During the opening parts of Act 1 scene 2, Paris is having a conversation with Lord Capulet about marrying Juliet. He is still young and Lord Capulet is a lot older than him. Paris converses with Lord Capulet using respect and caution. He doesn’t speak fast or put Lord Capulet under any pressure. In return Lord Capulet is not rough or harsh, he could have rejected Paris’ desire but instead he says in line 9-11 “She hath not seen the change of fourteen years; Let two more summers wither in their pride, Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.” which is a polite way of telling him to have patience for a few years. By being polite to each other they establish a bond between each other, Paris trusts Lord Capulet that he wouldn’t lie and Lord Capulet trusts Paris.
When Juliet speaks to Lady Capulet in Act 1 scene 3 shortly before the Capulet Ball, she addresses her as Madam in line 7, “Madam, I am here, what is your will?” this shows respect Lady Capulet has over Juliet, and what respect Juliet has for her own mother. ‘Madam’ is Lady Capulet’s title for the servants to call her by. She also refers to her mother as Madam in Act 3 sc 5 where Lady Capulet calls Romeo a villain in line 79 “What villain, madam?” The audience can see that Lady Capulet doesn’t know her own daughter well. The Nurse is more of the mother since she has brought her up since she was born. ‘I would say thou hadst suck’d wisdom from thy teat’ Because of this Juliet has more affection for the Nurse than her own mother Yet Lady Capulet insists on excluding the Nurse from Juliet’s wedding arrangements. ‘We must talk in secret, Nurse come back again’ We can clearly see Juliet has a very small relationship with Lady Capulet. And audience today may sympathize with Juliet because of this and criticize Lady Capulet for not having a loving relationship with her. High up in the Elizabethan society, it was expected that a child’s mother would teach it responsibility and ethics where the nurse would be affectionate to the child and bring them up. So an Elizabethan audience would also criticize Juliet for not following Lady Capulet’s advice.
When Tybalt recognizes Romeo at the masked ball, he asks Lord Capulet to tell Romeo to leave, but Lord Capulet comes to a decision and allows Romeo to stay, to avoid a confrontation. ‘This, by his voice, should be a Montague. Fetch me my rapier, boy… Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe.. A villain that is hither come in spite’ then Lord Capulet speaks, ‘Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone… You’ll make a mutiny among my guests!’ This shows clearly Lord Capulet’s responsibility, he did not want to cause problems at his own ball. It also shows Tybalt’s irresponsibility and eagerness to cause a fight.
Lady Capulet wants and wishes for Juliet to marry Paris, who is related to the prince and would make a good husband, but Juliet’s decisions leads her to her marriage with Romeo.
‘The valiant Paris seeks you for his love… Read o’er the volume of young Paris’ faces… And find delight writ there with beauty’s pen’
From this, the audience/reader can see that Lady Capulet has thought very carefully about Juliet’s future, and whom she is to marry, she is very concerned about her daughters future and social status. It also shows us that Juliet is disobedient, she acts impulsively and doesn’t think about her future or what will happen. Juliet’s disobedience would lead an Elizabethan audience to expect a tragic end.
In Act 3 scene 1, the turning point of the play, the decisions and interactions between the characters forms what happens in the end. When Mercutio was slain Romeo’s anger took over him and his reaction against Tybalt was a duel, which resulted in the death of Tybalt. Romeo is shortly banished from Verona to go to Mantua. This may seem as a very harsh punishment for a teenage boy, but in Shakespearean times, if you were old enough to be married, you were treated like a man, and children married as young as 14 years old. After the fight when Mercutio and Tybalt are slain, the prince makes his entrance, ending the battle and finding out what happened. This resulted in Romeo’s punishment. The prince speaks
‘Immediately we do exile him hence..’
From this scene we learn that Mercutio doesn’t listen to authority and he doesn’t think nor care about the consequences of his actions. We also learn that the Prince isn’t biased and that he has a concern about the welfare of the citizens of Verona.
In Act 3 scene 5 Juliet is weeping because of Romeo’s banishment, but Lady Capulet and Lord Capulet believe she is crying over the death of Tybalt. When Lord Capulet comes into the scene and finds out Juliet’s refusal to marry Paris, his mood immediately changes into anger and fury. Lord Capulet talks about killing her if she dares refuse marriage
“Go with Paris to Saint Peter’s Church, or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither” and “Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee down to church a’Thursday, Or never after look me in the face.”
Not only is this a threatening but it is also a warning to disown her if she refuses to marry Paris. This is a very negative interaction between the older and the younger generations.
In the text there are also examples of people not acting in the stereotypical way: young people being responsible and old people being irresponsible. Both Lord and Lady Montague and Capulet do not attempt to stop their children from fighting even though that Mercutio and Tybalt have been slain and if they carry on fighting their children will suffer terrible consequences. We see that Lord and Lady Montague and Capulet want the feud between the families to continue. Whereas Benvolio attempted to stop the fights both times there was a brawl.
‘Part fools! Put up your swords; you know not what you do’, ‘I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire: The day is hot, the Capulet’s abroad, And if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl; For now these hot days, is the mad blood stirring’
These quotes show that Benviolo is a responsible person.
After Romeo was banished to Mantua, he heard the tragic news of Juliet’s death. He asked an apothecary to sell him poison so he himself may commit suicide and join Juliet in the after-life. The apothecary sol him poison which was against the law.
‘Such Mortal Drugs I have; but Mantua’s law IS death to any he utters them’.
We learn that the apothecary is irresponsible and is just looking for ways to make money.
Earlier on during the play, when Juliet met Paris in the church, he told her that they were going to get married. However she was already married to Romeo, and when Paris left she went to Friar Lawrence to seek his advice. He told her to take a potion to make her parents believe she was dead, and that he would send a letter to Romeo explaining the situation. Juliet then decided to follow the Friar’s advice.
‘Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear… Farewell dear father!’
We clearly see that Juliet would follow any advice without any thought. She is very grateful to the Friar and trusts him to make sure that Romeo receives the letter. The audience would be annoyed with Juliet for not following Lady Capulet’s own advice to get married to Paris and that they know that the Friar is giving bad advice. The audience would definitely know that there will be a tragic ending to the play.
Romeo and Juliet’s fate leads them to their tragic deaths, they kill themselves and rest in peace together. From this tragic loss the two families, Montague and Capulet ended the feud and restored peace amongst themselves. They raised a statue for their dead children, Romeo and Juliet. Although there are many examples of stereotypes in the world, people do not always act in the stereotypical way. Shakespeare has shown this in his tale of “A Pair of Star Crossed Lovers”, Romeo and Juliet by giving the characters their own unique and special personality and qualities.
