Essay: Explore the Relationships between Romeo and Juliet and Their Parents

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Muhammad Abbasi
Ms. Khouri
ENG1D1- 19
April 29, 2019
The Relation between Romeo and Juliet and their Parents
Children are afraid to tell parents their secrets. In the play, Romeo and Juliet both the
protagonist, Romeo, and Juliet are afraid to tell parents their secrets. The parents were not
understanding their kid’s emotions, because Romeo and Juliet kept secrets from their parents,
Romeo and Juliet found other parental figures, and Romeo and Juliet’s parents were not
comfortable talking to their child’s face to face.
A fourteen-year-old only daughter in the Capulet household named Juliet. Juliet has a
very close relationship with her nurse. Juliet’s nurse has taken more care of her than her own
mother since Juliet’s childhood. The relationship between Juliet and her mother is very faint and
formal. This is very obvious when Juliet says “Madame, I am here, what is your will?”
(Shakespeare 1.3.7) In this quote, Juliet feels a bit uncomfortable and scared to talk to Lady
Capulet. It almost sounds like Juliet is the nurse’s daughter and calls the lady of the house by
Madame. Juliet and Lady Capulet cannot keep the conversation going without the nurse’s
presence. Lady Capulet gets scared and uncomfortable when she is talking face to face with
Juliet without the nurse’s presence. When Lady Capulet tells the nurse to go out of the room,
right after that she tells the nurse “Nurse come back again … Thou knows my daughter’s of a
pretty age.” (Shakespeare 1.3.9-12) The is evident that Lady Capulet is scared to talk to Juliet in
private and needs the nurse to be there to talk to Juliet. Lady Capulet demonstrates an absence ofAbbasi 2
information and a weak, and terrifying relationship with Juliet while discussing love. This shows,
being away from her daughter and not building a bond that a mother and daughter have has
weakened their relationship. That’s why Juliet looks at the nurse as a motherly figure. The nurse
seems to understand Juliet’s emotions and gained Juliet’s full trust. This clarifies why she only
told the nurse about her secret marriage with Romeo. In the play, Capulet contradicts himself by
ordering Juliet to marry Paris, whilst in Act 1 he tells Paris to wait, Capulet said “My child is yet
a stranger in the world” (Shakespeare 1.2.8). Changing the decision could be because of Tybalt’s
sudden death. In Act 4. Scene 5, Capulet seems quick towards his child’s death. Capulet talks
like he is not affected by his child’s death. He uses descriptions of her blood being settled and
relating her death tonight. While everyone in the Capulet household is still shocked by Juliet’s
death, Capulet seems more disappointed that Juliet missed her marriage. Lady Capulet acts as a
normal mother would. She is truly sad and shows for her daughter’s death by repeating “Alack
the day, she’s dead, she’s dead, she’s dead! (Shakespeare 4.5.24) As if she cannot take the reality
in of Juliet’s death. Her hurried and simplistic language portrays a troubled and caring mother,
which completely changes the way she was acting in front of Juliet. This shows the audience that
she was scared to talk to her and show her love. Fearing she will get rejected by Juliet. Lady
Capulet had the opposite emotions of what Lord Capulet’s had for the death of his daughter,
Juliet.
Romeo and Juliet have very similar relationships with their parents. Just like Juliet has
her nurse, Romeo has Friar Lawrence. Whom Romeo refers to as a father. This is evident when
Romeo say’s “Good morrow, father.” (Shakespeare 2.3.31) This is because Friar Lawrence
knows more about Romeo and takes way better care of him, than Montague, Romeo’s actual
father. Romeo’s parents do not interfere with their son’s life and like to stay away. At the start ofAbbasi 3
the play, Romeo was having depression and love problems. His parents could not find the reason
and could not comfort him and talk to him about what happened. Romeo’s parents are scared of
getting rejected by Romeo and scared to have a parent relationship with their son. This is shown
when Montague says, “I neither know it, nor can learn him.” (Shakespeare 1.1.138) In this quote,
Montague clearly states he does not know the cause of Romeo’s sadness and he cannot learn
from it. These actions again show the lack of communication between the parents and their
children. Montague and Lady Montague play a very short role in the play, they do not have as
many scenes as Juliet’s parents, Capulet and Lady Capulet. Montague and Lady Montague worry
and pray for Romeo. These actions make the audience think that Romeo and his parents are
separated usually and do not spend a lot of time together. They’ve seen Romeo in tears locked up
in his room. That indicates to him being in love or depressed. It seems his parents do not talk
about love with Romeo, because they are uncomfortable talking to him about that topic. His
parents try to stay away from his life and kept him in the hands of Benvolio and Mercutio.
Benvolio and Mercutio are Romeo’s cousins and try to find why Romeo is in tears and usually
alone. Here the cousins realize the parents are not going to find the reason, so they have to find
the reason and comfort Romeo about it. The actions Montague and lady Montague made, made
Romeo find other parental figures, Romeo found Friar Lawrence. Romeo takes Friar Lawrence
advice and confesses his unjust sins. Romeo respects Friar Lawrence a lot, Romeo would respect
Montague as much too, but Montague does not interfere with Romeo’s life. When Romeo killed
Tybalt, Friar Lawrence still wanted to stay in contact with Romeo, even after Romeo was
banished. That shows Friar Lawrence was looking out for Romeo and still wants to help him.Abbasi 4
In brief, the faded relationships between Romeo and Juliet and their parents made the two
lovers to find other parental figures. Friar Lawrence and the nurse both took care of Romeo and
Juliet and gave them advice on what to do. When Romeo and Juliet talked face to face with their
parents, they couldn’t keep the conversation going. The faded relationship caused the unexpected
death of the two lovers. The deaths of Romeo and Juliet was a lesson for both parents that life is
too short and precious to live in constant fear towards their rival and especially scared to talk and
understand their children.Abbasi 5
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008. Print.
Paperap. “The Relationship That Romeo and Juliet Have with Their Parents throughout the Play
Research Paper Example.” PaperAp.com, Paperap, 8 Sept. 2017, paperap.com/paper-onrelationship-romeo-juliet-parents-throughout-play/.