Act II continued

Scene 4

Tybalt, an accomplished swordsman, has challenged Romeo to a duel, a development that will end in tragedy. In the meanwhile, Mercutio keeps up his usual light-hearted banter, bandying names of famous lovers and continuing his light-hearted attempt to brighten Romeo’s mood. Having forgotten his  love for Rosaline and engrossed in his new love, Romeo exchanges jests and puns with Mercutio. The garrulous Nurse continues to be annoying although, as Shakespeare doubtless intended, she adds comic relief. She agrees to give Romeo’s message to Juliet and to see that Juliet joins Romeo at Friar Laurence’s cell or hermitage to be married. Romeo tells the Nurse that his servant will bring her a rope ladder by which Romeo can gain access to Juliet’s room after the marriage. Like the Friar, the Nurse is dreadfully wrong to collude with the lovers over their marriage. She knows Juliet’s parents wish their daughter to marry Count Paris; in any case, she should certainly have made them aware of Juliet’s intended marriage to Romeo, son of the Capulets’ hated enemy. The Friar and the Nurse, the young couple’s close friends and confidants, act with appalling lack of wisdom or morality.

Scene 5

Having waited three hours for the Nurse to return, Juliet now impatiently endures the Nurse’s protracted recital of Romeo’s plans. At this point, everything seems to bode well for the lovers.

Scene 6

Friar Laurence feels uneasy about the marriage he is to perform, as indeed he should. About to be married, the lovers are happy. References to death, however, continue to foreshadow their tragic fate as we note in the words first of Romeo then the Friar.

The major issues in Act II are these:

• the lovers’ differing personalities
• the Nurse and the Friar’s involvement in the lovers’ decision to marry
• foreshadowing