‘What do we learn from Juliet’s relationship with her father?’ 17.03.13
William Shakespeare’s, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ provides an insight of the experience of women in an Elizabethan society. The play was written in the late 1600’s, and is about two feuding families whose children fall in love. Their love leads to marriage, however, Juliet’s decision to marry Romeo was against her father’s will, this made life even harder for her, as in the 1600’s a women did not have the privilege to choose her husband. This decision was made by her father only. Moreover, she was not allowed to refuse to get married as this meant being disowned by her family. This shows us the unjustness that occurred in the Elizabethan period. Therefore, this …show more content…

They had to abide by lord Capulet rules and could not make any decisions by themselves. This is, again, an example of a women’s life in the Elizabethan era. When lord Capulet enters, he tells Juliet to calm down and stop crying so much, he also believed her tears were towards Tybalt. However, he thinks that by telling her about her upcoming wedding, she would be happy and forget her sorrow, but he is mistaken; ‘Doth she not give us thanks? Is she not proud? Doth she not count her blessed, Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought so worthy a gentleman to be her bride?’ this shows us how lord Capulet is disappointed at Juliet’s ingratitude. The phrase ‘is she not proud’ is implying the fact that a women had to depend on her husband’s wealth to stay alive. This is why lord Capulet went through a lot of hardship and ‘wrought’ her a ‘worthy gentlemen’. This shows us that lord Capulet cares for his daughter even though his daughter is disobedient. He is surprised and fuming when he hears that she does not wish to marry him. He does not stop to ask for a reason but instead he lets out a flow of insulting, intimidating and unpleasant words. This can be proven by the line 161-164, ‘Hang the, young baggage! Disobedient wretch! I tell the what- get thee to church on Thursday Or never look me on the face. Speak not, reply not, do not answer me!’ lord Capulet’s fury could have been