This scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet foreshadows the tragic events to come. For instance, as they bid farewell, Juliet has a terrible premonition:
Oh, God! I have an ill-divining soul
Methinks I see the, now thou art below,
As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.
Either my eyesight fails or thou look'st pale. (3.5.53-56)
The mood of this act is clearly one of tragic foreboding as Juliet's mother enters after Romeo has gone; she informs Juliet that she is going to send someone to poison Romeo in Mantua. Then, she tells Juliet that she has "joyful tidings": Juliet is to be married to Paris early next Thursday. Of course, these tidings are anything but joyful to Juliet who replies in an emotionally charged retort:
He shall not make me there a joyful bride.
I wonder at this hast, that I must wed
Ere he that should be husband comes to woo.
I pray you tell my lord and father, madam,
I will not marry yet. (3.5.53-58)
Of course, this response angers her father who tells her she will marry or she will no longer be allowed to live with them--"Or never after look me in the face."(3.5.166)--as he will put her in the streets to beg. In desperation after he leaves, Juliet tells the foolish Nurse who suggests she marry Paris when she knows that Juliet is already married that she is going to make her confession to Friar Laurence.
Before she leaves, Juliet feels the forces of fate as she curses the devil: "Ancient damnation!"(3.5.245) She talks to herself, considering suicide.
I'll to the Friar, to know his remedy.
If all else fail, myself have power to die (3.5.252-253)
A turbulent scene, Act III, Scene 5 clearly paves the way for the tragic events that follow it.
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