I would
definitely argue that Capulet does indeed love his daughter .
However, he also has his character flaws. He is
prideful, arrogant, and very hot
tempered. Not only do these character flaws show up earlier in the play, more
importantly, they show up in Act 3, Scene 5 when Juliet refuses to marry . Hence, Capulet's
ungoverned display of character flaws in this scene makes it seem like he doesn't truly love
her. We must also remember that in this time period, parents expected absolute obedience of
their children. An offspring showing his/her own opinion simply wasn't tolerated, and his
reaction to Juliet's insistence on following her own mind also makes it seem like he does not
truly love Juliet.
The first evidence we see
showing that Capulet truly loves Juliet is with respect to his first answer to
Paris's plea for her hand in marriage. In the very second scene of the play,
through Capulet's response to Paris's request, we learn just how important Juliet is to Capulet.
We learn that as his only child left, Juliet has become very important to him, and he is not
just yet willing to let her grow up. We also learn that he values his daughter's
opinion, and will only consent to Paris's request if she agrees as well, which is
positive proof that he does indeed love is his daughter, as we see in his lines:
My will to her consent is but a part.
An she agree, within
her scope of choice
Lies my consent and fair according voice. (I.ii.17-19)
However, while he does love her, he also has
character flaws that make it seem like he does not. We see his flaw
of having a fiery temper in the very first scene when he is
presented as the first one to join in on the servants' fight. He even blames Montague for the
fight, even though Montague joins the fight after Capulet. Placing blame on Montague also shows
us his character flaw of excessive pride and arrogance. Hence, it's
no surprise that these three character flaws emerge when Juliet refuses to marry Paris,
especially considering he made the decision to have her marry him because he saw it as a healthy
distraction from what he perceives to be her severe grief over . The fact that he considers her
excessive grief to be a danger to her and wants to help her out of her grief again shows us just
how much he loves her, despite the fact that his character flaws also drive him to threaten to
disown her.
No comments:
Post a Comment