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Nathan Halsey

Meyer

English I

15 January 2020

Juliet from Romeo and Juleit having signs of bipolar

When you were reading Romeo and Juilet did you ever wonder if Juliet had bipolar

mental disorder. Juliet is a person that is over obsessed with Romeo and does everything she can

to be with him. Bipolar is a mental disorder that causes extreme emotional mood swings,

depression, anger, risk taking behaviors, being suicidal and having anxiety. This disorder is not

very noticeable because they could be fine one moment, but not the next moment. Juliet in

Romeo and Juliet shows the signs of this disorder and goes through all the episodes or moments

that a person of bipolar does. Juliet has Bipolar because she shows the signs and symptoms of

this disorder and goes through all the episodes a person with this disorder would.

Some of the symptoms that Juliet performs is having aggression and depression

throughout the play. In Romeo and Juliet , Juliet and the Nurse were talking to one another about

Romeo. The Nurse stated “ Shame come to Romeo” (Shakespeare). She was saying this because

she kills Juilets cousin and her friend and she was mad that he did this. Juliet responds with

“Blistered by thy tongue”(Shakespeare). Juliet was basically saying that she should burn her

tongue because she says that. This shows the aggression symptoms of bipolar because she was

very mean to her friend the nurse. Juliet also shows the symptom of depression is when she was

fighting with her parents about getting married to Paris, even if it ended in death. She stated “o

sweet mother, cast me not away, delay this marriage a week, a month”(Shakespeare). She was

begging her parents to not let her get married to Paris. Later her disorder drove her to do
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anything to not marry him. This whole incident showed depression because she was sad for a

long time. Juliet’s disorder was driving her to to all the symptoms of the disorder and she was

doing everything she could to be with romeo.

Bipolar has some more symptoms that Juliet shows like risk taking behaviors, impulsive,

suicidal and mood swings. When Juliet finds out she has to get married to Paris she goes to Friar

for help. Friar says “And this distilling liquor drink thou off; When presently through all thy

veins shall run A cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse”(Shakespeare). Friar gives her a potion

where she will seem dead. She then says “Five me give me tell me not no fear” (Shakespeare).

Juliet takes the potion not even knowing if it is dangerous or the outcomes of taking the potion.

This is the symptom of having risk taking behaviors and being impulsive. Juliet also shows the

symptom of being suicidal and having extreme mood swings. When she wants to get married to

Romeo she had lots of mood swings about it. When she meets Romeo, she didn’t want to get

married yet, a day later, she wanted to. Also she was happy being around Romeo and sad when

she was not. She goes through a roller coaster of mood swings. Juliet becomes suicidal after she

saw Romeo actually dead. Romeo was dead because he didn’t get the note that said she was fake

dead so when he saw her he thought she was actually dead. Juliet then woke up from her deep

sleep and said “Ye noise then I be brief. This is thy sheath the rusted let me die” (Shakespeare).

This quote tells that she killed herself. Her disorder made her go suicidal and have mood swings

because she wanted Romeo.

Despite the evidence demonstrating juliet having bipolar disorder, many people believe

that she is just deeply in love in romeo and everyone demostates in love, but they fail to see she

demonstrates the episodes of bipolar and they are more extreme than being just in love. Bipolar

is more than love because it pulls in depression, extreme mood swings, suicidal thoughts, being
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impulsive all in the equation and makes it 100 times worse than just love. Those who believe that

she just in love, think that because it says in the store “My love as deep. The more I give to thee,

The more I have, for both are infinite.”(Shakspere). Although aspects of this argument are

enticing, it ultimately fails to be a stronger argument because later in the story it more extreme

like her killing herself and going through risk taking behaviors. Also Juliet goes way above love

because she acts like she won’t survive without Romeo. It is very hard to catch Juliet’s actions

relating to bipolar, but the research falls right in the pathway of bipolar.

Juliet shows the signs and symptoms of disorder and goes through all the episodes a

person with this disorder would. Bipolar is a disorder that should be taken very seriously. People

with bipolar like Juliet go through stages where it’s not obvious. Juilets’s parents should have

taken action and understand that she had to be romeo or she would not be mentaly stable.

Throughout the story Juliet goes through the episodes and performs the signs of bipolar. Bipolar

is very hard to understand because it doesn’t show as much as other disorders, but really bipolar

is more serious than the others because it depreciates multiple disorders in one. If someone in the

story would understand that she had this disorder, than maybe her life would have been spared.

Works Cited

Library, Folger Shakespeare. “Romeo and Juliet.” Romeo and Juliet,

Melinda Smith, M.A. and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D. “Bipolar Disorder Signs and Symptoms.”
HelpGuide.org, 12 Dec. 2019,

Mayo Clinic Staff. “Bipolar Disorder.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical
Education and Research, 31 Jan. 2018,