Romeo and Juliet.

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Junaid khan English Coursework

Romeo & Juliet

This coursework will look at Shakespeare's famous play Romeo and Juliet. Specifically, the behaviour of Lord Capulet and his attitude will be considered and also how far is Lord Capulet responsible for the tragedy. The writer of the play and the eldest son of John and Mary Shakespeare (William Shakespeare's parents) William Shakespeare was born on 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. This play is one of the most famous plays in the English language.

The play "Romeo and Juliet" is about Love, Hate and Feud between the two households Montagues and Capulets. The Feud and hate between the two households turned into Love and Friendship in just 5 days because of the death of these star-crossed lovers 'Romeo' and 'Juliet'.

William Shakespeare keeps referring to time because he wants to tell the audience that how quickly every thing is happening e.g. Very late, Tonight, Wednesday next, Thursday, Go to bed, An hour ago.

The Prologue of the play gives us the whole story what is going to happen in the play before even it starts but it does not state what the argument is about but we do know that it has been going on for long time. This particular thing is a very clever way to start a play also shows how clever the writer is. William Shakespeare uses more words that refer to Hate and Death rather then Love and Friendship e.g. Ancient grudge, blood, unclean, overthrows, bury, fearful. These words are cleverly use to build up the atmosphere and to tell the audience and inform them that this play has got more to do with Hate then Love.

Lord Capulet is the head of the Capulet family. His family is very rich and wealthy. He is quite old but his wife seems to be much younger then him. In the city of Verona this feud between Capulets and Montagues has been going on for very long time. Lord Capulet is very calm person but if someone does not obey his orders his mood changes very quickly and he becomes very angry.

Verona, at the time when this play took place was patriarchal city. Fathers hold virtually absolute sway over their daughters. They could give them to whomever they choose and feel deeply insulted if their daughters dare to choose otherwise. Juliet makes that choice and incurs the unmitigated wrath of Capulet:" ...... go with Paris to saint Peter's church, or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither."

Lord Capulet is a typical father of his time because he is the main and rich man in the Capulet family. He expects every body to listen to him because he thinks he is right, not wrong.

By comparing Lord Capulet's as a father with today's fathers and his behaviour and attitude with the daughters it is completely different. Now a days father do not worry about their daughters marriage because they know she will get boy friend and if they want they could get married and then nobody could stop them because they can decide this marriage thing between themselves, they don't need parents permission. It is all up to them who they want to choose. Whereas in the Shakespeare's time fathers decided whom their child is going to get married with. And if someone stops them or disobeys their order they would simply throw them out from their house. As it happens in the "Romeo and Juliet" when Juliet refuses to marry The County Paris, Lord Capulet says " Graze where you will, you shall not house with me." Here we can see how angry Lord Capulet is? Because he uses words like "Graze" for his only child he has, which is usually use for animals. We can also pick the point up that he is no longer having feelings for Juliet as he treats her daughter like animal because she did not obey his order.
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Another very interesting reason for Lord Capulet for being angry is that he was very confident about the marriage between her daughter 'Juliet' and County Paris. That is why when he orders her wife 'Lady Capulet' to go and tell Juliet that she is going to get married with County Paris he says " Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love," You can see here that he calls Paris his son (Son-in-law) before even getting married with Juliet.

When Paris wanted to marry Juliet he straight goes to her father' Lord Capulet' but doesn't goes to ...

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