As well as being a great host, Lord Capulet has a reputation to keep up for the family. He takes great pride in himself and does not like to be shown up. To him reputation is very important and, as he is head of the family, he needs to keep his head up high and make sure that everything is perfect throughout his household. At the party, Tybalt explains to Lord Capulet that Romeo is at the party and wants to quarrel but Capulet puts a stop to it because he does not want to ruin his reputation or ruin the guests’ fun. He is a caring man and wants this party to go well. He gets very annoyed with Tybalt and calls him a “saucy boy” because he does not want his party to get ruined. Capulet is a proud man and likes to show people his wealth and fortune.
Another way of describing Lord Capulet is that he is a very domineering man and he always seems to want to be in control. He cannot be Juliet’s father or play a role in “Romeo and Juliet” if he was not controlling as it would not suit his character. He is controlling throughout the play to show that he has respect from other people and to show how important he really is. He is mainly controlling over Juliet, Tybalt and his wife Lady Capulet. He is also a “people pleaser” and he likes it when he is control as it shows his power and status to others. This is the creation of Lord Capulet’s character shown by Shakespeare as he brings the character to life. Shakespeare is different in the way he “makes” his characters, he does not create stereotypes but individuals, and we learn information about them which is pointless to the plot of the play: for example, we find out that the Nurse’s daughter was called Susan, but elements like this make the character come alive. Shakespeare strengthens the character’s bond with the audience for them to learn more about the character in a short time and figure out their role more easily.
There are two sides to Lord Capulet. So far we have only seen his pleasant and caring side, but he has two extremities to his character. In Act 3 Scene 5, Juliet is grieving and sad over the death of her dear cousin Tybalt and the banishment of her dearer Lord Romeo. He is saddened by this, as is shown by the language used by Shakespeare, “Things have fallen out, Sir, so unluckily.” Lord Capulet thinks it is a good idea to bring happy news to Juliet, so he decides to set a date for his daughter and Paris to get married. On telling Juliet, she is grateful for the effort but she is not happy to marry Paris and responds, “Not proud you have, but thankful that you have.” This is due to the fact she is married to the love of her life. When she does not agree to the marriage, he is very upset and in a way one can say he is quite confused at why his daughter will not agree to the marriage and states, “Is she not proud?” This confusion and sorrow turns into anger and rage as Juliet does not appreciate his gesture. He threatens Juliet by making an indirect comment, “My fingers itch.” it is as if he wants to hit Juliet for what he feels is a lack of respect for him and the traditions of the Capulet name.
This lack of respect from Juliet was unusual, as the play was set around the middle or end 16th Century, as Shakespeare was born in the Elizabethan times. It was a very strict period of time for children and they should have been seen and not heard. Fathers of that time would tell their children what to do and they would not get a chance to argue or answer back to their parents as it would be very rude and disrespectful. It would also be very common to arrange a marriage for your daughter to a reputable wealthy man. Lord Capulet wanted to arrange the marriage between his daughter Juliet and Paris the County as he was respectable, wealthy and he owned a title to his name. Lady Capulet also likes Paris for his money and status. They were not very concerned about how Juliet felt but they did not really give her a chance to explain the situation.
Lord Capulet is very bad tempered and when he hears that Juliet does not want to get married, he becomes enraged and lashes out by saying, “Out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage! you tallow-face!”. Lord Capulet is struggling to find insults for Juliet and in the end he says that her face is pale as wax (‘tallow’) with misery. She is also called an “anaemic motionless dead body”. Shakespeare uses the language cleverly as Juliet does actually look like this, due to the fact that her cousin is dead and her husband has been banished. He then starts telling people how angry he is that he has worked so hard to bring Juliet up, but she has constantly complained about marriage. He repeats the quotation, "Will not marry, can't love, Is to young, pray you pardon,”, to make her feel pathetic. It is as although he is threatening by replying, "And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, for, by my soul I'll never acknowledge thee".
Money was an issue and it was very important in the 16th Century and it was vital for fathers to support for his family and provide his children with education as it was not free and it costs a lot of money. However, Lord Capulet does not have a concern with money; he was very wealthy and could afford to have parties when there was a particular occasion or whenever he felt he would like to have one.
During the Elizabethan times, the head of the household would always be a man and preferably the father. Lord Capulet would keep everything in order and sort out any major problems if need be, or he would send his servants to sort it out. They would only have servants if they had enough money to provide for them and pay their wages. They were very common in that period and would normally do everything for their masters, mainly cook and clean and any other errands that needed to be done.
Lord Capulet was slightly a modern father as at the start of the play he said that he would not force Juliet into anything she does not want to do as she was very precious to him and he does not want to lose her. However, towards the end of Act 3 he forces Juliet into marrying Paris so that she could seek happiness with him, but this is not what Juliet wanted, but he was not listening to Juliet as he wanted the best for her. He is not an entirely typical father because in those days fathers were not very close with their daughters, but Lord Capulet was quite close to Juliet as this was his only child left and she was very special to him. Children were dying frequently in those times as they were developing a lot of illnesses as they came to the age of five. Juliet was Lord Capulet’s only surviving child, which meant a lot to him.
Overall I think that Lord Capulet is a typical father of the period, he spends more time dealing with problems that the man of the house would do, than spending time with his daughter. We do not know that Lord Capulet and Juliet are very close in the play, but the Nurse is like Juliet’s second mother. I feel that he is a man who does not know what is best for his daughter. At the start he does not want Juliet rushing into getting married as he does not want to lose her, but in the end he tells Paris that he will be honoured if he were to marry his daughter. I think he does this to in order to give Juliet the happiness he thinks she deserves, but Juliet does not see it in that light and has no opinion to this marriage. This is how I judge that Lord Capulet comes across as a very controlling man.
From watching the film “The American President” I have come to the conclusion I would like Michael Douglas to portray Lord Capulet on stage because in this film he was very strong, brave and he had a lot of power showing his high status jus like Lord Capulet. In this film he was in control and this is a similarity to Lord Capulet. It is not a very father-like film but he has kids of his own which will help him in many ways to play the part of Lord Capulet. I think he is the perfect age and build and he fits the character. He is a very good actor and can be very dramatic, jolly and angry when he needs to be, this plays a big part in Lord Capulet’s role. I think the audience will be able to comprehend very well with the actor I have chose to play Lord Capulet as they match up very well and it will bring vitality to the character. When he is on stage I would like him to act as if he owns everything and that he is very important and he is respected by a lot of people. This will bring out his character and make it clear to the audience exactly who he is when he first enters onto the stage. The first impression on the audience is very important and I think Lord Capulet will be represented well by Michael Douglas.
