Romeo and Juliet Essay

             Lies and truth are a big difference this is because when you are telling the truth you have nothing to hide mainly because you have not done something wrong. When you lie it is because you have done something wrong and also the person that you are keeping the truth from would probably not agree with what you are doing or planning to do. Lies and truth on the other hand can also be similar because a person that knows the truth but not telling it is also in a way lying because they are also keeping it and not telling the person that does not know the truth. In the play Romeo and Juliet the nurse, Juliet, Friar Lawrence all do both of these and so do many other characters. In the play Shakespeare is telling us that a person has a choice in a situation where they are forced to either lie or tell the truth and what they decide to do may effect their life.
           In the play Juliet has to choose between lying or telling the truth in many different cases.She has to choose between Romeo and her family most of the time. For example,in Act 4 scene 1 lines 18-23 it says " Where I have learned me to repent the sin Of disobedient opposition To you and your behests, and am enjoined By holy Lawrence to fall prostrate her to beg your pardon.Pardon,I beseech you. Henceforward I am ever ruled by you." In these lines she says that when she went to the church confess she learned that being disobedient to her father is a sin and then begs him for forgiveness. This is a lie because she still is being disobedient to him because he wants her to marry Paris but she is planning to fake her death so that she can be with Romeo so that they can be happy. Another example is in act 2 scene 2 lines 90-111 it says "Thou know’st the mask of night is on my face, Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek.For that which thou hast heard me speak tonight.Fain would I dwell on form. Fain, fain deny What I have spoke. But farewell compliment!Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say “ay,”And I will take thy word. Yet if thou swear’st Thou mayst prove false. At lovers' perjuries,They say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo,If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully.

Or if thou think’st I am too quickly won,I’ll frown and be perverse and say thee nay,So thou wilt woo. But else, not for the world.In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond,And therefore thou mayst think my 'havior light.But trust me, gentleman, I’ll prove more trueThan those that have more coying to be strange.I should have been more strange, I must confess,But that thou overheard’st, ere I was 'ware,My true love’s passion. Therefore pardon me,And not impute this yielding to light love,Which the dark night hath so discovered."Here she is talking about how embarrassed she is about the beautiful things that he says to her and that she is blushing but he cannot see because it is dark. She also says that she is embarrassed because he heard her say that she is in love. This tells me that she is telling the truth because at the end she loved him so much that she killed herself right after he died because she felt that she couldn't move on or love anybody else without him. Lastly another example is in act 4 scene 1 lines 25-39 here she is basically flirting with him and saying that she is not her wife yet and does not belong to him. This is a lie because she says that she will see him on Thursday but they will plan something so that she can be with Romeo and be happy. This is how I know that Juliet chooses to lie for Romeo because she loves him and wants to be happy with him.

           In the play Friar Lawrence also has to choose between helping this couple or sticking to all of the rules. An example of this is in act 4 scene 5 lines 71-89  it says "Peace, ho, for shame! Confusion’s cure lives not.In these confusions. Heaven and yourself.Had part in this fair maid. Now heaven hath all,And all the better is it for the maid.Your part in her you could not keep from death,But heaven keeps his part in eternal life.The most you sought was her promotion,For ’twas your heaven she should be advanced.And weep ye now, seeing she is advanced.Above the clouds, as high as heaven itself?Oh, in this love, you love your child so ill. That you run mad, seeing that she is well.
She’s not well married that lives married long,But she’s best married that dies married young.Dry up your tears and stick your rosemary. On this fair corse, and, as the custom is,And in her best array, bear her to church.For though some nature bids us all lament,Yet nature’s tears are reason’s merriment."Here Friar Lawrence is telling them to be grateful that Juliet is in heaven and that she is some where where she can also be happy. This shows be that even though that he knows that what they are both doing is lying he also thinks that they should've appreciated Juliet because all they did was ignored them. Another example is in act 4 scene 1 lines 1-15 Friar Lawrence is saying that Thursday is too soon to get married and that no  knowing what Juliet is thinking is going to lead to a bad relationship. This tells me that he is telling the truth because first of all he wants Juliet and Romeo to be happy together also he thinks that Paris wants to get married with Juliet because she is really pretty. Lastly another example is that act 2 scene 6 lines 9-15 it says "These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honeyIs loathsome in his own deliciousnessAnd in the taste confounds the appetite.Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so.Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow."He is saying that bad things happen all the time and he is helping them because he wants them to be happy and he wishes them the best. This tells me that Friar Lawrence knows that Juliet and Romeo are truly in love and that he needs to help them before they die and he knows that this marriage is a bad idea but he is doing it because he believes that they are in love.          In the play The Nurse also has to choose between lies and truth but it is more complicated because she knows that Juliet and Romeo want to be together and they are hiding it so that nobody knows and yet she is not saying a word but also helping them lie.For example in Act 2 scene 5 lines 73-82 it says"Then hie you hence to Friar Lawrence’s cell.There stays a husband to make you a wife.Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks.They’ll be in scarlet straight at any news.Hie you to church. I must another way.To fetch a ladder, by the which your love. Must climb a bird’s nest soon when it is dark.I am the drudge and toil in your delight,But you shall bear the burden soon at night.Go. I’ll to dinner. Hie you to the cell."Here she is telling Juliet that she has but a ladder so that they he can come at night and they can have a conversation about the future and what is going to happen. This tells me that she is telling the truth to Juliet because she wants to see her happy but knows that she will have to provide a explanation for the ladder unless they don't see it. Another example is in Act 2 scene 4 lines 164-174 she is telling him that he better not be using her because she has money or looks pretty. This tells me that she is lying because if you read after in act 2 scene 5 lines 35-83 she tells Juliet that he is a good man but did not tell her that she told Romeo that he better not break her heart because she cares about Juliet as if she was her child.
       All in all I think that all of these characters had a choice of lying or telling the truth because they cared about one another or because they wanted to help the other person so they could be happy or felt obligated.