Juliet's Relationship with Her Parents

Relationships between teenagers and their parents are rarely boring. Since teenagers begin to think and act independently, conflict arises between them more frequently. This is not just a modern occurrence; in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet and her parents have very different points of view. In the play, she marries a man who is a member of a rival family without discussing it with her parents, which eventually leads to her demise because of the conflict that arises. She does not have much interaction with her parents throughout the play, but the miniscule amount shows the differing of opinions immensely. Juliet’s limited interactions with her parents in the play show that she has a rebellious relationship with her parents displayed by her time spent with Romeo.
Juliet’s relationship with her mother, Lady Capulet, is different from a normal mother-daughter relationship. In the time where this play takes place, women did not have as much power to make family-related decisions. Her part was not very prevalent throughout the play, and she served as an opposing force to Juliet and Romeo’s desires. She was scarcely around her child throughout her lifetime. During this time period, it was normal for a nurse to bring up a newborn baby, so Juliet did not have a close relationship with her mother primarily because they were seldom together. When her mother tries to hold a conversation with her in private, she has no idea what to say because she never has spent time alone with her daughter. “This is the matter. Nurse, give leave awhile, We must talk in secret. Nurse, come back again” (1.3. 390). So, normally a teenage girl would talk with her mother about problems she was having with her inter-personal relat...

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...m, she did it secretly, with only her Nurse and the Friar who married her to Romeo knowing about it. This was very rebellious because it was a custom for the father of the bride of a wealthy family to hold an extravagant ceremony, especially since Juliet was his only daughter.
So, Juliet’s relationships with her parents were very rebellious in nature so she could fulfill her feelings toward the man that she loved. These actions of hers were not well thought out, because they ended up being her demise. If she had listened to the wise advice and help her parents provided her with, she would have still ended up in a good situation for the rest of her life. But she was a teenager, and she let her naïve nature get the best of her, and that led her and her family to much misfortune when it could have easily been avoided with a healthy relationship and more communication.