Was Lord Capulet a Good Father?
Farai Bennett
Period 5 – Sunshine
February 5th, 2013
Is Lord Capulet a good father?
In this day and age, the key essentials to what make a good father has dramatically changed since the days of Shakespeare. Back then, a good father showered their children with luxury, if they could afford it, kept them young, beautiful and presentable, and most importantly found them a good husband or wife around the age of fourteen or fifteen years old. In contrast to today’s modern world, a good father is one who not only cares, provides and loves but also prepares to make sure their children learn right from wrong in order for them to go out into the world and make their own decisions. You may be quick to judge that Lord Capulet was just as old fashioned as all of Shakespeare’s characters. However what if he could have been a little bit of both? Clearly Lord Capulet loved his daughter very much and even though he didn’t understand her love for Romeo Montague and took matters into his own hands, would that necessarily make him a bad father? Quite the contrary as a matter of fact.
Capulet loves his daughter very much, you can tell through the way he speaks about her to Paris in Act 2 Scene 2. When Juliet tells her father that she does not wish to marry Paris, Lord Capulet becomes very hesistant and follows Juliet’s request for the time being only because he knew putting the pressures of forced commitment on his daughter wouldn’t make her happy and also he probably didn’t think Juliet was quite ready. Yes Juliet would have benefitted from marrying someone like Paris, he fit just within her family’s lifestyle, he was a relative to the prince and together they would be wealthy and Juliet would be protected for the rest of her life thanks to Lord Capulet and Paris. However with Juliet voicing her opinions very strongly about her feelings upon marrying Paris, it seemed as if Capulet thought Juliet was in the right mind set and trusted that Juliet’s decision was for
Period 5 – Sunshine
February 5th, 2013
Is Lord Capulet a good father?
In this day and age, the key essentials to what make a good father has dramatically changed since the days of Shakespeare. Back then, a good father showered their children with luxury, if they could afford it, kept them young, beautiful and presentable, and most importantly found them a good husband or wife around the age of fourteen or fifteen years old. In contrast to today’s modern world, a good father is one who not only cares, provides and loves but also prepares to make sure their children learn right from wrong in order for them to go out into the world and make their own decisions. You may be quick to judge that Lord Capulet was just as old fashioned as all of Shakespeare’s characters. However what if he could have been a little bit of both? Clearly Lord Capulet loved his daughter very much and even though he didn’t understand her love for Romeo Montague and took matters into his own hands, would that necessarily make him a bad father? Quite the contrary as a matter of fact.
Capulet loves his daughter very much, you can tell through the way he speaks about her to Paris in Act 2 Scene 2. When Juliet tells her father that she does not wish to marry Paris, Lord Capulet becomes very hesistant and follows Juliet’s request for the time being only because he knew putting the pressures of forced commitment on his daughter wouldn’t make her happy and also he probably didn’t think Juliet was quite ready. Yes Juliet would have benefitted from marrying someone like Paris, he fit just within her family’s lifestyle, he was a relative to the prince and together they would be wealthy and Juliet would be protected for the rest of her life thanks to Lord Capulet and Paris. However with Juliet voicing her opinions very strongly about her feelings upon marrying Paris, it seemed as if Capulet thought Juliet was in the right mind set and trusted that Juliet’s decision was for