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Orianna Lopez

Ms. Woelke

Pre-AP ELA 9

11 December 2019

Juliet’s Mental Breakdown Speech

In Act 4, Scene 3 from “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare,

Juliet performs a soliloquy expressing her fears and inner conflict as she prepares to drink the

potion that Friar Lawrence has given her, which should put her in a death like coma and serve as

an escape to avoid marrying Paris. Apart from her risking her life, she fully expresses her

thoughts, and talks about all the horrible things that could go wrong in her escape plan, including

the chance that the potion might not actually work, or her going insane after she wakes up with

all her dead ancestors in the vault. Shakespeare’s strong use of imagery and word

choice/dialogue really helps portray Juliet’s emotions and her strong feelings for Romeo, and

especially what she is willing to do for love.

When Juliet went to visit Friar Lawrence for advice on what she could do to stop the

marriage, she felt no need to think twice when he offered her the potion that would put her into a

coma, since all that was in her mind was a way to prevent her second wedding from happening,

and running back to her Romeo’s arms as soon as possible. But now that she has to take care of

the situation on her own, after Lady Capulet and the Nurse left her alone in her bedroom, she

mentions “I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins, That almost freezes up the heat of

life: I’ll call them back to comfort me” which shows Juliet’s nervousness, and how she wishes to

have comfort from her Nurse as she desperately calls “Nurse!” and then states “My dismal scene

I needs must act alone.” (Shakespeare 4.3.16-20). Juliet is having an inner conflict, and is lost in
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anxiety over her dealing with such a hard task with no one to be there for her to support and help

her relieve her stress. It seemed simple to her at first when she accepted the potion, but now she

realizes she is possibly putting her life at risk, or on the other hand, that the potion might not

work which would ruin her whole escape plan. All these bad things that could possibly go as

unexpected flooded Juliet’s thoughts. She questions to herself “What if this mixture do not work

at all? Shall I be married then to-morrow morning?” following along with her statement “No, no:

this shall forbid it” (Shakespeare 4.3.22-24) as she lays down her dagger. Juliet expresses fright,

and anxiousness is shown in her tone, but yet declares she will not accept death as an excuse to

not drink the potion. Her actions when she lays the dagger down is a way of her allowing the

audience to anticipate that if it comes to the point where she is left with no other choice but to

marry Paris, she will kill herself instead.

As Juliet continues her soliloquy, she starts to make up “logical” theories of what

happens if she lives. Juliet is terrified by the thought that if she wakes up early in the vault along

with all her ancestors including Tybalt, she predicts she will go insane with all the frightening

views and dead bodies surrounding her. The strong imagery used in Juliet’s description really

helps the audience picture a horrifying environment that Juliet forms with her words when she

descriptively states “the bones of all my buried ancestors are packed: Where bloody Tybalt, yet

but green in earth, Lies festering in his shroud” (Shakespeare 4.3.41-44). Juliet is slowly starting

to lose her consciousness, and it gets worse the more she overthinks the situation. Juliet mentions

illogical statements which make absolutely no sense and makes her sound crazier than she claims

to be when she asks “O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught, Environed with all these hideous

fears? And madly play with my forefather’s joints? And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his

shroud? And, in this rage, with some great kinsman’s bone, As with s club, dash out my
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desperate brain?” (Shakespeare 4.3.50-55). At this point Juliet isn’t even saying things that could

be possible. This demonstrates how paranoid she is, and it was all caused by fear. Fear is what

Juliet is making say illogical things. There is nothing that can beat fear, not even love itself.

Juliet will give her life for Romeo, and this whole plan she made with the friar was all for

Romeo, but this speech filled with fear in her voice just shows her human side and keeps the

audience aware that Juliet is only a 13 year old girl who is about to drink a potion that God

knows what it can end up doing to her. In the end of her soliloquy she finally finished off by

drinking the potion, and laying down on her bed as her body slowly brings her into a death like

coma, and all of it was for love.

Shakespeare’s great use of imagery and word choice/dialogue really helps portray Juliet’s

emotions, fear, and her inner conflict. Juliet’s descriptive soliloquy shows the audience that she

will go to whatever extent if it means she can be with Romeo, and if life brings her away from

him she would prefer to take her life instead of being with Paris which she feels no love for.

Throughout the passage Juliet fully expresses her thoughts and emotions, and shows what she is

willing to do for something as powerful as love.