Romeo and Juliet - 1

“The purpose of a soliloquy is to reveal to the audience what is going on in the mind and heart of the speaker. Sometimes soliloquies tell us about the speaker’s motivation of plans. What does Juliet’s soliloquy at the beginning of this scene reveal about her feelings and state of mind?”

Juliet’s passionate soliloquy in this scene expresses her love for Romeo and their need to conceal their love from the outside world. The beginning of this scene reveals feelings of anxiety for the coming of darkness and it also shows how desperate she is for Romeo to appear in the night. Juliet’s desire for the night when Romeo will come is evident here. Juliet is confessing in her long speech that she is quite out of control and needs the darkness of the night to calm her till she can settle into love’s course. Through her loving words for Romeo, Juliet shows how much she wants to be with Romeo.

The love between Romeo and Juliet is deeply expressed in her speech, and the want to see him is clearly evident here. As the constant feud between the Capulet and Montague family continues, Juliet and Romeo try to conceal their love from the public by secretly seeing each other during the night. Juliet says, “When Romeo shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine, that all the world will be in love with night.” This means that Romeo is the love and light in the night, and night conceals him. “And pay no worship to the garish sun,” proposes the idea that in daylight, everything is visible and secrets are revealed. Juliet “pays no worship to the garish sun” because the sun would make their secluded love known.

The beginning of this scene certainly reveals how Juliet is very eager for the coming of night. “Come thou day in night” is suggesting that their love is represented by light, and the night hides their love, keeping it secret. It also shows how she is so desperate for the coming of night so then she can see Romeo. The...