Romeo And Juliet Parental Figures Essay

Romeo and Juliet Had No Parental Figures

How did Romeo and Juliet’s parental figures shape who they are? Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a play about two star-crossed lovers. The two households in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet are The Montague and The Capulet, these two households have a deep hatred for each other. Romeo, a Montague, fell in love with Juliet, a Capulet. The two of them decide to get married to forever conceal their love for each other. Was this a rational decision? It was not a rational decision but, did Romeo and Juliet have parental figures to teach them? Romeo and Juliet had no parental figures, therefore they could not make rational decisions.

Romeo and Juliet’s parent were not around to raise them. Throughout the

play Romeo is never with his parents, he is not in vary many scenes with his mother or father. Romeo’s father says “Both by myself and many other friends. But he, his own affections’ counselor, Is to himself—I will not say how true, But to himself so secret and so close, So far from sounding and discovery, As is the bud bit with an envious worm Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air Or dedicate his beauty to the same. Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow, We would as willingly give cure as know.” (1.1 149-158). Romeo’s father is speaking to Benvolio about how he has no influence on Romeo and they do not spend very much time with each other.
Juliet is seen with her parents a lot more than Romeo but they had no part in raising her.

In a conversation between the Nurse, Juliet, and Lady Capulet the Nurse says “She could have run and waddled all about, For even the day before, she broke her brow, And then my husband (God be with his soul, He was a merry man) took up the child. “Yea,” quoth he, “Dost thou fall upon thy face? Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit, Wilt thou not, Jule?” And, by my holidam, The pretty wretch left crying and said “Ay.” To see now how a jest shall come about! I warrant, an I should live a thousand years, I never should forget it” (1.3 41-51). The Nurse is speaking of a time when Juliet fell on her face when the Nurse was watching her, Lady Capulet does not remember of this because she was not around. Romeo and Juliet’s biological parents were not around to raise

them.

In Romeo’s seeking of advice he talks with Friar Laurence.

Romeo looks up to the Friar as a parental figure, a person to seek in times of trouble. The Friar did not act as an appropriate parental figure to Romeo. When the Friar Marries Romeo and Juliet he says “These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey Is loathsome in his own deliciousness And in the taste confound the appetite: Therefore lover moderately; long love doth so; Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.” (2.4, 9-15). The Friar says that these two will die tragically and that the are marrying too quickly but he does nothing about, he marries them anyways. When Romeo has been banished, Juliet looks to the Friar for advice on how to reunite with Romeo and skip her wedding with Paris. The Friar says “take thou this vial, being then in bed, And this distillèd liquor drink thou off, When presently through all thy veins shall run A cold and drowsy humor, for no pulse Shall keep his native progress, but surcease. No warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest. The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade To paly ashes, thy eyes' windows fall Like death when he shuts up the day of life. Each part, deprived of supple government, Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death.” (4.1, 96-106). The Friar plans a very improbable scheme to help Juliet. He gives her a potion to make her look dead so she can be taken to the Capulet

Grave where she will be taken by Romeo. This plan is extremely irrational and does not help Juliet improve her decision making.

The Capulet Nurse was the main parental role for Juliet. The Nurse was around Juliet all the time but she was not a good influence on Juliet. The Nurse does not know how to comfort Juliet. After Romeo killed Tybalt and Romeo was banished the Nurse had to tell Juliet. The Nurse said “There’s no trust, No faith, no honesty in men. All perjured, All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers. Ah, where’s my man?—Give me some aqua vitae.—These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old. Shame come to Romeo!” (3.2, 87-92). The Nurse says that Men cannot be trusted and it is a shame that Romeo Killed Tybalt. Juliet is very upset with this statement, Juliet is Romeo’s husband and she believes that Romeo could not have been in the wrong. When Juliet refuses to marry Paris she turns to the Nurse for help. The Nurse Responds with “Faith, here it is.
Romeo is banishèd, and all the world to nothing That he dares ne'er come back to challenge you. Or, if he do, it needs must be by stealth. Then, since the case so stands as now it doth, I think it best you married with the county. Oh, he’s a lovely gentleman. Romeo’s a dishclout to him. An eagle, madam, Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart, I think you are happy in this second match, For it excels your first. Or if it did not, Your first is dead, or ’twere as good he were, As living here and you no use of him.” (3.5, 213-226). The Nurse tells Juliet that Romeo is gone, you cannot enjoy him, and he will never make it back here unnoticed so you might as well marry Paris. Instead of helping Juliet she tells her to just forget about him and marry Paris, which is a sin because Juliet has already been married to Romeo.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragic story of two young lovers whom made the wrong decisions irrationally. This is not their fault. It was the job of their biological parents, the Friar, and the Nurse to help raise Romeo and Juliet to make their own rational decisions. And when Romeo and Juliet most needed help the Nurse and Friar turned to irrational, unsafe resolutions to solve their issues when they should be a role model. The death of Romeo and Juliet was not just their own fault, it was the fault of every parental type figure.