Tuesday, January 15, 2019

What does Juliet mean in her opening soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?

In Act III,
Scene II, whensays, "Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, / Towards Phoebus'
lodging," she is using Greek mythology to express her eagerness for the day to pass and for
night to fall so that her wedding night can take place (1-2). Phoebes Apollo is the sun god, who
was believed to drive his chariot across the sky each night, the chariot representing the
setting sun. Similarly, when she says, "Spread thy close curtain, love-performing
night," she is again asking night to hurry up and come (5). Not only that, she is referring
to night as a dark shroud, or veil, that will concealfrom being dangerously seen by her family
so that they can perform their "amorous rites," meaning engage in their wedding night
(9). The rest of the passage is full of sexual inferences and culminates in her begging
"gentle night...Give me my Romeo" (21-22). Finally, she refers to the day as
"tedious" because she has married Romeo, but not yet enjoyed him, as we see in the
lines,

O, I have bought the mansion of a
love,
But not possess'd it; and though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy'd.
(27-29)

All in all, in this speech, Juliet is saying that
she is eager to enjoy her new husband.

href="http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/romeo_juliet.3.2.html">http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/romeo_juliet.3.2....

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