Capulet also refers to Juliet as ‘little body’ and often calls her ‘she’, rather than talking to her directly, showing how he treats and sees her as a child, giving her little respect, and patronising her, making her angry. Capulet also becomes more angered as the scene goes on, asking her a series of rushed and confused questions;
“…will she none? ...give us thanks? ...not proud?” He also expresses his anger through a burst of insults at Juliet, calling her things such as;
“…mistress minion” and mimicking her;
“I’ll not wed, I cannot love, I am too young.” His speeches also show his anger growing, ranging from threatening to drag her to church;
“Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither…” threatening to throw her out;
“Graze where you will, you shall not house with me,” and eventually saying he will go as far as to give her away to get rid of her;
“I’ll give thee to my friend…” These quotes all show how desperate and tense Capulet is becoming, and how unimportant he considers Juliet to be when his name and reputation are at stake.
When considering the scene, and the play in general, the time in which it was written and first produced play a big part in understanding the themes and the characters. At the time, social status was perhaps the perhaps the most important thing in a families life, and each member of a high status family would generally do almost anything to stay at the top, striving for success. The relationship between Juliet and Capulet would therefore have been very strained by this point in the play, and Capulet would have probably have had enough rationalising and considering his daughter’s feelings to care, thinking only of their loss, at Juliet’s refusal to marry Paris. Capulet should be able to make his daughter do anything at the drop of a hat, and his sudden powerlessness over her is unexpected and extremely unwelcome. At a time when arranged marriages were a lot more common than marriages of love, Juliet’s actions would have been at the height of disobedience, risking possibly all the status the family have worked for, a risk that neither Capulet nor his wife are willing to take.
The time it was written also greatly effects the way the audience would see the characters. When Shakespeare first wrote the play, and audiences first saw it, Juliet would have been frowned upon for disobeying her father, and although the audience would have sympathised with her for her situation, they probably would have been thinking along the lines of that she got herself into the mess she was in, and that it was her own fault. Capulet would also have been seen slightly differently, with the audience sympathising greatly with him and completely understanding, if not agreeing with his actions.
In modern days, the way the characters are seen in largely the other way round. In an era where young ladies are greatly free to do as they please, and generally the only thing parents have the power to do is advise, Juliet would be seen as a poor defenceless young woman who is only trying to follow her heart. Capulet, on the other hand, would be seen as a bully and a bad father, forcing his daughter into something that she clearly doesn’t want, which does still happen in some father – daughter relationships, but is uncommon in today’s world. Capulet’s character would probably receive little, if any, sympathy.
One thing that generally would have remained the same over the years is the way the audience feel for Juliet at the end of the scene. Having been deserted by her father, mother and even her nurse, a character that up till now has stood closely beside her, fighting her corner at every available opportunity, the audience would have felt some kind of sympathy for Juliet, whose world is slowly collapsing around her. The scene is fantastically written to show the contrast of all the heated anger and arguments to the end of the scene, where Juliet’s true powerlessness over her life is shown and the devastation she must be going through a this stage in her life – abandoned by her love, rejected by her family and tragically parted from her friend and cousin, Tybalt, who the audience may overlook to be affecting Juliet due to her loss of Romeo, but who’s death is probably affecting Juliet a lot more than is seen. All the points add up together to lead the audience to a great show of sympathy for the once bright and cheery young woman, who is now so depressed and alone, Juliet Capulet.
The scene of Act 3, Scene 5, although perhaps not the most remembered or well known, is still one of the most moving and important in the play. The audiences feelings would probably have been changed greatly towards Capulet, who up until this scene has been seen as a strict but loving and caring father, and Juliet, who was once young and carefree but is now burdened and alone. These events make our view of Capulet a lot lower, but gain Juliet a lot of respect due to the fact she has stuck to her ground and has followed her heart, a thing that many people in the audience may have done, or wished they had, so they can understand her choices.
This scene is one of the first that exposes us to the true tragedy of Romeo & Juliet. It wipes away the security blanket of love and happiness that has been protecting the play and its characters up to this point, and throws us into the harsh reality that things don’t always work out as planned, or wanted, and that the consequences can be life altering. As a result of this scene, Juliet is forced to contemplate taking her life, foreshadowing the actual ending, but is initially saved by the help and plan of Friar Lawrence, a character that has been helping and guiding the young lovers since their first encounter. Act 3, Scene 5, though, is the downfall of Romeo & Juliet’s peaceful co-existence as a secure and stable pillar of love. For the audience, the scene shows us how badly things can work out, but let’s them gain a lot of information about the characters involved, and allows them to make views that will affect the way they see the rest of the play. Such views include the sympathy they will feel for Juliet, and the way they will empathise with her, wishing her well in her struggles at the end of the play, in her quest to be lovingly reunited with Romeo Montague.
The scene also reveals a lot about Shakespeare and what he thought about parent/child relationships and marriage. Marriage is thought to be something that is basically up to you and something that your parents have little or no control over, but the play reveals how easy we have it today, when compared to the struggles of marriage that were around in Shakespeare’s day. The scene also shows that Shakespeare must have thought of marriage differently to others in his day, as he allowed Romeo and Juliet to end up together, although only in death.
I think the play in general is fantastic, but especially Act 3, Scene 5, which divulges a lot about the struggles and hardship of life then compared to the ‘struggles’ we experience today. It shows us also how we should consider our families, whilst still showing a strong theme of life: if something is meant to be, it will be, no matter what the difficulties or consequences.
