Going through my old Word documents yesterday I found this piece, written when I was a Freshman in Highschool.
The Unspoken Word
In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, one theme that is prominent is Juliet’s parents’ desire to have Juliet married, and the lack of communication between them. The Capulets were so fast to marry Juliet to Paris, that they did not consider Juliet’s opinion on the matter. This caused many problems, and eventually led to the tragic ending, which might have been avoided.
In Act 1, Scene 3, Lady Capulet tries to persuade Juliet to marry Paris. Juliet is not impressed and says, “I will look to like, if looking liking move.” Juliet obviously not interested in Paris, but her mother persists in persuading her to marry him. This type of persuasion is still around today in other forms.
In Act 3, Scene 4, Juliet’s father tells Paris that Juliet will marry him. He does this without Juliet’s consent. This shows a lack of communication between parent and child. This also shows that Capulet is so anxious to see his daughter married that he doesn’t even bother to talk to her about it. If he had not been so eager to marry her, and communicated with her better, many problems could have been avoided.
In Act 3, Scene 5, Capulet announces that Juliet will marry Paris. This announcement alone shows that Capulet has not put much thought, if any, into Juliet’s opinion. It also puts a great pressure on Juliet to marry Paris. This might have never happened if Juliet had communicated with her father better, and had told him about her relationship with Romeo. It also could have been avoided if the Capulets had not been so eager to marry Juliet.
As one can see, Juliet’s parents tried many times to convince Juliet to marry Paris. What they did not know is that Juliet was already married to Romeo. Maybe if Juliet had communicated her relationship with Romeo to her parents, her and Romeo’s tragic death could have been avoided. It could probably also have been avoided if Juliet’s parents had not had such a great desire to marry Juliet. These themes show us how communication is the key to clarity, and without it things may turn out disastrous.
