Juliet and Lord Capulet: A Complex Relationship Essay Sample

Capulet is a strict father to Juliet, leading to the couple’s tragic decision to die. As a young girl, his teenager wants to have the freedom to make her own choices, such as marrying her enemy. However, Lord Capulet tries to exercise complete control over his child’s life, threatening her when she does not obey him. His harsh parenting style separates Romeo and his wife, and to them, the thought of a life apart is worse than death. The lovers lose faith in life when the man arranges his child’s marriage to Paris, preventing them from being together. As the teen tries to find an escape from her upcoming wedding, she states, “If all else fail, myself have power to die” (III.v.244). From the moment they fall in love, the romantics swear to die rather than live without each other. The headstrong girl marries him despite their families’ feud, displaying that she has a mind outside her father’s commands. Unfortunately for her, Capulet does not understand his teenager’s dream of independence. Believing his daughter will follow his every instruction, he gives her away to Paris. In arranging her wedding to another man, the lord places her in a situation where she must live without her lover, but the two would rather die than be apart. Therefore, the lord forces her to take drastic measures to stay with her husband, making him responsible for their tragedy. He also plays a part in their demise by berating his offspring for not following his orders. Capulet threatens to disown Juliet if she disobeys him, contributing to her and her beloved’s suicides. After her father admonishes her, the adolescent falls into a spiral of grief, stating, “Is there no pity sitting in the clouds that sees into the bottom of my grief? O sweet my mother, cast me not away!” (III.v.198-200). Many challenges face the lovers’ romance: their families are feuding, the town exiles the boy, and now the girl must marry another. Verona’s banishment of Romeo already threatens the teenager’s relationship, and now the lord has introduced a new barrier to their love. The teenager cannot take another sorrow overshadowing her joy and begs her father to reconsider her arranged marriage. Instead of respecting his teenager’s wishes, Capulet adds to her pain by threatening to abandon her if she does not obey him. The pressure he applies on her makes her dissolve into panic, causing her to follow Friar’s dangerous plan, costing the pair their lives. The man fails by setting up a marriage for his child because the newlyweds find death better than not being together. He also scolds his daughter until she becomes desperate enough to follow through with a risky scheme that ends in disaster. Capulet falls short as a father figure, prompting his daughter and son-in-law to give up on life.

Nurse is to blame for the couple’s deaths by being a poor maternal figure to Juliet. The teenager needs someone in her life to give her guidance, but her former wet nurse is an inadequate mentor. Without a supportive parental figure, the young woman follows a hasty scheme that ends in catastrophe. Nurse helps the teenager impulsively marry a family foe, resulting in their eventual deaths. After she falls in love with her rival, the teenager asks her surrogate mother to help set up the secret wedding. The nurse agrees, visiting the youth and promising him that her mistress will come to marry him, “This afternoon, sir? Well, she shall be there” (II.iv.174). After becoming infatuated with the youth, Juliet immediately decides to become his wife. The two’s rushed marriage sets the stage for the tragedy of their romance, all made possible by the servant’s compliance. However, if the two did not become husband and wife, they could have prevented the misery of their deaths. Nurse’s mistress relies on her for proper counsel, but the woman leads the children to their doom. She does not instruct her mistress to wait to marry him, nor does she explain why a hurried marriage is a poor decision. Her lack of helpful advice to her lady causes the two teenagers to find life meaningless apart. The maternal figure also emotionally abandons the adolescent when she advises her to desert her husband. Juliet has no source of guidance left when Nurse traitorously suggests she wed Paris, so the unsupported lovers choose death. After her father orders her to marry Paris, the servant recommends she abandon her love and wed another. Her mistress feels betrayed by her mentor turning her back on Romeo, referring to her as “Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend! Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn, or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue which she hath praised him with above compare so many thousand times? Go, counselor!” (III.v.237-241). As the old woman denounces her mistress’ love, the girl realizes she cannot turn to her advisor for help anymore. Because she has no one left to help her, the young lady follows Friar’s risky plan that ends the newlyweds’ lives. The servant is responsible for the youth’s ill-advised decision because her betrayal makes her lady turn to desperate measures. The woman first presents herself as a loving counselor to her mistress, but she fails at being a healthy mother figure. She allows Juliet to marry her enemy, setting up the devastation their families suffer when the couple dies. Then, she fails the child by advising her to forget her husband, leaving the girl without parental guidance. The woman’s shortcomings bring her mistress to hopelessness so heavy that she goes through with a treacherous scheme. Nurse’s many blunders are at fault for the couple feeling that death is their only option.