‘Can heaven be so envious?’

Romeo and Juliet Act 3 Scene 2

- Nurse arrives with tragic news- Juliet copes (or doesn’t!) with Romeo’s banishment

Close reading

• Let’s look closely at the events that transpire here, focusing on:

i) the Nurse’s behavior, the way she breaks the news to Juliet

ii) Juliet’s reaction

What is Juliet’s emotional state here?

• ‘Ay me, what news? Why doth thou wring thy hands?’

• ‘…he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead!’

• ‘Can heaven be so envious?’

• ‘What devil art thou that does torment me thus?’

• ‘O break, my heart, poor bankrupt, break at once!’

• ‘What storm is this that blows so contrary?’

• ‘Is Romeo slaughtered? And is Tybalt dead?My dearest cousin, and my dearer lord?’

What is her response when she realizes the truth?

• ‘O God, did Romeo’s hand shed Tybalt’s blood?’

• ‘O serpent heart, hid with a flow’ring face!…Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical…Dove-feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb,…A damned saint, an honourable villain!…Was ever book containing such vile matterSo fairly bound? O that deceit should dwellIn such a gorgeous palace!’

What is the effect of Juliet’s use of oxymorons here?

But as truth and realization sink in, what happens to Juliet’s attitude?

• ‘Blistered be thy tongueFor such a wish. He was not born to shame. Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit;…O what a beast was I to chide at him!’

• Nurse: Will you speak well of him that killed your husband?Juliet: Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?

• ‘Ah poor my lord. What tongue shall smooth thy nameWhen I thy three-hours wife have mangled it?But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?That villain cousin would have killed my husband…

Shakespeare’s mastery of meter and verse…

• Nurse:These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.Shame come to Romeo!

• Juliet: Blistered be thy tongueFor such a wish. He was not born to shame.

What is the effect of having the iambic pentameter ‘spread’ across two lines?Can you spot when else this is used in this scene?

Being able to comment on the playwright’s/poet’s/writer’s use of language by identifying the creative use and analyzing its effect and significance is key to a detailed response.

Juliet in despair…distraught yet rational…then…?

• ‘Back foolish tears, back to your native spring,Your tributary drops belong to woe,Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain,And Tybalt’s dead, that would have slain my husband.All this is comfort, wherefore weep I then?’

• ‘That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’,Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts……‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that wordIs father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,All slain, all dead…’

• ‘Come cords, come Nurse, I’ll to my wedding-bed,And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead.’

Death…Romeo’s real rival?

• ‘And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead.’

When else is Death mentioned, or rather, personified, as a suitor for Juliet?

A brief respite…?

• Why do you think the Nurse has a sudden change of heart, and decides to bring Romeo to comfort Juliet?

• How do you think Juliet feels about getting to meet Romeo again?

Stepping back…

• What do we learn about Juliet in this scene?

• How might we respond to what she goes through in this scene?

• What are our feelings towards the Nurse in this scene, considering how she behaves?

• What significance does this scene have in the whole play? How does this moment affect the pace of the play, or how does it affect the atmosphere and mood?

Let’s hear from two actresses who played Juliet on stage at the Globe Theatre. They share on what they think Juliet is going through at this

point…

Lorraine BurroughsJuliet, spring 2009

Ellie KendrickJuliet, summer 2009

• “Why Juliet chooses Romeo’s banishment as more important than Tybalt’s death is raw emotion. Tybalt is her cousin and she loves him – it’s awful what has happened and her first initial reaction is utter disgrace at Romeo for what he has done and she feels completely betrayed of the love she has given him and how she has opened up to him and said that she is going to give her life to him and he has done that to her and her family.”

Lorraine BurroughsJuliet, spring 2009

• “She tries to hate him but she can’t, she loves him and the fact that he’s banished, everything that they have just gone through is ruined, is going to be worthless if she stays angry with Romeo and that’s it, over. She has to address this and find him and figure out how she is going to see him again because he now is her life. Tybalt being alive or dead isn’t an issue in comparison to her and Romeo, Romeo is her life, without him she is dead.”

Lorraine BurroughsJuliet, spring 2009

• “Yes, Juliet really goes through a whirlwind of emotions in this scene.She starts with immense joy, very happy, because she is going to be seeing her husband, and that is really exciting for her. And then she goes from that immense joy to sudden, desperate sadness, because she thinks the Nurse istelling her Romeo is dead. But then the Nurse finally says it, very plainly, after going round the houses. She says, “Tybalt is gone and Romeo banished, / Romeo that killed him, he is banished.”” Ellie Kendrick

Juliet, summer 2009

• “And then for Juliet, her instant firstreaction is one of immense shock: ‘Did Romeo’s hand shed Tybalt’s blood?’ And I played that as being really shocked and appalled by that, and then she very interestingly manifests this cognitive dissonance which she is feeling, in her speech that follows, when she uses a series of antitheses – ‘Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical…Despised substance of divinest show!’ And she is using lots of opposites which represent the opposites of feeling that she is having – hate and love for Romeo.” Ellie Kendrick

Juliet, summer 2009

• “But it is not until she hears criticism of Romeo in the Nurse’s mouth, ‘Shame come to Romeo!’ that she suddenly realises how wrong she is, and instantly regrets that huge well of anger that she had against him. And she says, ‘Blistered be thy tongue / For such a wish!’ to the Nurse, and then goes on to realize that Romeo is everything to her, that she would not care if all her family were dead as long as he is still around.”

Ellie KendrickJuliet, summer 2009

Read this scene closely for:• Juliet’s ‘whirlwind of emotions’

- intense happiness, excitement- to shock, disbelief, grief- then confusion, shock again,- then anger, feeling betrayed and hurt, yet still conflicted, confused- then as she rationalizes and steadies herself,- shame and remorse, determined and committed, yet still in despair

match the emotions above to evidence from the text!

key points to note

• how this scene adds to Juliet’s character development, and how this is a pivotal moment in her life as she identifies more with her role as a wife to Romeo than a member of the Capulet household. She has symbolically left her family for Romeo.

• what this scene reveals about the Nurse – what do we make of the manner in which she tells Juliet the news? What can we infer from her sudden offer to fetch Romeo to Juliet when Juliet states that she wishes to kill herself?

key points to note – look deeper…

• think of parallels for this scene…when else does Juliet eagerly await news from the Nurse? How are these two scenes similar and how are they different?When else is a man compared to a book? How appropriate are these two comparisons?

• observe how objects and symbols can have different / opposite aspects: what are the cords the Nurse brings in supposed to be for? What does Juliet eventually suggest she use them for? Consider the mention of light and darkness too…note the differences between young Juliet’s reaction and old Nurse’s reaction…It is Romeo who should consummate the marriage with Juliet, yet who is it who Juliet says will take her ‘maidenhead’ instead?

key points to note – look closely at language…

• ‘he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead’ – what effect does this repetition have?

• Observe Juliet’s punning with the words ‘Ay’, ‘eye’ and ‘I’ – what is Juliet trying to say? What does this show us about her or what does this tell us about her situation?

key points to note – look closely at meter…

• if there is opportunity, we can comment on meter / rhythm here as well.Look closely at the ‘break’ in iambic pentameter across the Nurse’s lines and Juliet’s, and how it gives Juliet’s lines a greater sense of urgency and impact…what could this tell us about how she feels?

Remember:Approaching the Passage-based Question

• Read the passage carefully• Analyse both questions thoroughly, explore the

possible scope of the question• Locate the scene – Context and Significance• Formulate and Plan responses for both questions

– relevant and focused response, with insightful points and convincing evidence

• Write your response, calmly and confidently• Be clear, coherent and convincing