Character Analysis Paper – Juliet

If you had the choice to kill yourself or to live the rest of your life without your one true love, which would you chose? In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare depicts Juliet as a young, courageous woman facing many tough decisions, including the decision between life and death.At the young age of thirteen, Juliet faced many hardships which brought out the strength, determination, and courageousness in her. Within a very short time, Juliet falls in love with Romeo and marries him, keeping their relationship a secret from everyone except the nurse and Friar Lawrence. When Romeo is banished from Verona and she is being forced to marry Paris, Juliet is willing to risk everything to be with Romeo.

“Be not so long to speak. I long to die if what speak’st speak not of remedy,” (Shakespeare 821). Juliet says to Friar Lawrence, explaining that she would rather die than not be with Romeo. Juliet’s decision to want to kill herself was a very strong one and took much courage for her to make that decision.Juliet’s courage and determination to be with Romeo leads to a gloomy ending, with many disheartened people.

Juliet is so desperate to be with Romeo that she drinks a potion to give her the illusion of being dead for 42 hours. The Capulets mourn the death of Juliet and bury her in a tomb. When Romeo hears the news of Juliet’s death, he goes into her tomb where she lay and drinks a potion to kill himself. Juliet, not really dead, awakens to see Romeo dead, and stabs herself in the heart with a dagger. “O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die” (Shakespeare 844).

Juliet says these words before she stabs and kills herself to be dead with Romeo. Juliet committing suicide was by far a incredibly courageous act. In fact, when Juliet killed herself, it took more courage than Romeo killing himself. Romeo simply swallowed a potion then was gone and dead, but Juliet seized a dagger and stabbed herself in the heart.Juliet is a very courageous young woman in many ways. Her actions showed us how much she truly loved Romeo, that she would pay the price of death for him.

All of the difficult decisions she had to make in choosing what to do with her life, and the situation between her family and the Montagues really brought out the strength and courage that she had in herself to go through with her actions.