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In Act I of William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is compliant around adults but flirtatious and willful behind their backs. She might seem modest initially, but in fact, she has a will of her own and a playful spirit.  In the first scene as she talks with her mother and the nurse, Juliet does little to suggest that she is anything but a very modest, proper young girl. When Lady Capulet asks her if she can like the family-sponsored suitor, Paris, Juliet replies nicely: “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move” (Shakespeare 1.3.98). No Elizabethan parent could ask more of a young daughter than that she be pure of heart and willing to be led. When she meets Romeo, however, Juliet flirts with him with a wholeheartedness that belies her seemingly compliant nature. All he has to do is to suggest that he would like to kiss her ("holily," of course, like a "pilgrim" before a shrine), and she is willing and able to flirt right back with him, playing coy and suggesting that “palm to palm is holy palmer’s kiss” (1.5.98). Between Romeo’s first line to Juliet and their first kiss is a mere 15 lines, showing unequivocally that when she’s with a boy her own age, she is spirited and playful, not shy and demure. Furthermore, afterwards, alone with her Nurse, Juliet is devious. She tricks the Nurse into revealing that “His name is Romeo” (1.5.156), and she lies directly to the Nurse when she is caught bemoaning her fate, saying that she learned a little rhyme from a dancing partner. In deceiving her beloved Nurse, Juliet shows how determined and willful she can be in order to get what she wants (in this case, Romeo). Out of earshot of the adults, Juliet is clearly a bolder, more self-confident, more independent girl than her first scene with her mother reveals.

Note: MLA citation of books/plays is different from that of Shakespearean plays. If you are working with a Shakespearan play, then your citations should be as they are above-- “Quoted information” (Shakespeare act#.scene#.line#). When citing a novel, however, your citation should be as follows: “Quoted information” (Last name page#). [ie. “Quoted information” (Hardy 18).]