In Act 1, Scene 3, Lady Capulet wishes to speak to her daughter and asks the nurse to fetch her, as she would do a maid. Once she arrives after being summoned they begin discussing her age and maturity at this point in time. The nurse, alike a mother, remembers bringing up Juliet and looking after her throughout her childhood. She specifically remembers feeding Juliet. As the nurse had already lost one child she feels a special attachment to Juliet. The Nurse, suggesting a close, personal relationship with her calls Juliet a ‘lamb’ and ‘ladybird’. Lady Capulet, as if fulfilling an itinerary, raises the subject of marriage with Juliet, Juliet is obviously taken aback by this stating, ‘It is an honour that I dream not of.’ Her mother attempts to persuade Juliet to get married. She glorifies Paris during a sonnet in which she describes him as a book to show his beauty and get Juliet to liken to him. Every line symbolises an advantage within Paris as she tries to emphasise Paris’ beauty. She ends claiming both Juliet and Paris are a good match, ‘So shall you share all he doth possess, By having him, making yourself no less.’ This is the first time the audiences see Juliet and her mother. There is a defining contrast between the Nurse’s relationship with Juliet and Lady Capulet’s relationship with her daughter. The nurse has a very informal and personal relationship; they are able to have a joke with each other whereas Juliet’s relationship with her mother is strictly formal. Juliet and the nurse are able to relax in each other’s company and enjoy the fact that Juliet’s childhood has been happy, thanks to the nurse who brought her up and treasured her, just as a mother should do. When the nurse reminisces she shows a clear affection towards Juliet via the names she calls her, for example, ‘prettiest babe’. However, Lady Capulet only consults her daughter in a mature style and only on adult issues. When Juliet first meets her mother she asks, ‘Madam, what is your will?’ this suggests she only sees her mother on certain important occasions. When Lady Capulet asks the nurse to leave the room, so her and her daughter can talk privately she has to ask her to return soon after because talking to her daughter alone makes her feel uneasy, as she hasn’t had much experience in talking to her daughter. In Lady Capulet’s sonnet describing Paris, she describes Paris in an elaborate style, comparing him to a well-refined book throughout. For example, words such as ‘volume’, ‘read’, ‘writ’ and ‘content’ all apply to both Paris and literature. The phrase ‘beauty’s pen’ tell us Paris is pretty and handsome his beauty has been written with a pen. This extended metaphor highlights Lady Capulet’s priorities for a future son-in-law, these being beauty and wealth;
‘And what obscured in this fair volume lies
Find written in the margent of his eyes.
This precious book of lover, this unbound lover,
To beautify him, only lacks a cover.’
Lady Capulet claims he ‘lacks a cover’ meaning Juliet should be prepared to become his wife. She examines both body and soul but, more importantly, hints at his status being equal to theirs and Juliet marrying someone of her own calibre. She uses descriptive words such as ‘gold’ emphasises his wealth to Juliet. Lady Capulet believes he stands out among other men, ‘This fish lives in the sea, and ‘tis much pride’. Juliet’s reaction to such a proposal reveals how innocent she is and her anticipation to marry as she tries to please her mother and reveal her own happiness at the prospect of marriage, ‘It is an honour that I dream not of’. She agrees to try to like Paris and at her mother’s consent their passion may fly;
‘I’ll look to like, if looking like move;
But no more deep will I endart mine eye
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.’
In Act 3, Scene 4, Lord Capulet tells Paris he has delayed talking to Juliet about marriage because of her feelings towards Tybalt’s death. He orders his wife, Lady Capulet, to tell Juliet she is to be married to Paris in the morning and in doing so give her no choice whereas he did before. Paris plans their wedding for three days times after some delegation from Lord Capulet as he believed sooner was worse than later. Lord Capulet’s attitude towards Paris’ wedding proposal has completely changed and instead of waiting for his daughter to reach a ‘ripe age’, he wants the marriage to be as soon as possible. We can only speculate that he did this to make his daughter happier and help her grieving to come to an end. He describes Juliet’s grief over Tybalt to Paris, ‘She loved her kinsman Tybalt dearly, And so did I,’ which begins to sound rushed and un-thoughtful. He furthers his point and claims ‘Well, we were born to die’ and sounds very callous and hard-hearted. Lord Capulet has a philosophical perspective and wants the wedding to go ahead on time. In this scene, we see Lord Capulet change his mind about when Juliet should marry; this is because he has had time to consider Paris’ proposal and now believes he has Juliet where he wants her. He thinks Juliet will obey him and ‘be ruled in all respects’ by him. He may believe that by marrying her to Paris her grief for Tybalt will be forgotten and she will become happy once again. Such a sudden change in Lord Capulet influences our view on him as a father in many ways; he is now believed to be a father who likes to be in control and have power over his daughter. He seems very harsh towards Juliet and proves to be more interested in the pace of time rather than his daughter’s own feelings. He hasn’t consulted his daughter about marriage to Paris but believes, foolishly, that she will obey him. Lady Capulet arrives in Juliet’s room to tell her of her pending marriage to Paris just moments after Romeo has left. Romeo and Juliet has just spent their first night together after their wedding the day before. Romeo had just left because the nurse warns the couple that Lady Capulet is coming. At this point, Juliet’s words are full of foreboding, ‘Will they ever meet again?’ Of course the audience already know that Juliet is already married to Romeo, producing dramatic irony.
