Does Shakespeare present Juliets parents as villains or complex humans with over reactive parental feelings?

Answer 1

With few exceptions, all Shakespeare's characters are human beings, and as complex as their time on stage allows.

Let's look at Juliet's parents. We see Capulet in conversation first with Paris, where Paris is proposing to marry Juliet. Paris is a nobleman, the "County Paris", whereas Capulet is not Lord Capulet (despite what you may have heard to the contrary)--he is always referred to as "Capulet". Although having Paris as a son-in-law would be a great feather in his cap, he is initially cautious, suggesting that Paris should wait a couple of years until Juliet is sixteen. His first reaction is solicitousness. But he is won over and proposes to introduce them at the party. He says, "Woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart; my will to her consent is but a part." We see that he is a tolerant man in his treatment of Romeo's party-crashing. He rebukes Tybalt for wanting to cause a fight at the party, and praises Romeo's virtues. This is not a man obsessed with the feud.

Later, after the banishment, Juliet is up in her room crying inconsolably. Capulet explains that "she loved her kinsman Tybalt dearly" and adds as an afterthought, "and so did I". This is by way of a sop to Mrs. Capulet, since Tybalt was her brother's son, and she really did love him dearly, much more than anyone else in the play. But Capulet wants to keep peace between husband and wife, at least at this point. Paris says something to the effect of "Oh, well, another time maybe" and Capulet suddenly decides to make a "desperate tender" of Juliet's love. Why? In part, because he is afraid that Paris will start looking at other girls. And then he will lose this aristocratic match for his daughter (which will of course also make him seem more important--nobody is totally unselfish). Also, it appears that both he and Mrs. C think that the idea of a wedding will cheer Juliet up and make her forget about Tybalt's death. It's a well-meant thought, but based on a misapprehension.

It's a shock, then, when Juliet says she does not want to marry Paris. Juliet has a perfectly good reason for this, but she does not give it. Instead she tippy-toes around with "chop-logic" as her father calls it. It makes him angry, first because he was trying to cheer her up, and it just made her more miserable. Such things are always annoying. Second, he would like her to marry Paris because of the social cachet involved, and here she is refusing. And finally, and biggest of all, he has given Paris his personal assurance that Juliet will agree to marry him. It may have been a stupid thing to give, but he gave it, and it would ruin his reputation to have to break his word. These three factors blow him into a storm of rage which is uncharacteristic and not like him. He threatens Juliet with all kinds of things which he would not carry out after the storm has passed. He threatens to let her "hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, for by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee." Uh-huh. This is the "hopeful lady of [his] earth" he is talking about, his only child and heir.

Now this is only Capulet I have talked about. Mrs. Capulet has her own issues--her early marriage, the death of her other children, her inordinate love for her brother's son, the extent to which she has relied on the Nurse to bring up her child, which she now regrets, her own hopes and wishes for Juliet. She is shown to be a more wicked character than her husband, since she indulges in lying and conspiring to murder, but there is a sad history behind her.

Not exactly cardboard villians, are they?