Lord Capulet: the good father who changes his mind

In Act 1, Lord Capulet says his daughter is too young to marry, and that her agreement matters. By Act 3 he is telling her to starve in the street, and nothing Juliet has done explains a change that size.

Lord Capulet is one of the people given a video of their own here, and the plot is laid out in the Overview.

Shakespeare builds the case against Capulet out of his own opening lines, so start with what he tells Paris on Sunday. Paris asks to marry Juliet, and Capulet says not yet: My child is yet a stranger in the world, She hath not seen the change of fourteen years. He even makes the case against early marriage himself: And too soon marred are those so early made. Marred means spoiled. Then he tells Paris to win her over: But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart, My will to her consent is but a part. His wish is only part of the decision, and her yes is the rest of it. Get this line right. One examiner's report notes that Lord Capulet is correctly shown to have initially wanted Juliet's consent to a marriage. But, the report goes on, the quotation provided by the candidate is incorrect and contradicts the point as follows: her scope of choice lies no further than my consent. That wrong version says the opposite of Capulet's real line. The fix is to learn his actual words, so the quotation proves your point instead of breaking it. That night, at his feast, Tybalt spots Romeo and wants to fight, and Capulet stops him: Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone. Tybalt keeps arguing. Capulet's reason for stopping him could be peace with the Montagues, fear of the Prince, or something about himself. Which reason does Capulet give when Tybalt will not back down? His own authority: Am I the master here, or you? go to! He stops the fight to stay in charge of his own house. Keep hold of that reason, because the same one comes back in Act 3, aimed at someone else.

Tuesday morning, Act 3 Scene 5: Capulet comes to tell Juliet she will marry Paris on Thursday, and she refuses. Here is how Shakespeare writes his answer, a piece at a time. Out, you green-sickness carrion! Out, you baggage! You tallow-face! Carrion is rotting flesh, and tallow is the pale fat that candles are made from. Two of the three insults are about her body, and baggage calls her a good-for-nothing. It is the language of a man who thinks he owns her. God's bread, it makes me mad! Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play, Alone, in company, still my care hath been To have her matched. He casts himself as the injured party. The list of times is a list of all the things he has done for her. a wretched puling fool, A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender Puling means whimpering, and a mammet is a puppet. She stops being his child in the grammar, and becomes a toy with a fortune attached. And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, For by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee. And you be not means if you will not. The threat is poverty, four verbs of dying poor, from the man who once said she was too young to marry. Something happens between the Capulet of Sunday and the Capulet of Tuesday. Three possibilities: Juliet is caught with Romeo, Tybalt is killed, or Paris threatens to leave. Which of those three events comes between Capulet's two positions? The second. His kinsman dies in the street on Monday, and that same night the wedding is fixed.

Tybalt's death is what changed him. He has just seen his own kinsman killed and his authority broken in public, and Juliet is the one part of his house he can still command. The rage is about his authority, not about her.

It is the reason he gave Tybalt at the feast, master of his own house, now turned on his daughter. In Shakespeare's time a father had the law on his side in choosing a husband, which is why he can threaten what he does. The video on parents and children takes that further. So call him neither a monster nor a fool. Write that a proud man, shamed in public, reaches for the one person he can still control.

Four of his lines to bring back, two from each end of the play, and then one to work out. On Sunday: she hath not seen the change of how many years? Fourteen. She hath not seen the change of fourteen years. Next: my will to her consent is but a what? A part. My will to her consent is but a part. Now Tuesday: hang, beg, starve, and what? Die in the streets. Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets. Here's another: which word does he use for her that means a puppet? Mammet. A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender. Try this: had Tybalt lived, would Capulet still rush the wedding? Use his Sunday lines. Probably not. On Sunday he wanted Paris to wait and win her heart, and the hurry only arrives with Tybalt's death.

If you can quote Capulet at both ends of the play and say what changed him, you've got this down, so leave a thumbs up on it. If it has not clicked, save the video and carry on, because the rest of this chapter keeps coming back to him, and it comes round again.

Next in the chapter: The Nurse and Friar Lawrence: the two adults who help.

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