In Act 3, Scene 5 lines 64-203 Lady Capulet follows her husbands orders and goes to tell Juliet of her marriage to Paris in three days time. Lady Capulet, however, mistakes Juliet'’ tears for Romeo as grief over Tybalt’s death. Juliet’s replies strengthen this belief, as they were deliberately ambiguous, to hide her feelings for Romeo as Lady Capulet threatens vengeance, promising that Romeo will be poisoned in Martua. Lady Capulet tells Juliet of her marriage to Paris on Thursday. Juliet is appalled and refuses. Lord Capulet intervenes and mistakes Juliet’s tears for those over Tybalt as his wife did. Capulet enters into a towering rage on hearing Juliet’s refusal and threatens her. He insults her and raises his hand to her but the nurse protects Juliet causing Lord Capulet to become enraged. Lady Capulet watches on as he threatens his own daughter with being disowned. During these lines, Juliet is very clever in what she says using ambiguous language to express her love for Romeo but make it sound like a need for revenge, ‘God, pardon him, I do with all my heart.’ Juliet mocks her mother parodying to imitate her mother’s speech and repeat what she says. She is very devious, as she knows she is fooling her mother into believing her story but is caring in that she does it to protect her relationship with Romeo. However, in her anger at Paris she contradicts herself and claims she would rather marry Romeo, when she already has, this appears to her mother as ungrateful. Juliet has to endure her father’s terrible rage whilst no one is there to protect her, this proves her loyalty to Romeo even though under so much pressure. We realise that her relationship with Romeo has given her the strength to defy her father and refuse Paris’ marriage proposal. These lines mark a stark contrast in Juliet’s behaviour; her love for Romeo has eclipsed her dutiful approach to her parents. Lady Caplet appears caring at times during this scene, for example, when she claims, ‘Why how no Juliet’ but contradicts this with harsh advice, ‘Some grief shows much love, But must of grief shows still want of wit’ proving she is suspicious of Juliet’s tears. She tells Juliet not to waste so many tears over Tybalt it is appearing false, crying is a sign of weakness. When Lady Capulet tells Juliet of her pending marriage she likes the idea of her daughter being married but her hopes are dashed when Juliet refuses. Lady Capulet says this of Juliet, ‘I would the fool were married to her grave,’ which coincidentally does happen. Lord Capulet takes over because she feels his wife can’t cope with such a simple task, undermining her. As the situation escalates and Lord Capulet’s anger increases she does nothing to help her daughter whilst her husband hurls constant abuse. She says ‘you are too hot’ and ‘Fie, fie, What, are you mad?’ at times of extreme tension but this proves not enough. Juliet wishes to talk to her mother at the end of the scene, to beg her mother to stop the wedding but as before she refuses and walks away claiming ‘I have done with thee,’ abandoning her child yet again. The nurse, as a mother, is left to pick up the pieces.
Lord Capulet shows a lack of respect for the female race throughout this scene, especially to his daughter. ‘How now, a conduit girl’ shows a lack of patience whilst his daughter is still weeping. These stressed questions are repeated again and again to show the effect his anger is having on his speech. Nasty insults including ‘baggage’ and ‘tallow-face’, threats to drag his daughter up the altar shows no affection as before for his daughter but just a cruel need for control. He shows no feelings towards his pressurised daughter and doesn’t give her a chance. Her own father is forcing her into a marriage she doesn’t want, which in itself is heart breaking. Lord Capulet curses every movement she makes until she does marry Paris; this is a complete change from when he claimed in the first scene that she was his ‘hopeful lady of this earth’. We are also lead to believe he uses physical violence too when he says, ‘my fingers itch,’ meaning itching to hit her with them. A show of disrespect for his female staff is also highlighted here whilst the nurse is trying to protect Juliet from his violence, she enrages him and he calls her a ‘mumbling fool’.
In Act 4, Scene 2 lines 14-46, this is the last time Juliet is seen alive by her parents. Lord Capulet is planning Juliet’s forced marriage. However, Juliet enters the room and suprisingly falls to her knees and begs her father for forgiveness creating dramatic irony, as we know she doesn’t really mean it. She promises to obey him in the future and in doing so marry Paris, even though she is already married to Romeo. Her intentions are not to marry Paris but to carry out Friar Lawrence’s plan. However, Juliet’s apology and acceptance to do his bidding delight Lord Capulet. He decides, hastily, she shall be married tomorrow, bringing forward the wedding. This haste speeds up the plays’ tragedy and increases the tension. Lord Capulet claims he will manage all the wedding arrangements himself after Lady Capulet offers her services to him. Juliet spins a web of lies to her parents whilst plotting to ‘kill herself’ for her relationship with Romeo to remain. Juliet told her father she went to see Friar Lawrence but this wasn’t about the marriage but to arrange her way out. Lord Capulet thinks she is talking about arranging the marriage as she also met Paris there but she also went to plot with the Friar. The audience’s reaction to this maybe that Juliet is selfish, deceitful but very clever. The change in language and attitude between Juliet and her parents consequently ends in her tragic death. Lord Capulet’s change in attitude from a caring and considerate father to a hasty and infuriated one pushes Juliet to plan her own death to resume her relationship with Romeo before her forced marriage to Paris takes place. The wedding plans are brought forward because of Capulet’s desperate attempts to marry her. Lady Capulet’s attitude doesn’t change from the beginning till end of the play as she is an insensitive figure and doesn’t act like a mother to her daughter but leaves it to her nurse. When the nurse has done all she can to help Juliet, she has no one and nothing to rely on apart from Friar Lawrence’s plan and her fateful love for Romeo.
