As Paris Then Leaves Capulet Hands his servants invitations to hand out for the upcoming dance that night and Lady Capulet Calls to the Nurse to fetch Juliet so they can speak of Paris and the idea of Marriage which brings us to act 1 scene 3. Lady Capulet explains to Juliet that a Count called Paris wants her hand in marriage and asks Juliet if shed consider him as a husband, catiously Juliet agrees shed meet him and consider it.
As Juliet hurry’s to talk with her mother she addresses her as madam saying “Madam, I am here. What is your will?” Which already shows us that there not close at all, addressing eachover in a formal way and not calling eachover by name or by mum isn’t very personal so already we know they have no mother daughter bond at all.
Lady Capulet tells the nurse to leave the room for a moment quickly telling her “Nurse, Leave a While- We must talk in secret.” Then shutting the door on her, But after one look at Juliet she realises it would be the first time alone with her 13 year old daughter and opens the door again saying “Nurse, come back again. I have remembered me” Basicly saying she cant handle her daughter alone as she doesn’t know who she is.
The Character of Nurse in the play is Juliet’s Wet nurse, who whilst Lord and Lady Capulet were looking after there social lives, was looking after Juliet and raising her so her parents were never around.
Nurse Says “Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.” Which is a very motherly trade as she knows what time Juliet was born but Juliet’s own mother isn’t even sure of what day Juliet was born which isn’t motherly at all which proves again she has never been there for her daughter or taken much interest in her which isn’t what being a mother is about at all.
Nurse is also quoted in this scene saying “I have but four-she’s not fourteen. How long is it to Lammas-tide? Even or odd, of all days in the year come Lammas-eve at night she shall be fourteen” and “and I might live to see thee married once, I have my wish” continuously talking about Juliet in such an intimate way shows she knows Juliet and is very close to her.
Lady Capulet completely ignores Nurse, maybe because she’s embarrassed of how little she knows her daughter or maybe because she doesn’t care. She then goes on to as Juliet if she wanted to marry and Juliet reply’s “its an honour, that I dream not of” as she’s not really thought about it and being only 13 isn’t sure if she’s ready to settle down yet.
In reply to that Nurse says “An honour! Were not I thine own nurse, I would say thou hadst sucked wisdom from thy teat” this is where we find out she’s a wet nurse which in Elizabethan times was common for a higher status family to have, it’s a nurse who has recently lost there own child so has milk in there breast and can breast feed the baby they nurse. Nurse is saying she’s not that clever so if she didn’t know any better shed say Juliet got her wisdom from the milk she sucked from her mothers breasts, but Juliet’s mother wasn’t even around to breast feed her own baby she even had to hire someone else to do that which shows she didn’t want to spend time with Juliet or have any bond with her baby what so ever.
We don’t see Lord and Lady Capulet again till Act 3 Scene 4. In between this Juliet has run off and married Romeo, Romeo has then gone and killed Juliet’s Cousin Tybalt for killing his best friend Mercutio. Over this Romeo has been banished and after spending the night with Juliet flees through the window and out of town. Paris then comes to see how Juliet is and Capulet nicely explains in order to give his daughter some space that Juliet can not see Paris right now as she is still mourning the death of her cousin Tybalt making him again seem like a caring and genuinely good father but then he also give
Paris permission to marry Juliet in order to cheer the family up.
In Act 3 scene 5 Seconds after Romeo’s escape through the window Lady Capulet enters the room with the exciting news of the marriage arrangements. Lady Capulet walks in on Juliet in tears on her bed and assumes Juliet is crying over the death of her cousin and says “what, wilt thou wash him from his grave with your tears?” basically saying stop crying, do you really think your tears will bring him back.
This immediately shows a lack of sympathy and that she doesn’t care too much for Juliet or her feelings.
She goes on to say “but much of grief shows still some want of wit” saying crying too much makes you look stupid which again isn’t a very sympathetic way to approach her 13 year old daughter who’s just lost someone and she doesn’t make matters better by saying she’s making herself look stupid.
This all uses dramatic irony as well because Lady Capulet thinks Juliet’s crying over the loss of her Cousin when really she’s Crying over missing her secret husband and Shakespeare uses dramatic irony again when Lady Capulet says “well, girl, thou weep’st not so much for his death as that the villain lives which slaughtered him.” Telling Juliet she’s not really crying over the death of Tybalt she’s crying over the fact Romeo is still alive, which is dramatic irony as Juliet and the audience know that Romeo is actually her Husband.
