Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet portrays relationships in different ways to define and foreshadow the ending of the play; Romeo and Juliet’s death. The prologue sets up conflict by stating the ‘two’ rivalries, always referring to them in pairs ‘two households’ and ‘two foes’, otherwise known as the ‘Capulet’s’ and ‘Montague’s’. It sharpens the conflict as the play is set in ‘fair Verona’ and violence and death occur in a beautiful place. The emphases of oppositions in this play define the relationships, such as, Montague’s and Capulet’s, light and dark and love and hate. Due to the extent of antithesis, in the play Romeo and Juliet’s love grows in darkness and ‘stealth’.
The relationship between Juliet and Lady Capulet is somewhat cold as Lady Capulet only approaches Juliet when she needs her to do something that will benefit Lady Capulet; marry Paris. Shakespeare reflects the patriarchal society in act 1 scene 3 when Lady Capulet tells Juliet ‘so shall you share all that he doth possess’, showing Juliet that all of Paris’s possession will be shared with Juliet in order to sell the idea of marriage. After Tybalt’s death, Juliet is weeping for Romeo and her mother mistakes her crying for her dear Tybalt’s death, this signifies dramatic irony. As Juliet refuses to marry, Lady Capulet tell her to ‘tell him yourself’ which confirms that Lady Capulet is not a loving mother to Juliet and will only console her if Juliet does what she wants.
The nurse in Romeo and Juliet is more like a mother to Juliet as she nicknames Juliet as being a ‘lamb’ and a ‘ladybird’ which are both delicate and innocent animals which indirectly shows Juliet’s character. As Lady Capulet first enters Juliet’s room in Act 1 Scene 3, she wishes to exclude the nurse from her but the nurse intervened and stated that she could tell Juliet’s age ‘unto an hour’ showing that she knows more about