Shakespeare first presents this image of Lady Capulet being an uncaring and dismissive mother in Act one scene three, when she is introduced to us. Whilst talking to the nurse she brings up the topic of Juliet’s marriage to Paris, her tone of voice is very abrupt . She says ‘Well, think of marriage now. ’ the businesslike way she talks about marriage shows she views this topic as just part of the way the world works and this gives you a greater insight into the character of Lady Capulet. Despite Juliet’s obvious objections to marrying Paris she goes on to question her and asks ‘What say you? Can you love the gentleman?’ The matter of fact tone she has when she talks about love hints that she believes it is an unimportant part of a marriage. This idea is backed up when she then goes on to tell Juliet to ‘Read o’er the volume of young Paris’ face’. The extended metaphor highlights that to her you only need to look at someone to love them.
Shakespeare’s presentation of Lady Capulet is an accurate portrayal of a typical wife at the time, putting her husband’s will before her own daughter’s wishes and desires. Furthermore, she has a typical 16th century attitude towards marriage and love. She herself would have had an arranged marriage and would have been married young. She probably had little choice whom she married and would automatically expect Juliet to be in the same situation. To her it is just part of the system, this is what happened to me and this is what’s going to happen to you.
Later on in Act three scene five you see Juliet’s father’s attitude towards marriage. Capulet arrives, announcing that he has lined up a suitable husband, meaning an affluent and aristocratic one, ignorant of the fact that his only daughter is already married to the son of his enemy he assumes Juliet will obey his orders. Unaware of her love for this man, whom he perceives to be a banished convict, he assumes, like Lady Capulet before him, that her tears are for her dead cousin.
Capulet, seeing his crying daughter, uses imagery to describe Juliet’s grief. He looks at her crying face and watery eyes and compares her to the sea, he tells her that ‘thy eyes, which I may call the sea, do ebb and flow with tears’. The words ‘ebb’ and flow’ illustrate the sea-like quality to her tears, as like the tide they sometimes gush out and then stop, repeating the pattern over and over again suggesting that she still has many more tears to cry. This powerful image of the tide moving backwards and forward, ebbing and flowing, describes how it looks to see the tears on Juliet’s face.
To reinforce this image of Juliet’s tears being plentiful he asks her ‘How now conduit girl?’ This metaphor implies that her tears are gushing like water down a pipe. Capulet’s use of the metaphor may at first appear sympathetic but is actually being used to mock her, he is highlighting how pathetic she looks by saying she is crying so much she is the in a storm of emotion. His comparison of Juliet to a storm is ironic as it is he himself who will become worked up into a ‘storm’ upon hearing Juliet’s refusal to marry Paris.
The storm begins to brew as Capulet turns to insult and threaten Juliet. He repeatedly refers to her as ‘baggage’ meaning that she is unwanted rubbish. This is very derogatory and implies that he thinks he can just chuck her out. The plosive ‘b’ sound demonstrates that he is trying to intimidate her with aggression and force, he is making sure that she knows he‘s in charge. As well as intimidation he uses language to demote her by telling her to ‘fettle your fine joints’. This is harsh and vulgar, he is telling Juliet to get her body ready and to be prepared to get married. The word ‘fine’ is sarcastic, the combination of sarcasm and alliteration of the letter ‘f’ hints that he is enjoying making fun of Juliet. In addition, Capulet’s words paints the picture that Juliet is sub-human. A stable groom would ‘fettle’ horses so by saying this insulting, animalistic term to Juliet he is implying that she should be treated like an animal. At this point Capulet is furious at his daughters refusal to marry Paris, he goes on to take Juliet’s polite speech and twist her words saying ‘Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds’ in order to prove her ‘chop logic’. By Capulet repeating the imperatives ‘thank’ and ‘proud’ exemplifies his subtext; he is telling Juliet that she needs to listen to him.
To explore Capulet’s fury fully, we need to examine how 16th century fathers treated the idea of marriage. In Elizabethan times England was a hierarchical society. Everyone knew their place and were expected to defer to their superiors. It was also a patriarchal society were men held all the power. Women were viewed as inferior and were useful to their family as pawns aiding them to climb the financial and social ranks of society: this was done by marrying into a higher family. The daughter was seen as her father’s property until she was married, when she then became her husband’s property. Therefore women had little choice in whom they wanted to marry as a marriage would only be arranged to best suit their father’s interests. Therefore to a Shakespearean audience Capulet’s behaviour would appear normal.
However, this contrasts with Capulet’s original statements in Act 1 scene 2. In the beginning he appears to have a very atypical response to the idea of his daughter marrying Paris. He wants his daughter to marry for choice and love, not just to better the family name. He says to Paris that if Juliet agrees ‘within her scope of choice lies my consent and fair according voice’. The word ‘choice’ shows just how different Capulet’s views are, he is a loving father who wants his daughter to be happy and marry for love.
