Thread by @GCSE_Macbeth

#SummerOfJuliet

Act 2 Sc 2 l.85-106

I love this speech. I love how long Juliet talks for, how she's a mess of desires and doubts, what a big soppy sugar-rush of love it all is.

I love how you can hear the voice in her head saying "stop talking!" all the way through.

1/

Let's look at the last few lines:

"Therefore pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered."

2/

Juliet is caught between living up to the expectations of a respectable young lady, and wanting to confess her love for Romeo.

That "pardon me" is said in the hope that Romeo won't get the wrong impression of her.

3/

"Yielding" is an interesting choice of word -- it suggests J has lost something or given something up to Romeo. She has confessed her love, and in doing so lost the tactical advantage of witholding that confession. There's also the suggestion of wanting to yield herself up.

4/

"light love" suggests insincerity but also carries the meaning of "wanton" (thanks, Arden edition!).

Juliet is saying that just because she was open about her love for Romeo she isn't casual or lustful about it. She's not THAT type of girl.

5/

That last line is brilliant too: "Which the dark night hath so discovered."

Romeo and Juliet's love is something discovered in the dark -- erotically charged but destined to stay concealed.

6/6