| “ | Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word, Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee. | „ |
| ~ Lady Capulet selfishly abandoning her daughter after she refuses to marry Paris. |
Lady Gloria Capulet, better known as Lady Capulet is a major antagonist in Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet and its various adaptations. She is Juliet's neglectful mother and the matriarch of the House Capulet.Although at the start of the play she appears to be purely absent, her abusive ways are revealed later on in her complicitness in her husband Lord Capulet's scheme to force Juliet to marry Paris.
Portrayals[]
Lady Capulet has been portrayed by several notable actors, including:
- The late Violet Kemble-Cooper in the 1936 film adaptation
- The late Natasha Parry in Franco Zefferelli's 1968 film adaptation
- Diane Venora - who also played Marilyn Nesbit in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - in Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film adaptation, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet.
- Natascha McElhone in the 2013 film adaptation.
History[]
Lady Capulet is the matriarch of the Capulet family - one of the two most powerful families in Verona, rivaling the Montague family. Although she is Lord Capulet's housewife, she appears to have a lot of influence for a woman at the time in Verona. She is also the employer of the Nurse.
Lady Capulet is first seen in the play after the fight breaks out between Benvolio and Tybalt on the streets, restraining her husband from attempting to interfere in the fight.
She next appears after calling her daughter to discuss Juliet's marriage to the wealthy noble Paris - despite the fact that Juliet is only thirteen. However, although Juliet is moderately receptive, she is only interested on the prospect of pleasing her mother, rather than genuinely being interested in the marriage.
She then disapears from the play until Tybalt's death at Romeo's hand, at which she grieves Tybalt and demmands the Prince puts Romeo to death. However, although the Prince refuses to do so, she manages to convince him to persue charges, resulting in Romeo's banishment from Verona.
After Romeo's visit to Juliet before he leaves the city, Lady Capulet enters her daughters room, promising revenge for Tybalt's death and revealing she intends to send an assassin to Mantua to kill Romeo. She then informs her daughter that she is to marry Paris the following Thursday, much to Juliet's horror. Upon her daughter's rebuttal, she calls her husband, who bursts into a rage and declares that she will marry Paris whether or not she consents. When Juliet attempts to seek help from her mother, Lady Capulet coldly dismisses her, abandoning her to her forced marriage to Paris.
When Juliet appears to repent and agree to the marriage, Lady Capulet and her husband leave to prepare for the wedding. However, at the eve of the following morning, the Nurse enters Juliet's room and finds her "dead" (really in a coma due to the effects of the poison given to her by Friar Lawrence). She grieves her daughter's death, however it is almost a self-serving grief, as she becomes extremely dramatic in an almost attention seeking manner, and refers to Juliet possessively as if she has lost a possession rather than a daughter. Thus, it can be presumed she mourns Juliet due to her loss of her last chance to regain her status (as she can no longer gain favour with the Prince without the marriage to his kinsman Paris).
Lady Capulet is not seen again in the play.
Personality[]
Lady Capulet appeared to be a moderately kindly, if a little neglectful, parent at the start of the play. However, as the story goes on, she is revealed to be a wrathful selfish individual with little care for her daughter or her needs. Her relationship with her husband appears to be fairly cold and transactional, although there is no open tension between them. She treats the Nurse with mild contempt, but often allows her liberties as she understands that the Nurse knows Juliet a lot better than she does. The only person she appears to be truly attached to is Tybalt, whose dead body she cries over and over whose death she convinces the Prince to banish Romeo. In the 1996 adaptation, there is some suggestion that the two are having an affair.
In the 1996 adaptation, Lady Capulet - who is referred to by a first name, Gloria, due to the adaptation’s modern-day setting - is less antagonistic. While she is mostly faithful to her play’s counterpart, she tries to calm Lord Capulet (named Fulgencio Capulet in this adaptation) down as he assaults Juliet for her disobedience, and rejects Juliet out of being torn between loyalty to her husband and her care for Juliet’s feelings; both of these actions suggest that despite having some neglectful traits, she does have some sense of care for her daughter. In the 2013 adaptation, Lady Capulet does not verbally reject Juliet after her refusal, instead merely just following Lord Capulet straight after he storms out of Juliet’s bedroom.