As the Conversation continues Juliet cheers up a little by teasing her mother using dramatic irony and double entendre’s. Juliet pretends she doesn’t know what her mums on about and askes “what Villlain, Madam?” even though she knows full well her mother means Romeo. Lady Capulet reply’s “that same villain, Romeo.” Juliet then says “God pardon him! I do, with all my heart- and yet no man like he doth grieve my heart” saying she forgives Romeo with all her heart and that no man like her makes her heart ache more then Romeo, but says it sneakily using dramatic irony because she means it in the way that she loves him and he makes her heart ache because she misses him so much and we know that too but her mother doesn’t and thinks she means that she hates him.
Lady Capulet tries to make her daughter feel better by saying “where that same banished runagate doth live, shall give him such an unaccustomed dram that he shall soon keep Tybalt company- then I hope thou will be satisfied.” Meaning she was planning on sending poison to Romeo in order to kill him, in a panic Juliet says “Indeed, I never shall be satisfied with Romeo till I behold him- dead- is my poor heart, so for a kinsman vexed. Madam, if you could find out but a man to bear a poison, I would temper it That Romeo should upon receipt thereof soon sleep in quiet.” Juliet is being smart in saying this as she cleverly says it so you can attatch dead to either till I behold him and is my poor heart, using dramatic irony as her mother sees it as her wanting Romeo dead and as we see it as her heart being dead, she also says she wants to tamper with the poison so he can soon sleep in quiet and as her mother thinks ‘sleep’ means death we know ‘sleep’ means sleep.
She also says “Upon his body that hath slaughtered him!” using a double entendre because it has a double meaning, her mother thinks she means slaughter him as in rip him up but Juliet means it in a more intimate way.
Juliet’s enjoying teasing her mother until she finds out the real reason Lady Capulet’s come to see her.
She hasn’t come for normal motherly reasons like just for a chat or to check up on her she’s come to push a 13 year old into marriage.
Lady Capulet excitedly tells Juliet that she has joyful news and Juliet happily asks what joy comes in such a needy time
make thee there a joyful bride.” Juliet’s happy mood quickly disappears and she becomes angry, upset and aggressive snapping “Now, by Saint Peter’s Church, and Peter too, he shall not make me there a joyful bride!” “I will not marry yet. And when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, rather then Paris” which uses Dramatic irony as we know she’s already married to Romeo. In Elizabethan times Juliet’s reaction would of shocked the audience as it would have been seen as wrong for Children to stand up against there parents.
Capulet then happily walks in clearly in a good mood over the marriage arrangement saying “when the sun sets, the earth doth drizzle dew- but for the sunset of my brother’s son it rains downright.” Using a lexical field of nature
He then says “how now- a conduit, girl? What, still in tears? Evermore showeing? In one little body thou counterfeits a bark, a sea, a wind- for still thy eyes, which I may call the sea, do ebb and flow with tears. The bark thy body is, sailing in this salt flood- the winds thy sighs, who raging with thy tears, and they with them, without a sudden calm will overset” immediately coming in and taking the mic, using an extended methephor for how much she’s crying and calling her fountain girl that looks like a ship in a sea of tears that will sink if she cry’s any more. He’s just walked into his daughters room who happens to be crying her eyes out and already has laughed at her, imitated her and been un caring and un sympathetic very un fatherly.
Lady Capulet calmly tells him “Ay, sir- but she will none, she gives you thanks” letting him know she’s thankful but she doesn’t except the marriage idea and wont do it.
Lord Capulet goes mad saying “Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought so unworthy a gentleman to be her bride” telling Juliet she cant dear turn it down and that she’s not even worthy of Paris which shows how much he thinks of her daughter as a normal father would think that no man would be worthy of his daughter, not the other way round.
Juliet begs with her father but he has none of it, piling on insults, calling her “green- sickness carrion!, baggage! And tallow face” getting more and more aggressive
This is where you see Lady Capulet briefly step in worriedly saying “Fie, fie! What are you mad?” showing her protective side of her daughter, by realising he’s going too far she tries to calm down her husband she hopes he will soften up a bit on Juliet.
