The Montagues and Capulets are two wealthy, prominent families in Verona who are engaged in a distressing feud. It’s unclear how the conflict started, but it involves everyone from servants to distant relatives. Romeo and Juliet meet at Juliet’s party without knowing each other’s identity. They fall in love quickly; however, they can’t communicate effectively because their families don’t know about their relationship and are sworn enemies. In this essay, I’ll be discussing how poor communication leads to tragedy and how communication varies among different people.
If Romeo and Juliet had communicated better, they may have had a chance at a successful relationship. In act 3 scene 5, Romeo is supposed to meet up with Juliet secretly so they can spend time together however gets caught by her cousin, Tybalt. If Romeo had just listened to what Juliet said instead of thinking things through himself, they wouldn’t have ran into this problem.
“Why are you so Romeo?”(3.5.91).
This is Juliet asking why he has to be Romeo- why can’t he just be someone else? This shows that communication is important to her, and if they had talked about their relationship more, maybe she wouldn’t have felt the need to ask this question.
Furthermore, when Romeo gets caught by Tybalt, he doesn’t try to fight back or defend himself even though that’s what Juliet wanted him to do.
“Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons. Gentlemen, for shame! forbear this outrage! Tybalt, Mercutio, the Prince expressly hath forbidden bandying in Verona streets” (3.1.100-103).
This is Benvolio telling Romeo to draw his sword and Tybalt to stop fighting, but Romeo doesn’t listen.
Romeo’s communication with Juliet led to tragedy because he didn’t listen to her and take her feelings into consideration. If they had communicated better, maybe they could have worked through their problems and avoided the tragic ending.
Different people communicate in different ways, and sometimes it can be hard to understand each other. For example, some people are more direct while others may beat around the bush. It’s important to be aware of these differences so that you can adjust your communication style accordingly.
Some people communicate better through writing than speaking. This is because they can take the time to think about what they want to say and how they want to say it. They can also revise their message if needed.
Other people are better at communicating in person. This is because they can pick up on nonverbal cues and respond in the moment. The way you communicate should be based on your audience and what will be most effective for them.
Scene 3, act 5 is the best scene for describing poor communication. It’s important because it helps us understand the lack of communication within families. The audience sees this play as a play filled with verbal irony, dramatic irony; however, it is most famous for its ending which if full of situational irony. The audience understands what is going on but people n the play don’t–this makes it more exhilarating and mysterious due to ambiguity
This scene is a perfect example of poor communication as it contains all of these things, for example when Romeo is talking to Juliet he says ‘If I profane with my unworthiest hand’ this could be seen as verbal irony because the word ‘unworthiest’ can be interpreted in more than one way. It could mean that his love for her is ‘unworthy’ or it could simply mean that his hands are shaking too much and therefore ‘unworthy’ to touch her. This makes it difficult to understand what Romeo is trying to say and how Juliet should react.
The play also uses dramatic irony as the audience know something that the characters don’t. For example when Romeo is talking about the morning being too bright he is actually talking about death, ‘Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon’ but Juliet doesn’t know that. The audience knows that Romeo is going to die but Juliet doesn’t and this makes her seem very naïve.
The use of ambiguity in this scene also creates poor communication as it is difficult to understand what people are saying. For example when Romeo says ‘Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow’ This could simply mean that he will miss her during the night or it could mean that he will never see her again. The ambiguity in this line makes it difficult to understand what Romeo is trying to say and how Juliet should react.
Soon after Lady Capulet enters Juliet’s chamber, a misunderstanding arises. She believes that Juliet is crying over the death of Tybalt, but the audience knows that she is actually crying over Romeo. Shakespeare allows this and other misunderstandings to continue during this scene in order to create ambiguity and dramatic irony—which makes the play more interesting.
Shakespeare intends for the mother to have poor communication skills and wants Juliet to lack trust in her mom. For example, when Lady Capulet says “evermore weeping for your cousin’s death?” she believes Juliet is upset about Tyblolts passing; but really Juliet is worried that her husband Romeo will never come back home.
Juliet is trying to make her mother see that she is not mourning for the death of Tybalt, but instead for Romeo. She cries “I have no joy in this contract tonight: it is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden”. She realises that her marriage to Paris is hasty and it has all been arranged too quickly in the aftermath of Tybalt’s death. The Nurse interrupts Juliet at this point, which breaks the flow of her argument.
The Nurse then gives Juliet the news that Romeo has been banished and has killed Tybalt. The nurse doesn’t understand why Juliet isn’t happy about this as she sees it as good news, she says “Your Romeo will be here at night”. The Nurse is unaware of the clientele that Romeo and Juliet have for each other.
The Nurse’s communication is poor as she doesn’t understand why Juliet isn’t elated that Romeo killed Tybalt, she believes it was justice. If the Nurse had communicated better, she would have realised that by telling Juliet this news, it would only make her feel worse.
Shakespeare uses dramatic irony throughout this scene as the audience knows more than the characters on stage. For example, we know that Romeo has been banished, but neither Juliet or her mother are aware of this. This creates tension as the audience is waiting for Juliet to find out.
The poor communication in this scene creates a sense of unease and foreboding, which contributes to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. If the characters had communicated better, they may have been able to avoid the tragic events that follow.