Shakespeare writes Capulet’s character to scare people in this scene, and he definitely has the desired effect on Juliet. She can no-longer stand up for herself, or shout, as her father is not the same as her mother, and will not stand for her defiance. Shakespeare uses Capulet’s rage in other scenes previous to this one, so the audience would not be surprised by it. At the start of the play, when there is a brawl between the servants of the two houses, Capulet orders his wife to fetch him his sword, and she responds by saying “A crutch, a crutch, why call you for a sword?” she is reminding him of his age, and saying that rather than needing a sword, he needs a crutch. You can see that he doesn’t care about his age; he is still the leader of the household and family and will fight and or shout with anyone is need be. You can see this again in act 3, scene 5, when the nurse points out that he is “too hot” meaning that he has got himself too angry and should calm down. He will not be spoken to like this and says to the nurse “and why my Lady Wilson? Hold your tongue.” Shakespeare uses Capulet’s age in other scenes, such as act 1, scene 5 when he is talking to Romeo and Benvolio and says “…the trifling foolish banquet towards” which means that they should go to the banquet. Shakespeare uses a minor case of dramatic irony here, as the audience, and the other characters on the stage know that the banquet has already been and gone, and the audience then realise that Capulet is loosing his memory due to his old age. In act 1, scene 5, at the party, he also changes. When Tybalt spots Romeo and his friends disguised, he tells Capulet, and implies that he wants to rid of the, and fight if necessary. Capulet says no, and Tybalt, being quite fiery and strong minded argues. Capulet, despite his obvious old age, turns and becomes almost a different person.
In act 1, scene 2, when Paris first introduces the idea of marriage with Juliet to Capulet, Capulet says that the choice of Juliet’s husband will have to be partly her choice. In these times, a father allowing his daughter to have a say in her marriage was rare, and so Capulet is portrayed as a caring and good father. However, when he accepts a Paris’ marriage to Juliet, and she denies, he turns, and the audience’s view of him changes. He no longer appears to care for Juliet’s opinions and wants to be in charge. When the audience are watching act 3, scene 5, Capulet would become quite enraged at Juliet, and would probably be quite vicious towards her, dragging her by her hair, threatening and maybe even hitting her on stage. If there were any sympathies felt by the audience towards Capulet, they have been squashed, as he becomes a character that the audience ‘loves to hate’. This meaning that thanks to his bad actions, the probably dislike him, and yet they want to see what he will do, as he makes the play the tiniest bit more interesting.
Lady Capulet, who up till now has seemed to have quite a distant relationship with Juliet, but probably a greater one than Capulet does also changes significantly in this scene. When Juliet tells her that she won’t marry Paris, the audience would be shocked; being as the first audiences of this play would’ve been brought up on the morals that you do what you’re told by your parents. The play is set in Verona, Italy, where even today, Catholicism is a very dominating and dictating religion. But a lot more then than today, the Italian’s would’ve believed in sin, and hell; and so Juliet’s actions and the possibility of her being a bigamist, along with disobeying her father and shouting at her mother, might’ve been believed to have jeopardised her place in heaven.
When Capulet storms out of Juliet’s room in a rage, Lady Capulet says to Juliet “talk to me not, for I’ll not speak a word. Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee” in response to Juliet begging her to try and postpone the wedding, even by a couple of days. I get the idea that maybe Lady Capulet is maybe jealous of Juliet, and that she wishes that she could’ve had the chance to live a life like Juliet, and have the proposal from a man like Paris, this in mind, Lady Capulet might see Juliet as spoilt, selfish and ungrateful.
When the nurse tells Juliet that “Romeo’s a dish clout to him (Paris)” and says that she means it, Juliet feels betrayed. After all, the nurse was the one who helped them marry, and only hours previous to the incident, had helped Romeo in and out of Juliet’s room. Juliet would’ve probably known the nurse all of her life; being as Mother’s didn’t tend to look after their children themselves, and so would’ve hired a form of wet-nurse, so they would’ve had quite a strong bond, almost like mother and daughter. And so for the nurse to turn round and say to Juliet to forget about her true love, Romeo, she is shocked, upset, and feeling betrayed. She can’t stand the thought that she might actually have to marry Paris; after all, she loves Romeo, and is already married, yet again another reference maybe to her being a future bigamist and it being a sin. The audience who would’ve been mainly catholic would’ve also looked down on this terribly. Shakespeare uses the sin issue regularly in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, perhaps because he knew that it’s not an issue the audience would take lightly, and would cause shock each time it was mentioned.
As a teenager, I’m sure Juliet would have been strong willed, moody, and in her mind always right and so maybe in this instance, she did not listen carefully enough to the nurse’s advice, and so might’ve misunderstood what she said. I think that the nurse was only trying to protect Juliet, who is as good as her daughter. She’s obviously not stupid, and knows that by turning down Paris, and staying with Romeo, Juliet can only be doing herself harm. After all, Romeo is not only the only son of a Montague, but the killer of a Capulet and Juliet’s cousin. If the secret marriage between Romeo and Juliet was discovered, then both families would be in shame and angry at the lovers. The audience might also see the nurse’s words of advice from my point of view, and understand what she I saying, and why she is saying it, but Juliet obviously does not; she doe not take the time to think about it, and gets cross. In the end of the scene, when Juliet says she is going to confession, after having a row with Capulet, the nurse believes her, as she hasn’t lied to her so far. But Juliet obviously no longer thinks that she can trust the nurse and so ends up lying to her.
Act 3, scene 5 is a vital scene in the play, as it shows how the characters- Capulet and Juliet especially can change so quickly in personality and emotions. Shakespeare changes the language and sentence structures used in this scene to adapt to the mood of the character speaking. He uses such beautiful language and metaphors when writing the dialogues between Romeo and Juliet. Many other speeches in the play wilt in comparison with the vividness he uses to emphasize their love. He uses this scene especially to show the audience the other sides of Juliet, Capulet and his lady.
