in the society reflected an important point. This implied that if the marriage sole purpose was just to lift up her position in the society then death offered her a much better spot above all mundane, up on the heaven. Therefore, in an ironic way, since Friar was the only one who knew that she hasn't completely dead, claimed that death is a better measure than marriage.
ReplyDeleteAs Huong mentioned, a parallel was drawn between marriage and death when Lord Capulet spoke of his daughter's demise. He makes a metaphor that Death had slept with Juliet and therefore the marriage was consummated between the two. Capulet says specifically, "...death lain with thy wife. There she lies, flower as she was, deflowerèd by him. ... My daughter he hath wedded" (act 4, scene 5, lines 42-45). Interestingly, this connects back to what Juliet said at the very end of Act 1 about her grave being her wedding bed because she was seemingly "taken" by Death on her wedding bed, or as Capulet said, she lost her virginity to Death and so formed a contract of marriage with him. Of course, Juliet's father didn't mean that she literally had sexual intercourse with Death, it was just Capulet's way of expressing that she had died. In a way, Capulet was also connecting marriage and death by the fact that both are everlasting and cannot be rescinded; once a woman had consummated marriage with a man, she was no longer allowed or fit to marry anyone else, and obviously death is the definite endpoint to life. So, Capulet was expressing that Juliet could no longer marry Paris in a metaphorical and physical way. There is definitely a theme in how both Juliet and the people in her life view death and marriage, now that Juliet has died; they seem to come hand-in-hand. After seeing both Juliet's opinions and the opinions of those around her, the audience is meant to understand that marriage and death have a feeling of eternity and everlastingness to them, while life is brief and fleeting.
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ReplyDeleteAs Huong and Robert mentioned, the tie between death and marriage is brought up again by Lord Capulet. Death and marriage have opposite connotations; Death symbolizes ‘the ending, while marriage symbolizes the ‘a new beginning.’ However, when Lord Capulet informed Paris about Juliet’s death, he said, “O son! The night before they wedding-day hath death lain with thy wife. There she lies, flower as she was, deflowered by him” (Act 4, scene 5, line 41). We talked today in class that traditionally, to complete the ‘marriage process,’ one must have sexual intercourse (symbolizes unity). In this context, to “lie” means to have sexual intercourse, and to have sexual intercourse with a virgin is to ‘deflower’ her. As Robert mentioned, Capulet didn’t mean that she lost her virginity to death, but meant to say that Juliet has died. After weeping and telling the news to Paris and Friar Lawrence, Capulet introduced the relationship between the two opposites, death and marriage, again, while at the same time, unifying them as a whole. “All things that we ordained festival turn from their office to black funeral: our instruments to melancholy bells, our wedding cheer to sad burial feast, our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change, our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse, and all things change them to the contrary” (Act 4, scene 5, line 90-96.” Capulet shows the contrast between marriage and death by listing the contraries. However, simultaneously he shows that marriage and death are similar by showing how they are associated with the same objects and ideas. They both have music, flowers, song (Chant/hymns), and etc. There is a definite theme on how Juliet and the people around her view death and marriage throughout this book. I think the audience is suppose to understand that even though death and marriage are contradictories, they can not be undone; they are eternal.
agree with what Robert and Pinn said about Lord Capulet when he was talking about marriage and death; “The night before thy wedding-day hath death lain with thy wife.There she lies, flower as she was, deflowered by him. Death is my son-in-law; Death is my heir.” (Act 4, Scene 5, Line 40, Lord Capulet). To me I think that Lord Capulet is essentially telling Paris that death beat him to Juliet. I think this because the word “lain” connects to bed, and by Lord Capulet saying that death lain with Juliet, is saying that Paris was beaten by death to take her “virginity”. Death sealed the deal before Paris did, and therefor death would have Juliet for eternity. I think that this goes back to what we were talking about in class because death and marriage can be connected. Instead of being with Paris for a long time Juliet will be with death. When Lord Capulet was talking he literally says that Juliet is married to death calling death his “son-in-law”. I think it is very interesting for a father to think that. By him saying this it translates what Juliet was saying earlier about her deathbed being her wedding bed. Lord Capulets views on marriage and death were very linked with what Juliet was saying (maybe because she literally “died”) but the reference of death being his heir really sealed this.
