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I am writing an essay on Act 3 Scene 5 in Romeo and Juliet where the romantic play takes the turn for tragic. Indeed, Juliet loses the support of her primary family and is left deserted, with no hope to turn to except Friar Lawrence.

There is no room for workarounds around the difficult situation for poor Juliet.

Rather than using the phrase room for workarounds or between a rock and a hard place, I would have preferred to find a term that suggests this idea of an untiable knot (which is clearly not a term). Any suggestions?

This differs from another Stackexchange question since I am not looking for a situation in which there are only two possibilities, but a situation that cannot be solved.

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Turbo
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    Does 'impasse' cover this? Or is that only appropriate when you're trying to go in one direction and can't go any further? – David Garner Mar 15 '15 at 20:53
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    Find oneself in a corner, deadlocked, stalemated, nowhere to turn? – WS2 Mar 15 '15 at 21:02
  • @DavidGarner I think that the context would have to be different for the word 'impasse', but thanks for the suggestion though – Turbo Mar 15 '15 at 21:04
  • @WS2 I doubt that any of the suggested ones fit in correctly e.g. stalemated - tends to be used for war descriptions ; in a corner - I don't really think that that is an appropriate term to use for an extremely formal essay - the same for 'nowhere to turn' etc. – Turbo Mar 15 '15 at 21:05
  • @Leuchte, WS2's suggestions are all better than mine! – David Garner Mar 15 '15 at 21:06
  • @DavidGarner I do indeed agree, but it seems that no word suits what I'm trying to say :( – Turbo Mar 15 '15 at 21:07
  • Sometimes there just isn't. Shakespeare dealt with this by coining a word. – David Garner Mar 15 '15 at 21:10
  • @DavidGarner This is (probably) the first time I haven't found a word I wanted in the entirety of the English language! I guess I'll have to use one of these: http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/imbroglio – Turbo Mar 15 '15 at 21:31
  • Thanks for everyone's help, at least I have now got somewhere. Here are some possible impressive terms (although they do not link to complete impossibility): predicament, imbroglio, quandary – Turbo Mar 15 '15 at 21:31
  • @FumbleFingers I've edited the question, since it wasn't quite clear what I was after – Turbo Mar 16 '15 at 07:22
  • Also note that the possible duplicate you suggested was looking for a proverb or expression, not a noun or adjective – Turbo Mar 16 '15 at 07:23
  • Note that expression includes things like nouns and adjectives. Among the suggestions on the earlier question are dilemma, paradox, double-edged sword, Catch-22, Morton's fork. And you yourself mentioned between a rock and a hard place - I don't see it necessarily makes much difference whether there are exactly two "unacceptable" alternatives (as opposed to many, or none). Also, you say the difficult situation* for poor Juliet, which implies there is* a "solution" - just not necessarily a desirable one. – FumbleFingers Mar 16 '15 at 14:46
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    It's worth noting that there is a phrase that means "untiable knot": a Gordian knot. However, it's used in the context of "an impossible situation that someone gets out of by cheating or breaking an unwritten rule," since according to legend, Alexander the Great "untied" the impossible knot by cutting it in half with his sword. – Nicole Mar 18 '15 at 18:29

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I will not bandy with thee word for word ... this dilemma is often referred to as a "double bind".

double bind noun:

a situation in which a person is confronted with two irreconcilable demands or a choice between two undesirable courses of action. See, Google.com double bind

Do thou but call my resolution wise, And with this knife I’ll help it presently.

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  • Thank you, Leuchte. I upvoted you previously. Shame you didn't get more of a response. Did you notice that "double bind" wasn't accounted for in the "alleged" duplicate question? –  Mar 18 '15 at 21:08