Another difference was the mother-daughter relationships in Shakespearean times. The mother spent less time as the mother and more time assisting her husband as a wife. Many well-off families hired a nanny or a nurse to care for the children, which they have done in this play also. This hired nurse would take what we would see today as the role of mother, caring for the children. From this play, you can also examine the relationship between mother & daughter very closely in Act 1, Scene 3, when Lady Capulet goes in to ask Juliet what she thinks about perhaps marrying Paris. Firstly, Juliet calls her mother “madam”, and soon afterwards Lady Capulet tells the nurse to leave so that she can speak to Juliet alone. She then calls the nurse back again, saying that the Nurse knows her daughter well, and should be hearing what Lady Capulet has to say.
Husband-Wife relationships were also wildly different in Shakespearean times. In Act 3 Scene 5, Capulet does not listen to his wife, even when she does try to say something to defend Juliet. At the end of the scene, Juliet begs her mother to delay the wedding, Lady Capulet says “Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word. Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.” The wife never had ground to speak up to the husband, just as no woman had the right to speak up to a man.
In Act 3 Scene 5, Capulet comes in to talk to Juliet, to tell her that he's arranged for her to marry Paris. He thinks that this is the best thing for Juliet, after Tybalt's death. He thinks that this will cheer up Juliet, but when Lady Capulet tells Lord Capulet that Juliet's not interested, his mood changes. His language changes from his first speech when he uses the weather and nature to describe Juliet's sadness in a generally positive manner, to an insulting and extremely negative speech where imagery isn't used.
In the first speech he says “for still thy eyes, which I may call the sea, do ebb and flow with tears”, which compares Juliet to nature. In his second speech he is frustrated that after he took the effort to find Juliet a husband she is making “excuses”. Juliet says “I am too young, I pray you pardon me”. Capulet is sarcastic and mocks her for the reasons that she hasn't even said (Juliet hasn't actually made any excuses). This shows his mood swings and his short temper.
In this scene, both dramatic and tragic irony are used. The audience knows that Juliet is married to Romeo, and yet Lord and Lady Capulet do not know about this. This creates a certain tension between the audience and the actors, because the audience knows that it's all going to go wrong. The tragic irony is that although Capulet thinks that him marrying Juliet to Paris will make Juliet happy and help her get over Tybalt's death, in reality it is what leads to Juliet's death.
Act 3 Scene 5 tells us that Lord Capulet is the overpowering character and he is leading the charade. He insults her which gives the impression that he is a bad father in the way he treats her and “tenders” her (Act 3 Scene 4), however, in essence he is a good father. If you go back to Act 1 Scene 2, he tries to protect Juliet, and tells Paris that he should wait 2 years until Juliet is 16 before he marries her. He also tells Paris “my will to her consent is but a part”. He means that if Paris can woo Juliet, then he will consent to their marriage.
In Act 3 Scene 5, Juliet speaks to her mother and her father in 2 completely different ways. When Juliet is speaking with her mother, the phrases and imagery are often very playful. She speaks quite freely and speaks about her thoughts and feelings. This shows a slight bond between them, which isn't really seen elsewhere in the play. When Juliet speaks to her father, she is polite, and where she says what she thinks she still tries to show that she respects his authority. For example, she says “thankful even for hate that meant love”. This quote shows how she thanks her father, but doesn't agree with the marriage. This shows how the Shakespearean society was different to the one we have today, and how the relationship was between Juliet and her father. Her and her father don't have a very close relationship, but he does obviously care for her, especially if you look at Act 1 Scene 2.
Lady Capulet speaks to Juliet and tries to comfort her, but Lady Capulet thinks she is upset over Tybalt, and so her comforting doesn't go very far. She then tells Juliet that she has good news for her, that her father has arranged for her to marry Paris on Thursday. This shows that Lady Capulet does love her daughter and that although they are not extremely close, they could be, had society allowed them to be.
Lady Capulet also sticks up for Juliet in parts of the argument in Act 3 Scene 5. Lady Capulet says “Fie, fie what, are you mad?”, which basically is her telling Lord Capulet to calm down. Although Lord Capulet ignores her, it shows how Lady Capulet does care about Juliet, and it is represented in small places throughout the play.
