Romeo’s love for Juliet reveals his true liveliness. He is more than a little passionate in his speech when they first meet. He woos her with very cheesy lines. He appears very self-confident when they first meet. We learn this from Scene 5 when Romeo says,
“O then dear saint, let lips do what hands do.
They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”
Juliet keeps her true feelings well under control. Her feelings are as strong as Romeo’s, but she has more awareness of the practicalities of the situation than Romeo and speaks much more frankly. When Romeo says the above line, Juliet does not let her feelings escape too much. She simply says that she is not going to give him permission to kiss her but she is not going to stop him either. This can be seen after the above quote in scene 5 when Juliet says the line,
“Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.”
Mercutio offers an attitude to love worth considering. He has the right idea about love but does not take it as serious as Romeo. He makes jokes about love as he gives Romeo advice about love at the Capulet party in scene 4. Whilst most other characters in the play take love very seriously, Mercutio offers a comical view of love but from what he says in this scene, we soon realise that his advice to Romeo is quite sensible and worthy when he says: -
“If love be rough with you, be rough with love
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.
Give me a case to put my visage in”
Mercutio is giving Romeo advice in a joke form but he is simply telling Romeo to torment love and show your feelings and then you will overcome you feelings and defeat it. This is quite good advice to give to a lovesick friend but it always comes in a joke from which shows that Shakespeare did not always perceive love to be serious and perplexing.
The nurse is Juliet’s equivalent to Romeo’s Mercutio. She has an attitude to love which contrasts with that of a heroine. There is obviously a great deal of love between the nurse and Juliet and the nurse has brought up Juliet from birth without her mother so Juliet most probably sees her as more of a true mother than her own mother, Lady Capulet. This is brought to our attention in scene 3 when Juliet speaks to her mother politely and respectfully in a formal manner when she says:
“ Madam, I am here. What is your will?”
It becomes obvious throughout the course of the play that the nurse prefers Paris to Romeo and suggests Juliet should marry Paris. And, although she helped to bring about the marriage to Romeo, she is quite happy to wake Juliet in Act IV scene 5, for her marriage to Paris. The nurse, later, does not understand the depth of Juliet’s love for Romeo and so can suggest marriage to Paris, is a measure of how fat Juliet has grown up. She is no longer a little girl, who is obedient and can be influenced easily; she is a woman with a commitment beyond the Nurse’s comprehension.
Juliet’s father, Capulet has great affection for his daughter and hopes she will have a happy future. This is made obvious in scene 2 when he says the line,
“ She is the hopeful lady of my earth.
But woo her gentle Paris, get her heart,
My will to her consent is but a part.”
He believes his daughter grieves for the death of her cousin Tybalt, and thinks that marriage to Paris will make her happy. This is why he later agrees to the marriage in Act III scene 4, without consulting her. Capulet is not a cruel father. He quite obviously cares for her. He is just a tyrant over his daughter. This is made clear later when he thinks that Juliet is dead.
Lady Capulet is not a very loving mother and it is obvious is scene 3 that there is not a very close bond between the mother and daughter. They talk in formal conversation about Juliet’s feelings towards marriage in the polite, formal style of conversation that two strangers would have. Lady Capulet has to break he news to Juliet about Paris’ proposal. She does so in a very conventional manner and Juliet does not seem obliged to give any information about her true thoughts towards Paris. We are made aware of this in scene 3 when Juliet says:
“I’ll look to like, if looking liking move.
But no more deep will I endart mine eye
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.”
There is a strange type of love between Lord and Lady Capulet. We are aware of the fact that they have an arranged marriage. There does not seem to be a lot of passionate love between the couple. Their difference in age gives the impression that it was an arranged marriage – a sensible move in order to achieve a good position in the world. They seem to be in a state of a brief argument in scene 1 when Capulet asks his wife for his sword with the line,
“What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!”
Lady Capulet replies telling him that she is too old to fight in the following line,
“A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?”
Paris is very different to Romeo. Whereas Romeo is passionate and impetuous, Paris is very calm and conservative. He acts as a suitor to a young lady ought to act. He offers Juliet a normal form of courtship. He does not act presumptuously and sneak into the lady’s garden at night. He is very formal as he approaches Capulet with a proper proposal in scene 2 when he asks Capulet about his quest to marry Juliet with the lines,
“ Of honourable reckoning are you both,
And pity ‘tis you lived at odds so long.
But now my lord, what say you to my suit?”
However, it seems that Paris has not really spoken to Juliet, as all of his wooing seems to be through Capulet. Also, in contrast Romeo has only spoken to Juliet, not her father.
Shakespeare did not go on to make a big point out of the good side of Paris and the comparison between him and Romeo as the audience would have been distracted from Romeo and would have begun to see Juliet as torn equally between two eligible young men.
Capulet thinks that he has the right as Juliet’s father, to decide who he should marry. His view on this matter is probably the main reason why Juliet changes from the innocent, obedient girl at the beginning of the play into a girl who goes against her father’s wishes on her own free will. Capulet thinks he has the best interests of his daughter at heart when he takes the matter of his daughter’s marriage into his own hands as a prudent father.
Lady Capulet has no patience for Juliet’s refusal of her father’s prudent scheme to marry her off with Paris. Because of their views on love, neither parent can understand why Juliet would possibly want to decline such a handsome offer of marriage as it is proposed with Paris.
The Nurse helped to bring about the marriage to Romeo, however, she is quite happy to wake Juliet in Act IV scene 5, for her marriage to Paris. The nurse, later, does not understand the depth of Juliet’s love for Romeo and so can suggest marriage to Paris, is a measure of how fat Juliet has grown up. She is no longer a little girl, who is obedient and can be influenced easily; she is a woman with a commitment beyond the Nurse’s comprehension. The Nurse does not want to see Juliet get hurt through her passionate love to Romeo and although, we know that the nurse thinks of love as nothing but sex, her views on marriage are probably not quite as obscure as they first appear.
We notice that it is Juliet who first mentions the idea of marriage later on in Act II, scene 2 with the line,
“ If that thy bent of love be honourable,
Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow,
By one that I’ll procure to come to thee,
Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite”
This suggests that there is now a reverse- role between Romeo and Juliet and Juliet is now the passionate flighty one in the play, as she does not hesitate to ask Romeo to marry her.
Shakespeare has used many different ideas to perceive the idea of Love and Marriage throughout the play and overall the play has many hidden meanings and morals behind the different views of the characters as they think and act as they fall in love in Verona.
