1. Romeo and Juliet
Act 3, scene 2

2. Act III, Scene ii - Summary
Juliet is impatient for night so that she can be with Romeo
Nurse is distraught and unable to make clear who is dead
Juliet thinks Romeo has killed himself ‘Hath Romeo slain himself?’ and resolves she will also kill herself
Nurse then reveals Tybalt is dead and Juliet fears both Tybalt AND Romeo are dead
When the truth is at last revealed Juliet makes ONE speech cursing nature that it should put ‘the spirit of a fiend’ in Romeo’s ‘sweet flesh’
BUT when Nurse joins her Juliet reverts to her loyalty
Nurse explains Romeo is hiding at Friar Lawrence’s cell and Juliet sends the Nurse with a ring, bidding Romeo to come and “take his last farewell.”

3. Tension and Mood Setting is peaceful (the Capulet orchard)
Contrasts to the conflict in the previous scene
Juliet looks forward to the “amorous rites” of her marriage
Her impatience echoes her excitement in Act II, Scene 5, when she had to wait for news of the wedding arrangements
Contrast –we know that her happy hopes will not be fulfilled
Sense of impending doom hangs in the atmosphere as she is unaware of the tragedy which awaits her

4. Dark Imagery Darkness for the lovers is a time of safety
Juliet beckons the darkness because it has been a sanctuary for the couple, “if love be blind, / It best agrees with night.”
The lovers have forged their love at night as they:
met
agreed to marry
consummate their marriage
die together under the cover of night
Their affinity for the darkness illustrates their separation from the temporal, feuding world

5. Light Imagery
Although external light (the “garish sun”) has become their enemy, the lovers provide light for each other
Juliet’s eyes were like the stars, she “doth teach the torches to burn bright!,” and is Romeo’s “Juliet is the sun”
Here, Romeo brings “day in night”
Juliet begs fate to “cut Romeo out in little stars”
These stars represent both the timeless quality of the couple’s love and their fate as “star-cross’d lovers” who will only truly be united in death

6. Fate
Although Juliet is unaware of the tragic news that awaits her, her soliloquy contains tragic images suggesting the dark future – she states of Romeo: “if he should die”
Even when Juliet understands that Romeo is not dead, his banishment is equivalent to death in her eyes: “I’ll to my wedding bed / And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead.”
The association between Juliet and death as her bridegroom pairs the themes of love and death
This emphasises that her young life is constantly overshadowed by death

7. Love/ Death
Shakespeare’s linking of ‘love’ and ‘death’ continues with Juliet’s first reaction being that Romeo MUST have killed himself, and
Her own willingness to kill herself
This theme of the intensity of extreme love leading to a death impulse will be echoed in the upcoming scene, and Romeo’s reaction to his banishment

8. Juliet and Loyalty
Juliet feels conflicted because her love for Romeo clashes with her love and sense of duty to Tybalt
She expresses her conflicting emotions for Romeo using oxymorons: “Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical.”
She is angry, but swiftly restores her loyal feelings
Juliet’s loyalty is firmly grounded in her love of Romeo and no longer for family - she is now a wife first and a daughter and cousin second
She believes that Romeo’s banishment is worse than the slaying of ‘ten thousand Tybalts’
She laments that she will die a ‘maiden-widow’ – there is no other love for her
She offers her ring to give to Romeo as a token of her love, loyalty and forgiveness

9. Juliet and Nurse
The Nurse’s inability to comprehend the intensity of Juliet’s love for Romeo causes a a change in their relationship
Juliet is emerging as a young woman with her own opinions and emotions
She no longer relies on Nurse for maternal guidance
The rift between the Nurse and Juliet foreshadows the final split in their relationship which occurs in Act III, Scene v when the Nurse betrays Juliet by advising her to forget Romeo and marry Paris

10. Conflict
The blissful love of Act II has completely disappeared in the tension of Act 3
The conflict has caused this deterioration
It is now extremely unlikely that their alliance will turn such extreme ‘rancour’ to ‘pure love’