ReplyDeleteAgain, we get the idea that characters in this book put marriage and death in the same box. Lady Capulet tells Paris that Juliet (wife) has died on the day of the wedding. Lady Capulet was more frustrated that the wedding didn't happen than the fact that her daughter died. We talked in class about how marriage is a new start to life and death is the ending of life. I feel like the characters in this book are less affected by death because there lifespan is so short. It is very ironic how in Act 1 juliet tells us that her wedding bed be her death bed. She died on the day of the wedding which means she would have lost her virginity on the "wedding bed". Even though she didn't die while having intercourse, her grave is indeed her wedding bed. After all the big news flares out, Lady Capulet brings up an interesting idea of how different weddings and funerals are. She says that the mood turns from happy to sad, the musicals turn from joyous to sad weeps, and now the flowers are to symbolize a ending. She shows us how similar they are by using all the same items but just in a different situation. People in this book relationships between life and death are MUCH closer than they are to us now. I think that the characters just live by the harsh reality that life does eventually end, and because of that they take it so much more lightly than we would.
ReplyDeleteThere is a connection between marriage and death in the novel once again. Capulet says "The night before thy wedding day, Hath death lain with thy wife. There she lies, flower as she was, deflowered by him." (act 4 sc 5 line 42-44). Suggesting that Juliet slept with death, "Death is my son-in-law. Death is my heir. My daughter married death. I will die and leave Death everything. Life, wealth, everything belongs to Death." This connects to what Juliet said since the beginning, that she would meet death on her wedding bed. Capulet is saying that she consummated with death on her wedding bed, and now has an eternal contract to death. Obviously Capulet is heart broken that his one child has died. Similarly, Lady Capulet says, "I had only one child, one poor child, one poor and loving child, the one thing I had to rejoice and comfort myself, and cruel Death has stolen it from me!" (act 4 sc 5 line 50-55). Lady Capulet basically says that Juliet was the purpose of her life (which is true because women were only needed to have children). In the beginning, we interpreted Lady Capulet as being the opposite of a contemporary mother. She didn't take interests on Juliet's thoughts on marriage at all. The one purpose of Lady Capulet's life was stolen by Death. Paris is also very unhappy to see that his bride has died on the day of the wedding. "Death, the most despicable thing, tricked her. Cruel, cruel Death killed her" (act 4 sc 5 line 63-64) Paris says that cruel Death has tricked and killed Juliet. What I realized all these characters have in common, is that they talk of Death as if it were a person. Capulet says that Death had sex with Juliet, and that Death is his son in law; and therefore his heir. Lady Capulet says that Death stole Juliet away from her. Then there's Paris tricked and killed Juliet and stole her away too. I think that it's not an uncommon theme to see death as a person in modern literature. For example in "The Book Thief" Death himself is literally narrating the story. But as far as we know, death is not a literal person, but Shakespeare illustrates that Death has taken Juliet away from her family.
ReplyDeleteIn scenes four and five, we see many more characters, other than Juliet, reinforcing the relationship between death and marriage. Basically all of the characters that we’ve come to know and play a major part in the life of Juliet (exception: Romeo), have at least twelve lines lamenting her death, each of them, Lord and Lady Capulet, Paris, and Friar Lawrence, mentioning death and marriage. In fact, most of the metaphors and comparisons they use are in fact stronger than the ones that Juliet herself used in the previous chapters. As they reputedly personify death, the audience is obliged to think of “him” somewhat as Juliet’s new husband. Now that she has “died” she has entered into an eternal contract with death (personified), or in a word, has become married to him.
ReplyDelete-Eilidh Dunsmore
I agree with the above commenters. To Juliet's family - just like to her - death and marriage become two sides of the same coin. Lord Capulet laments that all of the decorations put up, festivities planned, and music set to be played must now be altered completely, to make the ceremony one of separation from life than one of unity. Lord Capulet also makes an interesting metaphor about how death has 'deflowered' Juliet (taken her virginity). Since, in this time and culture, women were expected to lose their virginity on their wedding night, we see Juliet's father outline the 'opposing similarities' between life and death by saying that instead of sleeping with Paris as planned, Juliet instead slept with death. Friar Lawrence, however, as the only one who knows that Juliet is not truly dead, offers a different perspective to console her father. He says that Juliet has now been elevated to the heavens, and even though Lord Capulet couldn't keep her from leaving, she is, to use a cliche, in a better place. While most of those around Juliet are devastated, they cannot help but point out how overnight, the situation has become the exact opposite of what it should've been.
