Montague says that he would be just as pleased to see Romeo happy again as to knowing what caused his sadness in the first place.
We can see what family relations are like in the Capulet household in Act1 Scene2. In this scene, there is a conversation between Capulet and Paris about an arranged marriage for Paris and Juliet. I feel that Capulet is concerned about Juliet getting married too soon because of his own marriage, which was probably arranged also. From this scene, we can also get an idea of what family relations were like at the time i.e. Paris says,
‘Younger than she are happy mothers made’.
This gives the impression that it was not unusual for girls to become mothers at around twelve of thirteen years old. We can also see that, in the upper classes, daughters would probably have no say in who they married; it would be arranged by her father and the husband-to-be. This would also mean that there would probably be no love present in a marriage, which would make having a family and loving their children very difficult. This could be one of the reasons why nurses were hired by upper class women. However, Capulet does not act the way fathers in the upper classes generally did about arranging his daughter’s marriage. He tells Paris;
‘…too soon marred are those so early made’.
By this, he means that women who are married too early are ruined. This probably comes from the experience of his own marriage, and because Juliet is his only child and is so precious to him, he does not want her to end up like her mother. He does not want his daughter to have to marry someone she does not love. Instead, he wants Paris to ‘woo her’ and ‘get her heart’. This was not conventional for the time. Capulet is obviously quite open minded and caring. He wants the best for his daughter and wants her to be happy, even if he has to do things differently to the way they should have been done in polite, upper class society.
In Act1 Scene2, Capulet and Paris speak in iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line) because they are upper class. This reflects their nobility, and that they are considered to be intelligent.
Act1 Scene3 shows us the relationship between Lady Capulet and Juliet. Lady Capulet feels that she cannot talk to her daughter without the Nurse present i.e.
‘Nurse, give leave a while;
We must talk in secret. (NURSE begins to leave) Nurse,
Come back again’.
This shows us that Lady Capulet cannot even bring herself to talk to Juliet alone; she has to have the Nurse present. This was probably quite common of the upper classes, as many upper class children were brought up by their nurses, and so, probably did not have very good relationships with their biological parents, because they spent most of their time with their nurses. This is shown by the relationship between Juliet and the Nurse, which completely contrasts to the relationship between Juliet and Lady Capulet. The Nurse is quite affectionate towards Juliet whereas Lady Capulet is almost emotionless when she is talking to Juliet. The Nurse has pet names for Juliet i.e. ‘lady-bird’ which shows that they are quite close and obviously spend a lot of time together. But Lady Capulet does not even know where her daughter is i.e.
‘Nurse, where is my daughter?’
Again, this proves that the Nurse is close to Juliet and that Lady Capulet is very distant form Juliet.
We can also see the class difference between Lady Capulet and the Nurse from the way they speak. The obvious difference is from the language they use. The Nurse uses very common, vulgar, domestic language e.g.
‘it had upon it brow a bump as big as a
young cockerel’s stone’
whereas Lady Capulet uses quite polite language. There is also a difference in the way the two characters actually speak, which is meant to distinguish the different classes. The Nurse speaks in prose, which is just normal speech (not poetry) and is always used by lower classes. Lady Capulet speaks in iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line) and this kind of speech is used by the upper classes. Lady Capulet also uses extended metaphors in her speeches, whereas the Nurse does not. This shows a lack of intelligence in the lower classes because they do not talk using poetry (i.e. iambic pentameter) and they cannot use metaphors to make their point. If I were directing this scene, I would advise Lady Capulet to be quite uneasy around Juliet to show that they were not close and I would advise her to be very patronising towards the Nurse, to emphasize the class difference. I would ask the Nurse to be affectionate towards Juliet (e.g. hug her) to show that they were close and I would advise her to stand a little way back from Lady Capulet and Juliet, again to emphasize the class difference.
In this scene, Lady Capulet asks Juliet how she would feel about getting married to Paris. Juliet has not met Romeo at this point in the play, so this affects her opinion about it. Juliet is quite obedient and says that she needs her mother’s permission to fall in love;
‘your consent gives me strength to make it fly’.
Juliet’s obedience towards her mother could show two things; she might just be doing what her mother wants because she is too scared to go against what she says or she may be obedient because she wants to get closer to her mother and build up a strong relationship with her. We can definitely tell that Juliet is a good daughter because she is prepared to do what her parents want, whatever the reason. She also speaks in iambic pentameter and the actual language she uses shows her intelligence.
In Act 3 Scene 5, we see a complete change in Lord Capulet’s attitude towards Juliet. He veers from being a loving, caring father (shown in Act 1 Scene 1 when he thinks she is grieving for Tybalt) to being aggressive towards Juliet,
‘My fingers itch’.
