‘Romeo and Juliet’-Act 4 Questions 1 and 2
1.
- In 1.2.3 Capulet states that, ‘men so old as we to keep the peace.’ This statement suggests that he not only is old by in other people’s opinions, but is old in his own as well. This really does suggest that Capulet is a man of considerable age because men tend to see themselves as young, dynamic man they used to be. The fact that Capulet is resigned to old age suggests that he is a man of a considerably ripe age.
In 1.3.71-72 Lady Capulet tells her daughter that, ‘By my count I was your mother much upon these years that you are now maid,’ suggesting that she is double Juliet’s age. We know that Juliet is 14, thus Lady Capulet is roughly 28.
In 1.5.30-38 Capulet is talking about how long ago he and Cousin Capulet ‘were last in a mask.’ Cousin Capulet also says that, ‘you and I are past our dancing days,’ thus again supporting the assertion that Capulet is of considerable age. We can get an extremely good idea of the age difference between Lord and Lady Capulet because Cousin Capulet says that it was, ‘thirty years,’ since they had been dancing together. If we take an educated guess that Capulet was roughly thirty when he stopped dancing, he is now in the region of sixty years old, more than double the age of Capulet.
