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Question: Read from Act I Scene 4 ‘’Tis he that villain Romeo ...’ (line 182) to ‘This trick may chance to scathe you’ (line 204). At this point in the play, Tybalt and Capulet discuss Romeo’s appearance at the ball.
Starting with this conversation, explore how Shakespeare presents Capulet’s attitude to young people in the play.
Write about:
- how Shakespeare presents Capulet’s attitude to young people in this conversation
- how Shakespeare presents Capulet’s attitude to young people in the play as a whole.
Tybalt is angry at the party because Romeo is there even though he was not invited by their family. This scene shows how Tybalt wants to fight with Romeo and we can see this as he is talking to Capulet in an angry way and it shows how upset he is when he calls Romeo names and says 'Tis he, that villain Romeo'. When he says this I think that he could be saying that Romeo is a bad person.
In the scene I do not think that old Capulet wants to make a fuss about Romeo being at his party because if Tybalt started fighting Romeo then it would upset the whole evening. Capulet actually says good things about Romeo. ‘To be a virtuous and well-governed youth.’ Capulet does want any trouble as he thinks Romeo is a good man.
Capulet thinks more about his guests than about wanting to fight. He tells Tybalt that he should not do anything about Romeo being at the party. He says ‘go to’ which I think means that he wants Tybalt to go away and finish being upset about Romeo. Capulet seems quite bossy to Tybalt about what to do.
Near the start of this play Paris wants to marry Juliet and her dad listens to him but he reckons that he needs to think over if Juliet is old enough to marry. Then, later in the play he changes his mind and gets mad with Juliet and starts yelling and he calls her 'Hang thee baggage, disobedient wretch'. This means that he thinks Juliet should be doing what he has told her to do and marrying Paris. I think he is wrong to speak like this because it should be up to her. But at this time I think that fathers could be a bit stricter to their children about who they can marry, so maybe it is OK to be cross with her.
Capulet does not know that Juliet has married Romeo and so he just wants her to marry Paris. Juliet is really upset and so she gets a potion and pretends to be dead. It is Capulet’s fault that Romeo thinks she is really dead and takes poison and then she wakes up and kills herself too. I do not think Capulet was at all fair to her and this is why she dies.