Capulet

Who He Is

Capulet is the head of the Capulet house, father of Juliet and uncle of Tybalt. He is the patriarch who protects his daughter's will in one scene and threatens her in another, and the play shows him ordering his daughter to be silent at the very moment she asks to speak.

Trajectory

In Scene 1 of Act I, he arrives at the brawl asking for his long sword, and his wife tells him that what he needs is a crutch. Prince Escalus threatens him with death, and the Montague too, should they disturb the peace again.

In Scene 2 of Act I, he tells Paris that Juliet, not yet fourteen, is still young, and that he must first win her heart.

He invites Paris to the ball that night. In Scene 5 of Act I, he receives the guests and, when Tybalt wants to kill Romeo right there, restrains him: he says Verona is proud of the young man, takes him to be virtuous and well bred, and asks Tybalt who the master of the house is.

In Scene 4 of Act III, late at night, he tells Paris there has been no time to speak with his daughter, who is in mourning for Tybalt, but that he feels sure she will obey him. He sets the wedding for Thursday, in a small feast, out of respect for the dead.

In Scene 5 of Act III, when his wife tells him that Juliet refuses, he explodes: he orders his daughter to go to church on Thursday or never again look him in the face, orders the Nurse to shut her mouth, and says that if she is not his, she may beg, starve and die in the street. In Scene 2 of Act IV, when Juliet, on her knees, asks for pardon, he wants to bring the wedding forward to the next morning, though his wife reminds him that it will only be on Thursday. He spends the night seeing to the feast, his heart light because his daughter has mended her ways.

In Scene 5 of Act IV, he finds his daughter cold and says that death is his son-in-law.

In Scene 3 of Act V, he arrives at the tomb, sees his dead daughter with the dagger and says that the dagger has gone astray: its sheath is empty, at the back of a Montague. He holds out his hand to Montague, and the two promise golden statues, of Juliet and of Romeo.

Themes Embodied

The same man who says his will is only a part of the daughter's consent threatens her with the street and with hunger when consent does not come. In Scene 5 of Act I, he protects Romeo; in Scene 3 of Act V, he holds out his hand to Montague only before the dead.

Capulet shows the family as an authority that changes its size according to convenience, and at the ball he also protects Romeo so the party does not fall apart. Juliet's father never acts out of declared malice: he hastens the wedding to console his daughter and threatens her because he thinks her ungrateful. It is this mixture of care and command that the potion exploits, because he believes what he wants to see, his daughter reconciled, and he only learns what lay behind it when the friar tells everything, before him, in the tomb.

Relationships

• Juliet: his only daughter, from whom he first says he wants consent and then demands obedience.
• Paris: the son-in-law he chooses, whose wedding he hastens.
• Tybalt: his wife's nephew, whom he rebukes at the ball and whose death he uses to justify the small feast.
• The Nurse: the servant he orders to be quiet when she defends Juliet.