Juliet

When reading Shapkespeare's Romeo and Juliet, like most teenage girls, I am able to relate to Juliet. I've just started to get to know her character. Juliet is about my age (thirteen going on fourteen), but since the play is set in a different time period, she seems much older than me. If I were living in those times, chances are I would be engaged or married already. My brother and sister who are both 17 would probably have their own children. Back then, people didn't live as long as they do now, so they would get married and start families in their teens.

As strange as it may seem, it was considered normal for a girl to be married by the time she was thirteen or fourteen. However, it seems that Juliet Capulet was ahead of her time. She doesn't feel ready to marry yet, even though her parents have put together an arranged marriage for her and Paris, a wealthy cousin of the prince of Verona. Juliet still wants to hold on to her childhood, but her mother thinks that she should grow up and get married. Juliet is confused. She is afraid of the unknown future. I think that Juliet is torn between wanting to hold on to her youth and her freedom and wanting to obey her parents. She carries the burden of being their only child who did not die at a very young age. Because of this, I think she feels obliged to please them. It can be very pressuring.

Juliet feels like she is too young for love. Its a bit ironic because her parents are encouraging her to get to know Paris and become more mature. Juliet does not think that she is ready, but she does not yet know that when she goes to the ball that her parents have planned, she will immediately become attracted to Romeo Montague, the son of her family's enemy.