The next scene which shows the relationship between Juliet and her parents is Act 4 Scene 2. This scene shows how Lord Capulet's personality changes. From the original preparations for the wedding in Act 3 Scene 4, where Capulet said “We'll keep no great ado, -- a friend or two;” because he thought that after Tybalt's death, if they had an extravagant wedding “it may be thought we held him carelessly”. However, in Act 4 Scene 2, he tells his servant to “go hire me twenty cunning cooks”. This is evidence for his mood swings, and shows how he can get carried away in the moment.
Lord Capulet insults Juliet at the beginning of the scene, and calls her a “peevish sell-will'd harlotry”. He also greets her in a rather strange way, saying “How now,my headstrong! Where have you been gadding?”
After this, Lord Capulet to Juliet changes and he is more tolerant of her, maybe because she's apologetic and tries to “correct” her ways. His language reflects this by him praising Juliet in a way in his final speech, where he says ”My heart is wondrous light, Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd”. He uses a metaphor and isn't so creative with his words, unlike Act 3 Scene 5.
He thinks that Juliet should be acting in this way, because when she kneels down to beg for his forgiveness, he says “Why, I am glad on't; this is well: stand up: This is as't should be.” This shows how Capulet agrees with Juliet begging for his forgiveness.
Juliet's behaviour has changed from Act 3 Scene 5, as she is in more submission towards Capulet, perhaps because she found a way out of the marriage, and she's just playing with her father to try and not make him suspicious. Her language reflects this because she uses very religious language and begs for forgiveness in many instances.
The dramatic irony in this scene is the fact that the audience knows what Juliet is doing – they can see that she is playing everyone to get what she wants. This creates the audience's feeling of almost disbelief that she can lie to her parents, and to the lengths she goes to in order to cover her tracks. However, they know that the reason why she did that was to try and find a loophole in the Shakespearean society in order for her to escape her arranged marriage with Paris. To do this, the only honourable thing to do would be to die, or make it seem like she had.
In this scene, her relationship with her father is portrayed as them having a definite difference in status – no where near equal. She is expected to kneel before him and beg for forgiveness, and he just accepts that, it just goes to show that they aren't very close – this sort of behaviour would suggest that he treated Juliet as an employee, not a daughter.
Lady Capulet doesn't say much in Act 4 Scene 2, however what she does say is quite important. When Juliet asks for the nurse to help her get ready for the wedding, and Lady Capulet tells her “No, not till Thursday; there is time enough.” This line could be interpreted in two ways. Either seen as trying to not stress Juliet, as she thinks there will be enough time in the morning to prepare, or secondly to make Juliet obey her command, and what she thinks is what is done.
Lady Capulet is expected to support the role of her husband Lord Capulet, and so does not say anything about Juliet begging for forgiveness. She doesn't say anything about the words he uses to describe Juliet in the beginnings of the scene either. This goes back to Shakespearean views on women, and how they are treated compared to men.
Shakespeare represents the relationship in this way because it makes the storyline more believable- if her her parents were very close to Juliet, the marriage to Paris would probably seemed out of place. This creates a powerful effect for the audience as they can relate to how Juliet must have felt and the pressures placed upon her by society.
Overall in this play, the relationship between Juliet and her father is complicated. Although Lord Capulet cares for Juliet, and is quite close to her, social society meant that they could not get very close, because of what was expected of them. Men were higher than women, and men never thought the need to understand how they felt, as women always obeyed men.
Juliet's relationship with her mother is also quite complex; the bonds are there, as seen in Act 3 Scene 5, due to society, the wife had to support the husband, which meant that Lady Capulet may have not had much time to spend with her daughter, and could definitely not stand up for her daughter if it meant going against her husband.
Romeo and Juliet has not only got an interesting storyline, but also the backgrounds of the characters are well thought out. The Capulet's relationships with one another play an important role in this play,as these relations support the story and the society that the play was set into.
