Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a play of growth, development and change for the protagonist Juliet. Her character is represented in two different extremes in act 1 and again in act 3. .
For a 13-year-old girl, it is not unlikely for them to defy their parent's wishes. Part of Juliet's change and growth lies in this rebellious state when she refuses to marry Paris even though she has thus far obeyed her father. In act 1 her father describes her as innocent: "My child is yet a strange to the world. She hath not seen the change of fourteen years." Also, Capulet speaks of how much he loves his daughter: "She is the hopeful lady of my earth." Basically, at this point in the play, Juliet is daddy's little girl. She is going to marry whom Capulet has chosen fit for his only daughter. .
Juliet however, has other plans. Upon meeting Romeo she gradually begins to defy her father. The ultimate slap in the face for Capulet is that Juliet has actually married Romeo, and she can therefore not marry Paris whom her father is chosen. Capulet, who was describing Juliet as the apple of his eye, becomes angered that Juliet is seemingly ungrateful of the life that he has planned for his daughter: "Unworthy as she is that we have wrought such a gentlemen to be her bride." .
Juliet's growth can be seen in this comparison. She has changed from a young girl who obeys her parents to someone who would rather now die in Act 5 than obey her father and marry Paris. Once Juliet discovered her own wants and desires, she defies her father. This is clearly the growth of Juliet from a passive girl to a more opinionated woman.