But he gets worse, saying “my fingers itch” as in he wants to lash out more and hit her, causing her pain. He turns to his wife and says “wife, we scarce thought us blest but now I see this one is one too much, and that we have a curse in having her.” Saying how he used to think they were blessed in having this one child but now he realises she’s just a curse. That’s definitely not a very nice or fatherly thing to say about your daughter, that she’s a curse and you wish you’d never had her.
Nurse tries to stand in the way when Lord Capulet goes to push Juliet, saying “you are to blame, my lord to rat her so” but Lord Capulet reply’s to that by saying “And why, my lady Wisdom? Hold your tongue, Good Prudence! Smatter with your gossips. Go!” Taking the mic and basically saying your thick and stupid, you don’t know anything so shut up Lady Capulet again protectively steps in and says “you are too hot” realising his tempers getting far too fierce but that’s the last time she stands up to him.
Lord Capulet goes on to even mock his own daughter, putting on her voice and saying “I’ll not wed. I cannot love. I am too young, I pray you pardon me!” he tells her that if she doesn’t marry Paris he will kick her out, saying “and you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend” summing up Patriacle times and what there daughters meant to them, and just as you think Lady Capulet’s showing signs of being a careing mother she turns her back on Juliet completely , as Juliet says delay the wedding or I’ll kill myself Lady Capulet simply replies “talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word. Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.” Basically saying do whatever, kill yourself if you want I’ve had enough of you. The
Nurse also turns her back on her saying do as parents say so Juliet’s alone.
In Act 4 scene 5 they find Juliet in her bed the morning of her wedding after she’s drunk the potion and think she’s dead.
Lady Capulet mourns “O me, O me! My child, my only life! Revive, Look Up or I will die with thee! Help, help! Call help!” she’s never shown such emotion and shows a lexical field of grieth, beginning to show signs she actually loved her daughter. She then shouts “she’s dead, she’s dead, she’s dead!” using list of three and exclamatory to build atmosphere.
Lord Capulet says “Death,that hath ta’en her hence to make me wail, ties up my tongue and will not let me speak” explaining how he can barley speak, there unexpectedly showing general natural grief like normal parents would.
By saying “O son, the night before thy wedding day hath death lain with thy wife. There she lies, flower as she was, deflowered by him. Death is my son- in- law, death is my heir. My daughter he hath wedded. I will die and leave him all. Life, Living- all is death’s!” Lord Capulet uses an extended metaphor of death saying Juliet lost her virginity to death, that she’s slept with death and that she’s married death before Paris could get there which also uses dramatic irony as we know she’s already done all three with Romeo and that we know she’s not really dead.
Nurse in shock says “ O woe! O woeful, woeful, woeful day! Never was seen so black a day as this O woeful day, O woeful day” using so much repetition shows how truly upset she really is proving she was a lot closer to Juliet then Lord and Lady Capulet.
Lord Capulet then turns to say “and with my child my joys are buried.” Saying now all his children are dead and all his joys and hope lay buried. After a whole page of emotional adjectives and extended metaphors of grief Friar Lawrence steps in and tells Lord and Lady Capulet what he really thinks of them and how bad parents they really are saying it was them who did this to her as all they really cared about was advancing there family wealth and promoting there daughters status they didn’t care about her happiness and that’s why in his opinion she’s in a better place away from her bad parents. Lord Capulet doesn’t react to Friar Lawrence’s speech or take responsibility by admitting he has killed his daughter, he’s feeling guilty but he wants to ignore the fact that its all his fault, showing he has no backbone and ignoring all natural emotion he immediately starts funeral planning. Finally we come to Act 5 Scene 3 where Romeo comes back, and entering Juliet’s tomb drinks poison and dies. Juliet then awakes and seeing Romeo stabs herself with Romeo’s dagger. Prince Escalus has a go at the Capulet’s and Montague’s saying “Where be theses enemies? Capulet, Montague? See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! And I, for winking at your discords too, have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished” The Family’s finally make peace after seeing what harm their feud has really done and agree to build statue’s of Romeo and Juliet but still ignore responsibility of the deaths.
Bearing all things into consideration and there appearances in this play my judgement on Lord and Lady Capulet are that they are bad parents, they were never there for there daughter and pushed her into things to benefit them, not for her own good. They didn’t care for her happiness or well being, just for there own and they hold full responsibility for there daughters death.
They were not good parents.
