Juliet's Relationship with Her Father - Essay Example

?Running head: Juliet's relationship Juliet's relationship with her father from act 3 scene 5 Juliet's relationship with her father from act 3 scene 5 “The outcome of our lives depends on the choices we make.” These were the sentiments established in the choice theory. Whoever came up with the choice theory did not stop to think about some of the things in life that we don’t get to choose but have a great impact on our lives. An example of such is our parents. A good example of how vital our relationship with our parents are, is the play developed by William Shakespeare, namely Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet, was set in the Elizabethan epoch a time frame where a patriarchal society was the order of the day. Women’s roles were simply being submissive to the male figures in their lives. They had very little control of their lives because even the most important things in their lives such as a husband were chosen for them by their fathers. In the play, the situation was pretty much the same. From the beginning Capulet, Juliet’s father, was seen as a very liberal and open minded man. Consequently his relationship with his daughter was very cordial1. This is especially shown when Capulet is approached by Paris who wanted a hand in marriage with his daughter. He stipulates that her daughter's consent to the arrangement of marriage would have to be considered. There is an immense use of dramatic irony in the play. For example when both parents of Juliet are swayed to think that Juliet is sad due to her cousin’s death while the audience know for sure that it wasn’t. Dramatic irony is also apparent when Juliet pretends to support her mother’s plan to take vengeance for Tybalt’s demise while she knew for sure she would never do anything to harm Romeo. Dramatic irony is used to draw a contrast between the character’s reaction to the perceived situation and the real situation at hand Act 3 scene5 begins with the nurse rushing to warn Romeo and Juliet that Juliet’s mother was making her way to her bedroom. Romeo has to leave and the lovebirds are sad to leave each other’s company. When lady Capulet makes her way into her room, she finds Juliet in a sombre mood. She mistakes her sadness for grief over her cousin, Tybalt’s demise. In a bid to cheer her up, her mother informs her of her father’s arrangement of her marriage with. The news saddens Juliet more than it lightens her up and declares she doesn’t want to marry Paris. In the course of her discussion with mother, Capulet makes his way into Juliet’s room and find Juliet in a surge of tears. Just like his wife, Capulet also mistakes Juliet’s melancholy for bereavement over Tybalt’s demise. As a result he tries to comfort his daughter but as soon as he is informed that the Juliet was going to defy his arrangement of marriage, all hell breaks loose. Capulet is unable to handle the gravity of the situation and he crumbled beneath the weight of the news he has just received. Juliet’s rejection of Paris seemed to have injured a part of his ego and stature as a man. With a bruised ego, he became extremely infuriated and seemed to have entered a trance of tantrums. This was the turning point of Juliet’s relationship with his father. Capulet’s antagonistic tendencies had always been present throughout out the play. When Juliet defied him his rage just climaxed. In his enraged state Juliet was scared of him. She ran to the nurse for protection. She even went on her knees pleading with him to stop2. He hurled all kinds of insults and equated her with things such as “baggage,” and “tallow-face”3 in a bid to make her feel worthless and disrespectful. Capulet seemed to imply that his daughter was supposed to reciprocate all the love and kindness he had shown her over the years4. He had never used the powers bestowed upon him by the patriarchal society and the one time he needed her to just do as the society expected of her she defied him hence the reason he referred to her as a “disobedient wretch”5. There was also hint of disgust in the insults that Juliet received from her father. He referred to her as “green sickness carrion”6 signifying his sheer repugnance for her. His comparison of Juliet to a dreadful illness really stressed the extent of his revulsion for her. Mockery also manifested itself in his insults towards Juliet especially where he asks the question “How? How? How? Chop logic?”7 Capulet had always stated that he would seek her consent before agreeing to any marriage proposal8 and his failure keep his word made Juliet feel betrayed. Capulet pointed out that if he had to; he would drag Juliet to church to make her get married to Paris9. In a threatening tone Capulet vowed to disown Juliet if she did not marry Paris. He then stormed out of Juliet’s bedroom, engrossed in a state of self-righteous frenzy leaving Juliet to contemplate his ultimatum. If she decided to go ahead and marry Paris, she would be going against be committing a sin and the results were going to hell, if she rejected her father’s arrangements she would be banished from her home, and if she committed suicide which was also a mortal sin according to the catholic faith to escape her misery, she would go to hell. After the act 3 scene 5 episode, Juliet’s relationship with her father was on the rocks. Juliet’s failure to inform his father about her marriage to Romeo and Capulet’s failure to honour his promise to Juliet led to the quandary of their relationship. In my opinion Capulet had his daughter’s interest at heart because he premeditated the decision before finally giving his consent to Paris’ proposal. He tells Juliet how much thought he put before coming up with this decision10. Juliet crafted a scheme with Lawrence so as to counter her father’s demands to marry Paris but the scheme proved fatal hence we can conclude that even though Capulet wasn’t entirely to blame for Juliet’s demise he certainly played a significant role to make it happen. Juliet was a strong character this is emphasized by the fact that she defied her father and she married Romeo knowing that it would have horrible outcome in future. Bibliography Romeo and Juliet: The complete works of William Shakespeare, 2004, retrieved 9 March 2013, http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/Romeo_and_Juliet/18.html Read More