I think there has been such a dramatic change of Capulet’s character because Juliet would not do as she was told; Lord Capulet was probably not used to people saying no to him, especially Juliet as she has been portrayed as being quite obedient towards her parents’ wishes previously in the play. Capulet’s reaction to Juliet disobeying him is quite extreme, but it is basically the way parents today would act if their children disobeyed them, but probably not as violently. I think Shakespeare wanted to have Capulet reacting in the way he did to create tension. There is also dramatic irony in this scene, which adds yet more tension.
Lord Capulet uses very insulting language towards Juliet e.g.
‘green-sickness carrion’
As this is quite a violent scene, I would advise Lord Capulet to be right up in Juliet’s face, pointing at her and shouting and I would ask Juliet to be sincerely crying on her knees.
From this scene, I also get the impression that Lady Capulet is afraid of Lord Capulet because she will not even try to reason with him about Juliet getting married. I do not think it has anything to do with her not being close to Juliet because she was probably not that close to Lord Capulet either, but she does what he tells her to do. It was very common at this time for women to do what their husbands told them, as males were considered the dominant sex. They would probably be afraid of their husband’s hitting them, as it was not really seen as being wrong; if a man hit his wife, people automatically assumed that she deserved it. Lord Capulet had the power to make Lady Capulet’s life miserable, whereas Juliet did not, so I think that was why Lady Capulet did not want to help Juliet;
‘Talk to me not, for I’ll not speak a word
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.’
In this scene, Juliet becomes totally isolated from her family in breaking faith with the Nurse. Before this scene, the Nurse had always been on Juliet’s side and even helped to arrange the marriage of Romeo and Juliet, but in this scene, she tries to persuade Juliet to marry Paris by saying that Romeo is nothing compared to him. Juliet cannot believe that the Nurse could be so deceitful. Juliet does not confide in the Nurse again because she feels she cannot trust her. Juliet is isolated from her family because she cannot talk to her mother, her father or the Nurse anymore.
Juliet went to Friar Laurence’s cell to ask him for help. He gave her a sort of sleeping potion, which would make her seem like she was dead. The Friar was risking his life trying to save her; if he were found out, he would be killed. They planned for Juliet to take the potion on her wedding night and the Friar would send a message to Romeo (as he had been banished and was living in Mantua) to tell him to come and get Juliet. It is at this point in the play when things start to go wrong for the ‘star-crossed lovers’.
Act 4 Scene 5 is the scene when Juliet is found after taking the potion. The Nurse is the first person to see Juliet and realises that she is dead. Her language is very repetitive and she is obviously very upset and deeply shocked. Lady Capulet is the next person to enter the room. Her reaction is quite surprising after what she said to Juliet in Act 3 Scene 5;
‘Talk to me not, for I’ll not speak a word
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee’.
When Lady Capulet realises that Juliet is ‘dead’ she says
‘Revive, look up, or I will die with thee’.
I think Lady Capulet says this because she did really love Juliet and could have regretted being so harsh with her. This is quite understandable but unexpected, as Lady Capulet was portrayed as quite a cold character throughout the play. Lord Capulet’s reaction is the hardest to understand. When he sees Juliet, he uses beautiful poetry;
‘Death lies upon her like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of all the field’.
This type of language does show some grief, but it is hard to believe that someone who has just lost his or her daughter could compose such beautiful language. There is dramatic irony throughout this scene; the characters (except the Friar) think that Juliet is dead, but the audience know that she is still alive.
Lady Capulet, the Nurse and Lord Capulet would have to show their different reactions if this scene were to be staged. I think the Nurse would be screaming and on her knees next to the bed. I think Lady Capulet would be sobbing quietly, sitting on the bed next to Juliet and I think Lord Capulet would be standing at the end of Juliet’s bed, with his head bowed.
The play ends when the Montagues and the Capulets realise that Romeo and Juliet have killed themselves because they could not be together. The death of Romeo and Juliet brings the Montague and Capulet families together. This is quite ironic as the families would have come together if the felt that they could have told their parents that they were married, instead the families were united by death.
I feel that there is still some rivalry between Lord Capulet and Lord Montague at the end of the play. When Capulet shakes Montague’s hand, Montague says;
‘But I can give thee more’.
This suggests that the rivalry between the two families had been going on for so long that it was just a reflex action to compete with each other.
From this play, it seems that children from the time that it was based had almost no relationship with their parents. Today we would find this rather strange; children who live with their parents are usually close to them. In addition, children were often used for financial gain through arranged marriages. However, some aspects of familial love are the same as they were in the play. Newly weds love each other passionately, the way that Romeo and Juliet loved each other.
Shakespeare shows us many aspects of familial love, from that of a husband and wife to a nephew and his uncle. I think Shakespeare wrote this play to show that the right kind of familial love is important for everyone to be happy, which is something that people can still relate to today.
