Lord + Lady Capulet

Question 1

‘my child is yet a stranger in the world, she hath not seen the change of 14 years’ - lord capulet, act 1 scene 2

Answer 1

• Capulet believes Juliet is too young + tender to be married (only 13)
• This displays his consideration + kindess as a father + how he subverts the traditional father role in the 16th century
• Lord Capulet strikes the audience here as a caring and protective father.
• The use of the possessive “my” has a dual meaning - Juliet is literally his child but it had another meaning in the Elizabethan times as women belonged to their father until they were wed they then became the property of their husbands.
• Capulet uses the metaphor of “stranger” to describe his daughter which in this case he uses to mean inexperienced.

Question 2

‘woo her, gentle paris, get her heart, my will to her consent is but a part’ - lord capulet, act 1 scene 2

Answer 2

• Capulet cares for Juliet + wants her to marry for love (underlines again how he isn’t a typical father for that era), he claims that Juliet’s consent to be married is more important than his wishes
• Capulet is essentially saying here that Paris needs to try and court her because as her father what he wants doesn’t matter if Juliet does not agree to marry Paris out of her own will.
• The term “woo” would be the equivalent of flirting with someone, Capulet asks Paris to get Juliet’s hand in marriage in a natural way, a marriage of love not arrangement.

Question 3

‘i will make a desperate tender of my child’s love: i think she will be ruled in all respects by me’ - lord capulet, act 3 scene 4

Answer 3

• Capulet believes that Juliet will obey him in marrying Paris (this heavily contrasts to the next scene).
• This is dramatic irony as Juliet is already married.
• It also displays contrast + a change for lord capulet as he wants Paris to marry Juliet immediately without her consent.
• However, it can also be said that because Juliet is upset, he think marriage will cheer her up thus still portraying the caring father role

Question 4

‘have you deliver’d to her our decree?’ - lord capulet, act 3 scene 5

Answer 4

• Capulet sees himself as an absolute ruler over his family, the noun ‘decree’ (linking to law) suggests he holds the same power as the prince or a very high authority figure

Question 5

‘or I will drag thee on a hurdle tither. out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage! you tallow-face!’ - lord capulet, act 3 scene 5

Answer 5

• Capulet insults Juliet in nasty and misogynistic terms
• Tricolon of insults indicating his rage at Juliet’s disobedience.
• In his speech, he uses lots of caesura + exclamations to display his intense fury
• A “hurdle” was something that they would take through the streets that would carry traitors as a means of punishment.
• This suggests that Capulet believes that Juliet is a traitor because she is not doing everything that she can to help the family.
• Lord Capulet’s anger is expressed through the insults to Juliet which are arranged in a rule of three.
• The list of insults comes out with ease which hints to the audience that maybe his tenderness for Juliet earlier on in the play was false

Question 6

‘my fingers itch’ - lord capulet, act 3 scene 5

Answer 6

• Capulet threatens his daughter with physical violence.
• A striking contrast from the caring father that the audience witnessed previously

Question 7

‘and you be mine, i’ll give you to my friend’ - lord capulet, act 3 scene 5

Answer 7

• Capulet sees Juliet as his property, to be given away to Paris, another reference to the patrarchal society

Question 8

‘hang, beg, starve, die in the streets’ - lord capulet, act 3 scene 5

Answer 8

• Listing of threats that will happen to Juliet if she continues acting in this way
• The polysyndetic listing makes Capulet’s words sharp and quick which reflects the way in which the words may have affected Juliet, like strategically aimed bullets.
• Capulet is essentially telling Juliet that she will be disowned if she does not do what he says.
• While the Elizabethan would think that Capulet’s reaction is proper, the 21st-century audience would believe Capulet’s reactions to be overbearing and just a result of the patriarchal environment they are a part of.

Question 9

‘death lies on her like an untimely frost upon the sweetest flower of the field’ - lord capulet, act 4 scene 5

Answer 9

• Cseems genuinely devastated by the ‘death’ of juliet, he returns back to kind, loving + caring father

Question 10

‘death is my son-in-law, death is my heir’ - lord capulet, act 4 scene 5

Answer 10

• Capulet’s words suggest that by dying, Juliet has married death
• The personification of Death creates the sense that death is present on stage and foreshadows the many deaths that are to come.
• Furthermore, Capulet’s lines ensure that even in “death”, Juliet is defined by her marriage and is stripped of any individual identity

Question 11

‘all things that we ordained festival, turn from their office to black funeral’ - lord capulet, act 4 scene 5

Answer 11

• The planned capulet wedding must now be a capulet funeral.
• Lord capulet uses anaphora paired with contrast + juxtaposition

Question 12

‘do as thou wilt, for i have done with thee’ - lady capulet, act 3 scene 5

Answer 12

• Lady Capulet’s last words to Juliet reflect her cruelty + lack of love for her daughter.
• It also suggests that she is very submissive to Lord Capulet, therefore she is the ideal Elizabethan wife

Question 13

‘I was your mother much upon these years. that you are now a maid. thus then in brief: the valiant Paris seeks you for his love.’ - lady capulet, act 1 scene 3

Answer 13

• Juliet’s mother talks of what is expected of Juliet in terms of marriage because it was what was expected of her and all women.
• Expectations of women in these times were incredibly strict and so by avoiding what was expected of Juliet, the audience may have seen it as avoiding the will of God.
• Lady Capulet is also very excited about Paris not just because he is “valiant” but also because of what his high social standing could do for Juliet and the family.
• This is one of the main reasons nobles got married from a young age, to secure more wealth; marriages were used as business partnerships

Question 14

‘welcome gentlemen! Ladies that have their toes Ah my mistresses! which of you all unplagued with corns will walk a bout with you. - will now deny to dance?’ - lord capulet, act 1 scene 5

Answer 14

• Capulet takes the role of the gracious host, making sure that his party is exciting and all the guests have a good time.
• He starts off with a joke which exhibits him as a character who likes to entertain and is concerned with appearances.
• Capulet is saying here that if a woman refuses to dance it must mean that they have corns on their feet.
• The joke ends with a rhetorical question to really highlight the point that is being made.

