Romeo & Juliet Study Guide
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Act IV, Scene 2
Hall in Capulet's house

Scene Summary

Juliet returns from Friar Lawrence's cell and pretends to repent her disobedience, telling her father she will marry Paris. Overjoyed, Capulet moves the wedding forward from Thursday to Wednesday — the very next morning. He busies himself with preparations while Juliet and the Nurse go to select her wedding clothes. Capulet, in high spirits, decides to stay up all night preparing.

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Original Text
[Enter CAPULET, LADY CAPULET, NURSE, and two Servingmen.] CAPULET. So many guests invite as here are writ. [Exit First Servant.] Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks. SECOND SERVANT. You shall have none ill, sir; for I'll try if they can lick their fingers. CAPULET. How canst thou try them so? SECOND SERVANT. Marry, sir, 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers: therefore he that cannot lick his fingers goes not with me. CAPULET. Go, be gone. [Exit Second Servant.] We shall be much unfurnish'd for this time. What, is my daughter gone to Friar Laurence? NURSE. Ay, forsooth. CAPULET. Well, he may chance to do some good on her: A peevish self-will'd harlotry it is. NURSE. See where she comes from shrift with merry look. [Enter JULIET.] CAPULET. How now, my headstrong! where have you been gadding? JULIET. Where I have learn'd me to repent the sin Of disobedient opposition To you and your behests, and am enjoin'd By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here, And beg your pardon: pardon, I beseech you! Henceforward I am ever ruled by you. CAPULET. Send for the county; go tell him of this: I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning. JULIET. I met the youthful lord at Laurence' cell; And gave him what becomed love I might, Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty. CAPULET. Why, I am glad on't; this is well: stand up: This is as't should be. Let me see the county; Ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither. Now, afore God! this reverend holy friar, Our whole city is much bound to him. JULIET. Nurse, will you go with me into my closet, To help me sort such needful ornaments As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow? LADY CAPULET. No, not till Thursday; there is time enough. CAPULET. Go, nurse, go with her: we'll to church to-morrow. [Exeunt JULIET and NURSE.] LADY CAPULET. We shall be short in our provision: 'Tis now near night. CAPULET. Tush, I will stir about, And all things shall be well, I warrant thee, wife: Go thou to Juliet, help to deck up her; I'll not to bed to-night; let me alone; I'll play the housewife for this once. What, ho! They are all forth. Well, I will walk myself To County Paris, to prepare him up Against to-morrow: my heart is wondrous light, Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd. [Exeunt.]
Modern English

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Act IV, Scene 2 is a brief scene of devastating dramatic irony. Every line is saturated with meanings that the characters cannot see. Juliet's performance of obedience — "Henceforward I am ever ruled by you" — is a masterpiece of deception, and the audience watches her father celebrate a submission that is actually the opening move of a plan that will end in the family tomb. Capulet's reaction reveals how completely patriarchal authority depends on the appearance of compliance. Just one scene ago, he was threatening to disown Juliet; now he is effusive, grateful, and praising the Friar who, unbeknownst to him, is orchestrating the very defiance Capulet believes he has crushed. His line — "my heart is wondrous light, / Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd" — is among the play's most painful ironies: his heart is light because his daughter is preparing to simulate death. Crucially, Capulet moves the wedding from Thursday to Wednesday morning — one day sooner. This seemingly minor change will prove catastrophic. Every element of the Friar's plan depended on Thursday's timing; the acceleration shrinks the window for the letter to reach Romeo. Shakespeare embeds the mechanism of the tragedy in an act of...

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"Henceforward I am ever ruled by you." — Juliet (her feigned obedience, a masterpiece of deception)

"I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning." — Capulet (moving the wedding a day earlier — the decision that dooms the plan)

"My heart is wondrous light, / Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd." — Capulet (celebrating what is actually the beginning of the end)

Themes
Deception Obedience Patriarchal Authority Haste Dramatic Irony
Literary Devices
Dramatic Irony Double Meaning Situational Irony Foreshadowing
Characters
Capulet Lady Capulet Juliet Nurse Servingmen
Motifs
Haste Obedience Masks Time
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