ReplyDeleteThroughout scenes four and five, we see the line separating marriage and death becoming thinner and thinner as the other characters begin to make the same comparisons as Juliet often does. I think the fact that she was to be married on the day of her “death,” the two are even more closely related. All the people around Juliet are relating the two themes to each other because the timing of their arrivals are simultaneous. Each character has a different relationship to Juliet’s death. While Paris is obviously very sad about her death, to me it seems that he s more concerned with the contractual element of their relationship, offering that death took her virginity before he could. As others mentioned, Lord Capulet’s mention of death in relation to him, specifically calling death his “son-in-law” and that Juliet would now be married to death, was especially telling of his perspective on death and marriage. Each character spends a few lines grieving for Juliet and making their own different comments. All of the characters have views similar to those of Juliet and while hers may be more extreme, they are all similar. The overarching theme across all the characters’ attitude towards the relationship of marriage and death seem to be that the two are in a relationship. As each are such eternal contracts, it’s almost as if the two are married. In this text, they do seem to go hand in hand.
ReplyDeletereally like the way Sarah put it. As we discussed in class, a wedding day and a funeral were very similar yet almost polar opposites in the sense that they were both very important and hard to compare with anything else, yet one is seen as happy and the other as sad. Sarah described marriage and death as two sides of a coin, meaning that they both are very much connected, yet two totally different sides. As we said in class usually weddings are decorated as well as funerals in order to show its importance. Capulet quickly wants the already-set-up-decorations to be altered in order to suit the new event.
ReplyDeleteLady Capulet's first reaction is when she is sort of speaking to the "dead" Juliet in Act 4, Sc. 5, line 25. She says to wake up or she will die with her. I don't know how committed Lady Capulet's actually was to this contract she didn't just realize she signed, but in the heat of the moment I guess she just wanted to not believe that her daughter was dead. Juliet's father comments that death had "deflowered" Juliet. So unlike Paris and Juliet consummating their marriage, death had taken her virginity away from her, assuming in this time period that women do not have pre-marital sexual intercourse. Friar Lawrence, who we know is fully aware that Juliet is still alive, tries to really sell the lie and comforts the mourners. It is interesting to think that for the Capulet's, the happiest day of their daughter's life has now become the most sorrowful.
Ps. I don't know if anyone noticed the joke the nurse made in the beginning of the reading, but it was hilarious.
-Sam Kaplan
I agree with Trey that in Romeo and Juliet, Marriage is looked at as the beginning of a new life, while death is the end of one's life. When at the beginning of the play, Juliet says that her marriage bed will be her death bed, it seems rather melodramatic, however after pondering the idea of being trapped in a loveless marriage, it does seem rather accurate. If you were a woman in this time, you had to obey your husband’s commands without question as well as raise his children. If you do not love the man who you are basically serving as a slave who also rears children, then you will have an incredibly bleak existence. I think that in the scene where Juliet is unconscious and death is looming over her, and “taking her virginity", it is showing that her scenario is not a good one, it is better than marrying Paris and being deflowered by him on their wedding night. The idea of marriage and death are very intertwined and I think that in this part of the play, Shakespeare may be saying that it is better to have died pursuing a passionate love rather than living and just going through life.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the play I think we see the boundary between marriage and death thin out. I think that the fact that Juliet "dies" on the day of her marriage is a manifestation of the original notion that Juliet thought. Not only has she believed the connection but now other people have too. This has become a reoccurring theme in the play now, solely because the times of death are simultaneous. Although many did grieve for her, the overall theme seems to be that death and marriage are as close in a relationship as Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet were almost "dangerous" for each other but their love was inevitable. The same thing with death and marriage, both are dangerous. In marriage you risk having to commit to someone and death is dangerous because you don't know when it will happen. It is sudden just like love.
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