romeo and juliet - lord capulet Flashcards
“My child is yet a stranger in the world”
The personal pronoun “my” emphasises Lord Capulet’s possessiveness over Juliet. Furthermore, the fact that he doesn’t mention Juliet’s name but rather calls him his “child” further reinforces the impression of possessiveness; one could argue that Lord Capulet merely views his daughter as his own property and possession as this is what was expected of him living in a patriarchal society. On the other hand, his possessive language could be employed by Shakespeare as an expression of Capulet’s love and concern for his child. Thus, this quote may not be just an expression of his possessiveness and authority, but rather it could alternatively show the audience how Capulet actually cares for his child and is willing to protect him from the dangers of the “world”.
“disobedient wretch”
This epithet created through the adjective “Disobedient” used to describe Juliet illuminates how cruelly Juliet is treated by her father and further reinforces the impression that he views Juliet as mere property.
“Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets”
The asyndetic listing here emphasises the idea that Capulet is becoming increasingly erratic and distraught as Juliet continues to disobey him. The harsh terms “hang” “beg”, “starve”, and “die” agglomerate to create a semantic field of death which further reinforces the impression that Capulet is a bad father and is concerned more by reputation and honour than he is concerned for his own daughter’s life. Particularly, the term “hang” would have perhaps shocked the Elizabethan audience because a hanging only usually occurred in the case where a crime had been committed. In this way, it is as if Lord Capulet views Juliet as a criminal for going against his orders, which again reinforces the impression that Juliet is trapped by the patriarchal, abusive views of her father.
context
During the Elizabethan era family honour was extremely important to many individuals which Shakespeare portrays through the Montague versus Capulet feud. Each family member stays loyal to each other by fighting against members of the other family and protecting their own. It is possible that Shakespeare employs Romeo and Juliet’s suicide to reveal to the audience the possible dangers of allowing family honour to consume an individual. Yet it is only through Romeo and Juliet’s death that Lord Capulet decides to settle the feud between both families, thus their death was essential to the change of Lord Capulet’s views.