This makes it more shocking when he starts to threaten his only daughter: only in that ‘the ground’ hasn’t ‘swallowed‘ her up. His quick change from loving father to angry beast suggests that he only loves her as long she does as he says. He calls Juliet disgusting names like ‘green-sickness carrion!’ This revolting metaphor describes Juliet’s face as dead, rotting flesh. Juliet is pale from crying and looks anaemic or like she has green sickness. It is horrible for a father to describe his daughter in such a way and completely contrasts with the way he talks about her to Paris in Act 1 scene 2 when he calls her the ‘fruit’ of his life . He carries on insulting her appearance and calls her ‘tallow face’. Capulet is picking on her suffering and describing her as waxy and pale-like a candle. His aggressive tone shows he is unsympathetic and cruel.
As his frustration with Juliet increases Capulet turns to threatening her. He tells her to ‘go with Paris to Saint Peter’s Church’ and says if she doesn’t he will ‘drag thee on a hurdle thither.’ A hurdle is a wooden wrack that criminals were placed in and dragged throughout the streets. It’s upsetting to think that her own father would be willing to publicly humiliate her like this. Capulet then extends the threat and tells her that she better get to the church on Thursday ‘or never after look me in the face’. Juliet has never refused to do anything before and Capulet explodes. He tells Juliet that if she doesn’t get married he will be done with her and she will be disowned. He swears by his ‘soul’ that he will not acknowledge her if she does not comply to his wishes. This is a very serious oath as Capulet believes that your ‘soul’ is the purist part of your body, your immortal part, which is ironic as he is using it to promise to do such a horrible thing. The fact that he will not go back on his word is confirmed when he tells her ‘nor what is mine shall ever do thee good’ this means that Juliet would inherit nothing, at this point you can tell he has gone beyond reasoning.
His obvious attempts at asserting his authority by threatening his daughter shows that Capulet is feeling insecure in the situation and that nothing like this has happened before. So when the nurse intervened he loses control. She had been, up until now, trusted but as she desperately tries to stop his anger he proceeds in insulting her too. He tells her to ‘Smatter with your gossips go’. He is telling her that she is useless in this situation. The alliteration of the hard ‘g’ indicates he is once again using intimidation to get what he wants. He next insults her by saying ‘peace you mumbling fool’. The onomatopoeic quality of the word ‘mumbling’ makes it sound like the nurse is incoherent and sounds like an animal when talking.
There are some similarities between the way he treats Juliet and the nurse. In both cases he uses language to make them feel inferior, he calls the nurse ‘My Lady wisdom’ which is similar to when he called Juliet ‘Mistress Minion’. This implies that Juliet is an unwanted servant and no longer his little darling, he is showing her that he is the master. Furthermore, the alliteration suggests he is mocking her. This is the same for the nurse, he is being ironic in calling her wise and actually means the opposite. Capulet thinks that she is below him in both intellect and wisdom and by telling her so he is pointing out that she is no longer in his favour.
With the absence of caring parents it was the nurse whom Juliet turned to, she was Juliet’s motherly figure, as was typical in the 16th century. The nurse raised the children and for Juliet she was the one person she could confide in and trust, the person she truly loved. In a world where her parents control her life and are people whom she has little contact with, Juliet became dependent on her. Therefore, when the nurse betrays her and tells her that in her opinion Romeo is a ‘dishclout to Paris’ it breaks Juliet’s heart. It is in the lonely and isolated state that Juliet feels towards the end of the scene. Not only have her mother and father turned against her, that she could handle, but the one person she thought would always be on her side has too. It could be this that pushes Juliet into taking her own life at the end of the play as she feels like, other than Romeo, there is no one else out there for her.
At the end of Act 3 scene 5, after the nurse exits leaving Juliet alone, Juliet makes a speech addressing the audience. She declares she no longer trusts anyone and insists that the nurse has given her bad advice. She can not believe that she values her getting married and living a normal life over true love. Juliet feels like she has been abandoned by both her nurse and Romeo. It is now that we see Juliet evolving from the naive girl that she was in the beginning. That innocent child who used to blindly follow the commands of her parents disappears, replaced by a strong and independent women. She makes the decision that ‘if all else fail, myself have the power to die.’ meaning that should it come to it, she is prepared to kill herself. We, as an audience, admire her bravery as she takes control of her own destiny. It is this image of Juliet’s empowerment that we are left with at the end of the play. She is not someone to pity or sympathize with; Juliet has looked at her desperate situation and seen a way out. She realises that if she does end up taking her own life she will be set free; she will finally be unleashed from the chains her parents have confounded her with.
