As head of the household Capulet would expect for the family to follow his rules and what he says, it would not be an option for his wife or child to answer him back. This would be the same in all households of the sixteenth century, but in todays times a man and wife would be seen as equal partners and in some cases the wife might be of higher status than the husband.
Capulet would want Juliet to marry Paris for her own benifits, as Paris comes from a rich well known family and as a father Capulet only wants the best for his only child. In scene 4 when Capulet is organising the wedding with Paris, Capulet is honouring Paris to make him feel welcome to their families home, "She shall be married to this nobel earl. "This is so that Paris will see that Juliet comes from a good family and he will enjoy his life with her.
When a modern audience is watching this play they would need to remember that a family would be acting diffrently to their lifestyle. This is important because it might seem as if Capulet is being a bad father to Juliet and that he is not a nice person, but in the time that Shakespeare's play was written this would have been normal in all upper class families and he would have been seen as a nice ordinary person of their village.
Capulet's responses change throughout the play we can see this from his response to the fight in Act 1 scene 1 against the Mountague's and his response to him being a host at his daughter's ball finding a Mountague in his home. Capulet dislikes Mountague we can see this from "My sword, I say! Here comes old Mountague." The brawl get stopped before any damage is done but both men leave in anger. Unlike when Capulet finds out that Romeo is in his party Capulet wants to show off how good his family is and does not react in such a tempered manner. "Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone:" Capulet's only reason for treating a member of the other family like this is so that he can prove his greatness. Capulet needs to show the Montagues their families greatness as the two families are almost competing against each other.
An audiences response to Capulets actions in this part of the play would be changing as at first the audience might think that Capulet is trying to be nice letting a Montague in to his party, but we then find out that he is only trying to prove that he is better than their family.
Both of the responces involve Mountague's but when Capulet finds out Paris wants his daughters hand in marriage Capulet reacts in a diffrent manner "Let two more summers wither in their pride." Capulet is trying to protect his only child, Furthermore he still feels that Paris would be a good choice of husband for his only daughter. Paris persuades Capulet that Juliet is ready to become a bride. Here Shakespeare shows the audience that Capulet can be a reasonable person, and that Capulet is seen to the audience that he is a loving caring father.
Capulet's powers are evidential during his quarrel with Tybalt and his quarrel with Juliet, in Act 1 scene 5 Capulet's brawl with Tybalt "Am I the master here, or you?" Capulet is applauded that Tybalt is trying to tell him what to do in his own house, this proves that Capulet is of higher status than Tybalt. This is also the case with Juliet, Capulet he is
disguisted when she will not obey his rules. "Proud I can never be of what I hate," Juliet is being stubourn about the wedding and Capulet will not stand for this in his household.
When Capulet finds his only child dead he does not want to belive it "Ha, let me see her. Out, alas!" Capulet can not belive his daughter is dead. The audience would see a change in Capulet as he has not been kind to his
daughter but he is upset at the news of her death, a modern audience would also see Capulet as a normal person and not a monster like he was seen to be earlier in the play.
Capulet is distraught that both Romeo and Juliet are dead because of their families fighting, Capulet changes his actions towards the Montague family as their petty quarrrels killed them. A modern audience would not see Capulet as a nice person for forgiving the Montagues, they would see him for the fact that the fighting had to go so far that the two people who meant so much to each of the parents got killed. This shows Capulet as a evil man who has no self controll until something is to happen to someone he loves.
A modern day audience's response to Capulet is shaped by the historical knowlage of the individual person, for instance if a person did not know about the sixteenth century this would seem like Capulet is being unfair to the people around him, furthermore a person with great knowledge about the sixteenth century or an Elizibethan would see Capulet's actions and mannerisims as ordinary to his family, this would have been how all upper class families worked in the sixteenth century.
My personal views on how Capulet treats Juliet are that he is very unfair towards her, I feel that Juliet should have had a choice in who she married, whether it was for love and how old she was when she planned on doing so. I think I feel this way because this is how people are treated today. I also feel that if I was an Elizibethan watching this play I would not feel this way, as in their times this was seen as normal.