Romeo And Juliet

This is when Lord Capulet (Juliet’s father) enters her bedroom and tells Juliet his plans to have her married to Paris on Thursday. This is when the argument occurs between father and daughter because Juliet refuses to marry Paris. In Elizabethan times this was considered to be very wrong on the daughter’s part because Elizabethan women were dominated by the men in the family the women were seen to be inferior to men. They were subservient to the men in the family all their lives and expected to obey the men in all aspects of their life. The disobedience of Juliet towards her father would be considered a crime to religion in Elizabethan times because arranged marriages were very common and would be suited to suit the family meaning the men of the house hold, because most Elizabethan women were expected to marry to increase the wealth and position of the family and then to produce children, preferably male heirs. Juliet’s father feels unappreciated by Juliet in this scene which leads him to get very mad with her where he starts to threaten to disown her if she doesn’t obey his wishes to have her marry Paris on Thursday “hang, beg, starve, die in the streets!” “Graze where you will you shall not house with me”.

Juliet then begins to plead to him but he is so mad he will not have any of it “I’ll not be forsworn” suggests he will not be persuaded and he will not change his mind. Juliet’s Nurse Try’s to stick up for Juliet but Lord Capulet silences her which leads to Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet exiting Juliet’s bedroom. Juliet is very anguished by all of this. She then asks her mother for help but her mother is so disappointed by her she doesn’t want anymore to do with her “Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee”. In this play Juliet’s Nurse is more of a mother to her than Lady Capulet because the nurse has a closer relationship with Juliet because she has bought her up. Towards the end of the scene Juliet turns to the Nurse for comfort. The Nurse already knows that she is married to Romeo (which lady and lord Capulet do not know) but she still suggests that she marries Paris on Thursday for he is a noble man.

If a modern audience were to watch this play they would feel very sympathetic towards Juliet at this point because she has had an arranged marriage and feels as though her father is just thinking of his happiness only and not hers and that she should have a choice of to whom she marries and not to be controlled by her father. They would feel sympathetic because a modern audience would relate to Juliet because they’re aren’t any arranged marriages in modern times because women have free will and choice over their own lives. Where as in Elizabethan times the audience would feel more sympathetic towards Lord Capulet because it relates more to how the Elizabethans live and how Lord Capulet is Patriarchal and Juliet should do what he says for the sake of the families wealth.

For the setting of my version of act 3 scene 5 I have chosen to set this scene in modern times which would make a modern audience sympathise with Juliet rather than Lord Capulet.