At this point in the play Capulet does not trust Paris entirely, since men are easily swayed. He thinks he may be after the family’s fortune and interested in becoming next heir to the Capulet throne as Juliet’s husband. Lord Capulet invites him to his party and says look at the other women there and see if you still admire my daughter. “Among fresh female buds shall this night inherit at my house: hear all, all see.” In a way he is analysing him, to see whether he will stay honourable and faithful to his daughter Juliet.
In this scene Capulet is thinking more of his daughter than anything else. He wants her to have a patient, pleasant and caring husband. He wants her to be well-prepared for her marriage as he thinks she is too young yet. He still treats her like a child. When Paris asks for her to become married to him, the cultivated Lord Capulet answers him by saying: “My child is yet a stranger in the world.” The appliance of the word “child” highlights darling Juliet’s attackable since she’s a still a child, a mere 13 year old. Distinct imagery is applied to “stranger in the world”, meaning she is honest, blossoming and childlike. This part of the scene unveils the strong love Lord Capulet has for his daughter. He wants her to be ready,(“ripe”), for her marriage. This decisions and he way he thinks about Paris makes him act carefully around his Paris. He’s not a man who falls for another gentleman’s wealth, like other foolish men do. He’s already wealthy so he needs not worry about wealth. He thinks about what’s most acceptable and best for his family, especially his wife and daughter, Juliet.
He mentions that she is like the world to him, because the rest of his children have been buried in the Earth. “Earth hath swallowed all my hopes, but she is the hopeful lady of my earth.” He says she is his whole world, his earth. The words “Earth hath” and “hopeful lady” are once again unveiling Shakespeare’s uses of metaphors. These words unbury that all of Lord Capulet’s children died expect for Juliet, so simply she is everything to him, all he has left to love besides his wife. Shakespeare expresses this through Capulet’s mood and feelings.
Act three scene five portrays Capulet as an angry and displeased father. He enters the scene in a pleasant mood, describing Juliet as being a ship sailing on the sea, on a windy day. He thinks she is still sobbing over Tybalt’s death, but she is weeping over Romeo’s banishment to Mantua.
“Thou counterfeits a bark, a wind: For still thy eye, I which I may call the sea, Do ebb and flow with tears, and they with them without a sudden calm will overset Thy tempest- tossed body.” The extended metaphor seems callous as she is grieving and he is making light of it. Capulet is unable to figure out the real reason as to why Juliet is crying. Shakespeare uses brief and abrupt lines such as “Everymore showering” to direct and express Capulet’s annoyance and hot-temper.
After Tybalt’s disastrous death, he makes a decision to marry off Juliet quickly to Paris, since it is a high offer. All his fortune would have gone to Tybalt if he were alive, but now that he is dead their seems to be no gentleman left in the Capulet to take the money and next place in throne after Lord Capulet. Once he discovers Juliet refuses to marry Paris he fumes with anger like a bull in a ring. He is shocked because he is not used to his daughter, disobeying his orders. By marrying Paris she will become a bigamist because she is already married to Romeo. Shakespeare’s audience would have sympathised with Lord Capulet because in his time a for her to disobey her father was thought to be shameful and disrespectful.
Lord Capulet insults his daughter severely after she refuses to obey his decision.
“Out, you green-sickness carrions! Out, you baggage!
You tallow face!”
“Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch!”
He no longer cares for her needs. He is maddened by her disobedience. After all he has every right to insult her because she is his property, his only child. Shakespeare applies ‘you and out’ to represent Capulet’s outrage.
Shakespeare alters the character and role of Lord Capulet drastically between the two scenes. The way he thinks about things in Act one scene two is much different from the way he is thinking in Act three scene five. This is proved, by the change in decision of when his daughter is to get married. In Act one scene two he says, in two years time, but in Act three scene five he says in a weeks time, on a Thursday. His mood also alters with his daughter’s decision. Until his daughter speaks out about Paris and how she despises him, he remains a pleasant man, but after her refusal to obey him he loses his temper completely.