Parental love runs through the play especially in Act one as Juliet s father shows a more protective love for his daughter. Capulet shows he cares for the feelings of Juliet when he says to Paris that he will only agree to the marriage if Juliet consents: “My will to he consent is but a part;/And she agreed, within her scope of choice/Lies my consent and fair according voice.”
This parental sensitivity on the part of Capulet shows that he truly cares about Juliet, as she is all he has left making her truly precious to him. At this point in the play he gives Juliet a choice and wants her to be loved by telling Paris to win her heart: “But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart.”
Though later on in the play he bullies and threatens, cursing his daughter when she refuses the proposal of marriage to Paris. Maybe he thinks that marriage to Paris will be in her best interests and he therefore pressurises her into it. This is why she feels she has to fake her own death. Capulet loves Juliet in the way that most parents love their children, but he goes one step further and tells her what to do instead of letting her make her own decisions. We do not know many details of Capulet´s marriage; there are only hints that he is not happily married. So the main demonstration of love that we see from him, is towards his daughter. He is furious when Juliet defies him
Lord Capulet is very temperamental and seems to care a vast amount for the welfare of his only daughter. He creates a lot of drama through the play with his strong and dramatic language. His lines were written to show he is an important figurehead and is in control of everything in the house. He seemed to have two extremes of personality depending when he was being questioned or if it was affecting him greatly.
At the end of this scene, both audiences of today and of centuries gone by would share the opinion that Capulet is an affectionate man, for he does not automatically ‘condemn’ Juliet to life with Paris, but suggests that Paris should go to a party that night; to see all of the girls (comparing them to “stars” as if to ‘wean’ him off Juliet). Then, if he still desires Juliet most of all, he should “woo her”, and “get her heart”.
The first time we encounter Juliet, she is obedient and willing to do as her parents wished. This would be something that fathers of Shakespeare’s day could relate to, as this would have been what they would expect of their daughters. This is in stark contrast to the parents of today, as they would be used to the ways of a modern teenager.
Her attitude to her parents seems to be respectful. When called she requires, “Madam…what is your will”. Notice that she addresses her mother as “Madam”, rather than ‘mother’ or any other terminology.
This scene helps to provoke the idea that Juliet and Lady Capulet are somewhat estranged to each other. This may be as a result of the family’s financial capabilities. A nurse has been paid to do what the [modern day] mother should. However, at the time it would have been common practice for wealthy families to employ a nurse. This leads to Lady Capulet ignoring her daughter so they do not know much about each other. The nurse and Juliet are so close that Nurse can “tell the age unto an hour”. This is enforced by the fact that the nurse is Juliet’s sole confidant when she gets betrothed to Romeo.
Act I Scene v helps us to understand the hatred that the Capulets have over the Montague family. When Tybalt informs Capulet that Romeo has ‘gate crashed’ the party, he is seething with anger. Capulet (drunk and in good spirits) is quite irritated with Tybalt when told and tells him to “let him [Romeo] alone” incase he ruins the party. This portrays Capulet not as an aggressive man, but quite the opposite.
After Tybalt has been killed by Romeo; Capulet, who had once been willing to let Juliet chose her own husband, tells his wife to, “Acquaint her here of my son Paris’ love”. Capulet now wishes for Juliet to marry Paris. Unbeknownst to him, Juliet has married Romeo; his enemy. In contrast to Act I scene ii, where Capulet is deciding whether to let Paris approach Juliet. We must note that Juliet is not allowed to voice an opinion over her marriage now. Instead, Capulet is requesting Paris to marry his daughter; perhaps the notion of the money has started to play on his mind. From here, the audience will notice this behaviour. Harshening with Capulet in the modern audience’s case.
Capulet’s attitude towards Juliet seems to be quite aggressive. He expects Juliet to be submissive to his wishes. Of course his state of mind is fragile. He has only just lost a member of his family, so his actions may be quite different from his intentions. The audience’s sympathy for Capulet starts to decline.
Juliet’s attitude towards her parents changes at this point from Act I, scene iii. Now we see her in a new light. She has long passages of speech which could mean that she is frantic with grief; she may also be trying to take control of her own life. She is scared and afraid of losing Romeo, so much so, that she said “I long to die”. She is adamant that she will not marry Paris; “…bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,/From off the battlements of any tower”.
Juliet grew up with the nurse by her side all the time. The nurse was more of a mother to Juliet than Lady Capulet ever was. Romeo's parents cared for him much deeper than Juliet's did for her. His mother was always worried or concerned about where he was and what he was doing, hoping he wouldn't get caught up in any trouble. Shakespeare also shows paternal love to go along with the others in the text. I guess that you could say that their was a bit of love from Juliet's parents towards her in that they only wanted what they thought was best for her as well as getting what they want at the same time. They imagine that Juliet would be happy living her life with Paris, although Lady Capulet was much more loving than her husband was. Romeo and Juliet is a story purely based on love. The majority of the text makes references to love and how it effects those involved. Hate is only shown between the two families only when they are together, not when they are living their normal lives.
Juliet is forced into an impossible situation. She has been asked to marry Paris, when her heart lies for Romeo. She is scared to deny Paris, in case she enrages her father further. Though if she marries Paris, it would be a sin against God. As shown in the text, we see that Juliet is highly religious, as would an audience of Shakespeare’s day. She would know the consequences of her doing this. We feel sorry for her, as we see her in such an awkward position.
Juliet, with no other possibilities, is forced to agree to Friar Lawrence’s desperate plan. In her eyes, it would prove risky, but worth it if accomplished.
In the play, Shakespeare tries to put forward the image that feuds within the family must be let do grow momentum under any circumstance. In this case, we see that eventually, these arguments act as a catalyst working against us. In the play, two tragic deaths occur; in modern times though, divorce is the main contribution to the break up of families.
A modern day audience’s view will differ from the view of an audience from Shakespeare’s time. Today, we empathise with Juliet because her ‘terrible’ father (as we would portray him now).
However, society has changed since Shakespeare’s day. The audience then would think that Juliet has a defiant streak, and would sympathise with Capulet for having this disobedient daughter whose actions eventually lead to the destruction of her, her lover and her family. The one good thing that comes out of this, is the bringing together of the Montague and Capulet families, insuring that another tragedy would not happen again.
Ben Jones