Question 15

‘i’ll make you quiet’ - lord capulet, act 1 scene 5

Answer 15

• Capulet asserts his dominance through a short simple sentence which suggests how little he has to do to exercise his power as the patriarch of the family.
• Important to note that Capulet does not ask Tybalt to be quiet but instead demands it.

Question 16

‘content thee, gentle coz. let him alone. he bears him like a portly gentleman, and, to say truth, Verona brags of I’m to be a virtuous and well-governed youth’ - lord capulet, act 1 scene 5

Answer 16

• Capulet argues that his nephew should leave Romeo alone as he is acting a cordial way and not creating any trouble.
• This also reveals a lot about Lord Capulet as while his family feuds with the Montagues he still has an open mind and can see the good of Romeo.
• This suggests that Capulet can be level headed which juxtaposes with Tybalt who is a very rash character.
• This quote also reveals to the audience a lot about the character of Romeo.
• The Romeo that the other characters know is free from unrequited love - it is possible that before Romeo became obsessed with Rosaline he was a good man who conducted himself well
• By saying that Verona “brags” of him suggests that Romeo is a very popular character so much so that they are even proud of him.

Question 17

‘tonight she is mewed up to her heaviness’ - lady capulet, act 3 scene 4

Answer 17

• “Mewed” means to be confined to her own sadness, this suggests that Juliet is in an all-consuming sadnesswhich has isolated her from her family.
• Iceberg quote because there is a lot more to it - Juliet is isolated from her family due to her sadness but she has always been isolated from her family her whole life.
• There is evidence of this in Act 1 when Lady Capulet has to ask the Nurse for the age of her own daughter as they have spent so little time together.
• Juliet is also increasingly isolated from her family because she is keeping a secret from them, which is that she is in love with their enemy.

Question 18

‘I think she will be ruled in all respects by me. nay, more, I doubt t not. -“ - lord capulet, act 3 scene 4

Answer 18

• Lord Capulet is completely convinced that Juliet will do what he says, he has no doubt in his mind.
• This suggests that Lord Capulet is used to people doing what he says.
• There is a dramatic irony here as the audience, of course, knows that Juliet is already married and so cannot marry Paris as bigamy was a sin and against the law.
• This means that Juliet has no choice but to disobey her father, so the audience is able to feel the tension grow.

Question 19

‘ill send to one in Mantua, where that same banish runagate doth live, shall give him such an unaccustomed dram that he shall soon keep tybalt company’ - lady capulet, act 3 scene 5

Answer 19

• Lady Capulet is saying here that she will send someone to Mantua after Romeo to poison him.
• More foreshadowing as it tells the audience the way in which Romeo will die in the final scene.
• Lady Capulet’s words echo what Romeo said to Tybalt before his death Romeo says “Staying for thine to keep him company. Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.”

Question 20

‘the ship is your body which is sailing on the salt flood of your tears. the wind are your sighs. your sighs and your tears are raging. unless you calm down, tears and sighs will overwhelm your body and sink your ship’ - lord capulet, act 3 scene 5

Answer 20

• Extended metaphor of the sea to illustrate Juliet’s emotions.
• He equates her “body” to a “ship” which is rocking on her “tears” which is the sea.
• Her sighs are described as the wind. - Capulet is essentially saying here that her emotions are taking over her which is effective to drowning in her emotions.
• This description mirrors the Lord Montagues’ description of Romeo in Act 1 when he is heartbroken over Rosaline. * Montague says that his tears are like the fresh morning “dew” and his sighs add to the “clouds”.
• This shows Romeo and Juliet as being cut from the same cloth, really affirming their role as star-crossed lovers.

Question 21

‘let me see the county; / ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither’ - lord capulet, act 4 scene 2

Answer 21

• Lord Capulet’s excitement and agitation is demonstrated through the fragmented nature of his dialogue.
• Faced with Juliet’s apology, he has hundreds of things suddenly to do and his repetitious and monosyllabic dialogue reflects this

Question 22

‘go nurse, go with her / we’ll go to church to-morrow’ - lord capulet, act 4 scene 2

Answer 22

• Again, this breach of Church-going protocol demonstrates Capulet’s agitation and fragmented mindset.
• Furthermore, it ominously foreshadows how the subsequent days will play out; they will “go to church” but because of Juliet’s death, rather than for the marriage.

Question 23

‘hold, take these keys, and fetch more spices, nurse’ / ‘they call for dates and quinces in the pastry’ - Lady capulet + nurse, act 4 scene 4

Question 24

‘come stir, stir, stir […] spare not for cost’ - lord capulet, act 4 scene 4