Show how Juliet's relationship with her parents and Friar Lawrence's single mindedness contribute to the plays tragic ending.
Show how Juliet’s relationship with her parents and Friar Lawrence’s single mindedness contribute to the plays tragic ending.
Juliet was a young lady who lived with her parents. Also living with her, in her home was a nurse and servants. Juliet’s relationship was very different with each individual that she lived with. The relationship that Juliet had with her father was different to the relationship that she had with her mothers. This could be seen clearly throughout the play. Lady Capulet was Juliet’s mother and they did not have a very close relationship, this can be seen through a number of events that occurred during the play. One particular event that shows that they did not have a close relationship was when Lady Capulet didn’t know that it was Juliet’s birthday, and how old she was. ‘She’s not fourteen.’ Lady Capulet being Juliet’s mother should know when she gave birth to her own child, but to forget or not know when your own Childs birthday is shows that there is no real bond between them and even if they did have a bond, what kind of mother would forget their own daughter’s birthday? I think that Lady Capulet didn’t really show any love and care for Juliet. Where as the Nurse on the other hand knew when it was her birthday. ‘Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.’ When Juliet was first born it was the nurses that breast-feed her, not her mother. This shows that either she couldn’t breast-feed or she didn’t want to, and if this was the case then it shows that she did not care for Juliet, as she could not even provide her own child with the milk and nutrition that she needed. Where as once again it was once the Nurse that helped Juliet. The nurse had just recently lost her own child and therefore it was her that breastfeed Juliet as she had milk in her breasts. As well as being the one that knew when Juliet’s birthday was and breastfeeding her, the Nurse also showed more care for Juliet as she was always there for her. The Nurse acted like a mother figure to Juliet. The Nurse gave Juliet guidance and advice and was involved with what was happening to her. The nurse was aware of things that wore going on in Juliet’s life unlike her mother. Juliet and her mother were distant and uninvolved. And this is shown as she confined in the Nurse rather than her mother. Lady Capulet may love Juliet but may have a weird way of showing it, but if this were the case then she would have understood Juliet’s felling and what she wanted but she didn’t. This may have been because Juliet did not tell her about Romeo but this just shows that she did not trust her own mother, as she could not tell her about the one thing that mattered to her, her one love. It was obvious how lady Capulet felt bout Juliet marring Paris, but she didn’t consider Juliet’s feelings and this is where she went wrong and this is one action that mad a huge impact on the tragedy. If lady Capulet asked Juliet what she wanted maybe Juliet would have opened up and if lady Capulet understood what Juliet was going through then maybe their lives wouldn’t have ended in such tragedy. The closeness of Juliet’s relationship with the Nurse is indicated by the description of how she was wet-nursed. Lady Capulet was rather impatient with the nurse because she wished to impress Juliet; that Paris’s offer was a very good one. The desire for her to marry came across plainly in the blunt question, ‘How stands your disposition to be married?’ Lady Capulet was keen to impress on her daughter that she a mother herself at ‘…a pretty age’. She also tells Juliet that she is not too young to marry since: ‘Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,’ this means that many ladies at her age are already married and have children, as they are mothers. The nurse was excited by his prospect of Juliet marring Paris, but yet to find out what will be ahead! Lady Capulet was far keener than Capulet on their daughter marring. She herself was a married young, so Juliet’s youth was not a problem in her view. The death of Juliet was quite a surprise to both Lord and Lady Capulet. The reaction may seem overdone by some, but this may have allowed the grief of the real death. I think that although Lady Capulet may have loved Juliet she over reacted when she was found dead and it was not a real response you would expect from a mother that does not have a close relationship with her daughter. Capulet was not too sure that Juliet getting married at such a young age was such a good idea. Paris’s proposal to marry Juliet was conducted with her parents and it seemed as though Lord Capulet was reluctant to agree to an early marriage. Juliet’s age did not at the time necessarily rule out marring, though Capulet would have preferred his only daughter to have a couple of years older since she is a ‘…stranger in the world.’ Capulet was naturally keen that his daughter should find a considerate husband and goes along with Paris’s proposal, provided that it was okay and approved with Juliet. But later on the play Capulet attitude changed, this was due to fact that Juliet said no because she wished to marry Romeo. Lord Capulet did show love for his daughter at the beginning of the play when he called her a ‘…blessed child.’
