Lord Capulet has a role in continuing ancient grudge, he makes no attempt to finish it. In the long run this contributes to Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. Lord Capulet only wants the best for Juliet, for her to marry Paris the noble young kinsman to the Prince. This shows that Capulet obviously loves Juliet dearly. But due to the little respect shown towards women in this society it is not easy to see the love between Capulet and his daughter. For example in Act 3 scene v Capulet threatens that he’ll disown her if she doesn’t get married, “Or never after look me in the face” and “But now I see this one is one too much, And that we have a curse in having her”, which contradicts the sense in Act 1 where Lord Capulet seems to give Juliet the choice of marriage, Lord Capulet says “Let two more summers wither their pride, Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride”, this referring to wait another two years. Women often married not for love but out of obedience to their parents. Patriarchal society at the time the play is set is strong and clear, women are treated much more as possessions then as people.
Lord Capulet lives for the day, never worrying about his ever increasing age. He knows he has to get the suitable partner for Juliet and tries very hard to do this using his skills of power, influence and powers of persuasion. When Lord Capulet is told by Tabalt that Romeo, a Montague, is at his party he is very relaxed, he doesn’t want to cause a scene at his party, he doesn’t want to disrupt his guests fun and happiness with a fight at his party. The irony of this being Juliet falls for Romeo and not Paris at the party, if Tybalt had his way Romeo wouldn’t have been at the party and the story would have never got this far. Lord Capulet has his status at stake. Lord Capulet not forgetting what the Prince warned them in Act 1 scene i “If ever you disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace”. A good party means his networking with people of rich status will be increased. Capulet seems to act like the complete opposite to Tybalt on this matter. Tybalt wants to start a fight, show Montague’s who is boss, but Capulet just wants a successful party, Lord Capulet stomping his authority over his clan via Tybalt in this matter. I believe Tybalt feels strongly about the fact that fighting had great honour and doesn’t like letting a great opportunity like this pass. From the play you can tell the inconsistencies in Lord Capulet's character making him a bad role model for the younger generation. The young generation need stability, totally unlike Capulet chopping and changing his views whenever it suits him. Also our impressions are ever changing of him as we continue to read the play, from good to bad. An example being the sudden change of mind about Juliet and the marriage of Paris, Lord Capulet saying “Let two more summers wither their pride, Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride” to “doth she not give us thanks?” “Is she not proud?” there is a clear change a view here making Lord Capulet unpredictable.
As I have touched on above Capulet changes his mind dramatically about the marriage to Paris from not forcing her into marriage but just nudging her in the right direction to forcing her to marry Paris and shouting and getting mad and out of hand towards her which adds to the drama of the situation. He wants the marriage to happen quickly because he knows that Paris is a very good catch, “a man of wax” as the nurse observes in Act 1 Scene iii. Capulet doesn’t want to lose him, and he has made Paris a promise for his daughter’s hand in marriage. With Paris come a family alliance which makes him an even more of a good catch for Lord Capulet and Juliet. Act 3 Scene v does as well holds some dramatic irony in that at this point Romeo and Juliet are together at this moment, already married. But when Juliet refuses the marriage to Paris you see the raw side of Lord Capulet and his anger. All this happening in Act 3 scene v while speaking to Lady Capulet, he says “doth she not give us thanks?” and “Is she not proud?”, from this you can tell that Capulet is starting to disown her at this early stage in the argument.
Juliet is in a hard situation, torn between her love for Romeo and her duty to obey her father. When Juliet starts disobeying her father and says, no she will not marry Paris. Capulet uses very harsh and drama language, shouts at her, swears and argues. The language is shocking and so are the names he calls his daughter he loves so much, “you green sickness carrion! Out, you baggage! You tallow-face!” He feels like he’s the boss in this sense as what he says goes, no matter what. As his role as the patriarch, he treats all three women badly and his behaviour is very typical of the society he lived in. Women were mere possessions who had to do what they were told. He is so upset with Juliet he is willing to disown Juliet because of this breech of misconduct, even though he loves her and is concerned, protective and close with her. Capulet shows violence as well, he hits Lady Capulet in his moment of madness which all encourages the audience’s sympathy for Juliet and women in the play.
At the end of the play you feel that Lord Capulet is a bit of a power and control concerned, he has to have things his own way or he results in hurting people and causing mayhem, that has lead in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet and he has learnt from his mistakes here in the tragic events and you can see the moral of the play being to respect others and not forget they exists until you need them, and that violence and shouting isn’t the key to stop something you don’t want to happen, but compromise is the better way.
