Imagrate Ryter
Mrs. DiLauro
English 9
12 November 2013
Mommy Dearest: The Failure of Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet
William Makepeace Thackeray once wrote that “Mother is the name for God
in the lips and hearts of little children.” Mothers are generally supposed to be caring,
loving figures in their children’s lives, often defined by their nurturing, protective
instincts. However, Lady Capulet in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is the
perfect of example of mother gone wrong. Over the course of the text, she ruins her
daughter’s life, and she unwittingly kills the girl in the process—along with Juliet’s
husband, Romeo. Set against the backdrop of a socially strict Renaissance culture,
Romeo and Juliet tells the tale of two naïve young lovers from feuding families who
meet, marry and ultimately kill themselves because they cannot be together.
Although many characters contribute to the sad unfolding of events leading up to
the tragic end of this play, it is clear that one person should bear the responsibility
of this ending. Lady Capulet is ultimately to blame for the untimely deaths of the two
star-crossed lovers in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Lady Capulet is an uninvolved mother—disconnected from her teenage
daughter. We see in Act I that Lady Capulet is uncomfortable being alone with her
daughter as she tells Nurse to leave her with her daughter but then calls Nurse back,
“Nurse, come back!” (ACT). This paints a picture of a woman who cannot stand the
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idea of making an emotional connection to her daughter or even hearing the girl’s
honest thoughts. This causes the death of her daughter because Juliet clearly needs
her mother but is unable to have her. Further evidence of Lady Capulet’s inability to
understand Juliet happens later in the play when Lord Capulet shouts at his
daughter to starve in the streets. When Juliet asks for help, Lady Capulet tells Juliet
to “speak not” to her (3.2.56-70). This is clear evidence that Lady Capulet has
forsaken her daughter and does not care if Juliet lives of dies, thus making Juliet
desperate. Hence, Juliet is driven to extremes. Still, the disconnected nature of Lady
Capulet is not the only reason for her overall failure.
Lady Capulet’s obsession with social standing and her own wealth clearly
lines up with Juliet’s desperate actions at the end of the play. When Lady Capulet
introduces the marriage of Paris to her daughter, Juliet is clear when she states that
she will “look to like, if looking liking move” (1.2.76-92). This conversation
showcases the idea that Lady Capulet is blind to her daughter’s desire to be in love
with her future husband, which is the reason Juliet dies. Lady Capulet only sees the
opportunity for social status and hanging onto Paris’ wealth and status, so Juliet and
Romeo pay the price. Additionally, Lady Capulet’s clueless exuberance on the night
that Juliet takes the potion further enforces the idea that she only cares about the
marriage to Paris and the obvious gains he can provide (4.5.46-98). Juliet is anxious
and unhappy, but Lady Capulet is overjoyed and has forgotten the fight of the day
before which tells the audience that social status is the only motivator for this
selfish woman.
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Overall, it seems clear that Lady Capulet had many opportunities to change
the course of the events leading up to her daughter’s marriage and death. A truly
selfish and completely disconnected woman, Lady Capulet embodies or represents
all of the things a mother should not be—weak, uninvolved and superficial. Of all of
the characters in this play, Lady Capulet is the one that readers should expect the
most from, but, instead, she lets the audience down in her failure as a parent. Her
choices directly cause the suicide of both Juliet and Juliet’s young husband, Romeo,
in a play that is tragic not because of its ending, but because of the failure of
goodness in Lady Capulet and her monstrous mothering.