Examine Lord Capulets motivation, attitude and behaviour in three key

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Examine Lord Capulets motivation, attitude and behaviour in three key

scenes and suggest how an actor could perform the part so as to convey

these motives and attitudes to an audience.

The play “Romeo and Juliet” was written in 1589-95 by William

Shakespeare. The play is a tragedy which means that it is a serious

play and will not end happily for some will die.

It was set in 16th century Verona in Italy, which was a patriarchal

society. This meant that men had the power and all women were

compelled under the control of their husbands and fathers. It was also

part of a hierarchical society, which was a structure of class, with

Prince Escalus at the top, then the Lords and Ladies, such as Lord

Montague and Lord Capulet; rich tradesmen and merchants were under the

lords, and at the bottom were the servants such as Juliet’s nurse.

The play is about “a pair of star-crossed lovers” who take their lives

because of their families’ feud. The house of Montague and the house

of Capulet have been quarrelling for years and years, so Juliet of

Capulet and Romeo of Montague fall into a “death-marked love.”

In act one scene two the two houses of Capulet and Montague have just

had a fight. Prince Escalus has given Lord Capulet a warning that “If

you ever disturb our streets again, your lives will pay the forfeit of

the peace.”

So he would now be feeling embarrassed, upset, humiliated and ashamed.

To show this to Paris and the audience he would mumble and speak

quietly. He would hunch to show that he feels a lack of security. He

would be humble towards Paris and his face would look blank.

Paris wants to wed Juliet and has come to Capulet to ask if he has his

blessing. Capulet comes back to his senses and says,

“My child is yet a stranger in the world” which means that he thinks

Juliet is too young to be married off. Paris says that there are

younger wives than her. Then Capulet replies with “And too soon marred

are those so early made” which means that those girls were too young

to be mothers and their lives were ruined. The audience would now

think that Capulet is a good father and that he truly loves his

daughter. He even says that “she is the hopeful lady of my earth,”

Which makes the audience think that he is an even better father from

when they first thought. Because it was very odd at that time for a

father to love his ...

... middle of paper ...

...er, because it was very unusual at that time for a father to

love his daughter so much.

Then in act 1 scene 5 the audience thought that Capulet was a very

good host telling every one to have a good time and enjoy themselves.

They thought he was a very jolly person who loves entertaining people

and that he had the image of a perfectionist. In Act 3 scene 5 the

audience thought that lord Capulet was a horrible father who loses his

temper far to quickly and that he was far to harsh toward Juliet and

the nurse.

Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other was very important in the play

because that was the reason for all the complications like the

marriage between Paris that was arranged for Juliet, the banishment of

Romeo because he would not fight Tybalt, the death of Mercutio, the

death of Tybalt, the whole tragedy theme, the deaths of Romeo and

Juliet and finally the bringing together of the Capulets and the

Montague’s.

The bringing together of the Capulets and the Montague’s happened

because of Romeo and Juliet’s love and their deaths. Because of these

events both of the families realised how silly they had been and

called friendship between them instead of war.

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