Examples Of Sympathy In Romeo And Juliet

Submitted By beej1234
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Pages: 3

Shakespeare makes us feel sympathetic in this scene by making Juliet use ambigous language like "Madam, I am not well." This has two meanings - she's either physically ill or love-sick (she's missing Romeo). This makes us sympathetic towards her as being ill is generally not a pleasant thing to experience.

Shakespeare makes us feel increasingly sympathetic in this scene as Lady Capulet says "Evermore weeping for your cousins death?" This shows us Juliet is misunderstood by her family - this plays a part in making us feel sorry for her along with the fact that she has just lost her cousin brutally.

In Act 3 Scene 5, we feel sorry for Juliet as she says "...Till I behold him -dead- is my poor heart." The word 'poor' makes the readers obliged to feel sorry for her as it makes us feel she is suffering. This phrase is ambigous - it can mean she will never be satisfied until her holds the killer of her cousin dead, or will never be satisfied because her 'poor' heart is dead. We feel sympathetic as she is being continually misunderstood - she does not want to hold the killer of her cousin dead, but her poor heart is dead because she misses Romeo.

When Lady Capulet breaks the news of Juliets marriage to Paris, and Juliet rejects this, her mother passes her onto her father - like a burden or a 'baggage'. We feel sympathy as she is not recieving love from her parents like we'd expect.
We feel that she is neglected, unwanted and unloved.

When Capulet is fuming over Juliet's refusal to marry the 'young and noble' Paris, he calls her a bunch of hurtful and spiteful names and tells her that if she does not go to church on Thursday morning to marry Paris, he will drag her to church, similar to how a criminal would be dragged through the streets for doing a crime. He also calls her a 'green-sickness', a 'tallow-face' and 'baggage'. This makes us very sympathetic towards her as we don't expect a father to drag his own daughter through the streets like a prisoner, and to call her spiteful names.

Near to the end, the Nurse changes her mind and advises Juliet to marry Paris; "I think it best you