Quote 2

• "Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets" (Act 3)
• Asyndetic Listing:

  • Shakespeare employs asyndetic listing in the verbs "hand, beg, starve, die", creating a breathless, rapid-fire rhythm which mirrors Lord Capulet's belligerent state of mind. This technique illuminates the violent collapse of equilibrium within the Capulet household.
  • Once a benevolent father who called Juliet the "hopeful lady of my earth", he now rejects her utterly because of her transgressions, presenting paternal love as conditional, weaponised in service of social compliance.
  • Lord Capulet regresses from a figure of jovial generosity to one of callous and belligerent rejection during his verbal attack on Juliet.
• Imperative Verbs:

  • Shakespeare's use of imperative verbs situates Lord Capulet as a figure of absolute authority. These directives strip Juliet of her autonomy and casts Capulet as a belligerent father who's identity is inextricably linked to patriarchal control.
  • His refusal to empathise renders him a crucial contributor to Juliet's tragic fate as she becomes increasingly disillusioned by her parental authorities.
• Key Context it links to:

  • Great Chain of Being: Lord Capulet's language reflects this structure, where any transgression his daughter threatens this delicate social equilibrium. His brutal reaction to Juliet's defiance is emblematic of the expectations placed on women within a patriarchal order and his language demonstrates how male power is reinforced by divine and social ideologies.
  • Italy: Capulwts unrelenting fury in this scene conforms to the stereotype of the volatile and belligerent Italian patriarch. By portraying this behaviour, Shakespeare critiques not only foreign cultures but also draws uncomfortable parallels with English expectations of masculinity and paternal authority as capulet's speech is shaped by a culture that glorifies control and condemns emotional vulnerability.
• WOW Knowledge:

  Judith Butler's performativity of gender:

  • Resistance to patriarchal expectations can be interpreted through Judith Butler's theory of gender as performative as women's defiance of the roles prescribed to them exposes how gender identity is not innate but socially constructed.