Romeo and Juliet Youth Quotes Page 1

Although Lord Montague and Lord Capulet are too old to fight, they want to join the young men in the big brawl on the streets of Verona. Good thing Lady Capulet and Lady Montague hold their husband's back – these guys are way too old to be mixing it up like a couple of heady teenagers.

Now this is more like it. After being chided by the Prince of Verona, Lord Capulet comes to his senses and acknowledges that he's too old to be caught up in the long-standing family feud. From here on out, Capulet is pretty peaceful. He even stops Tybalt from beating up Romeo at the Capulet ball (1.5.6).

When Paris asks for thirteen-year-old Juliet's hand in marriage, Capulet responds (pretty sensibly) that she's far too young to be a "bride." (He also talks about Juliet as though she's a piece of fruit that isn't yet "ripe," which is not so sensible.) The conversation gets even creepier when Paris points out that there are twelve-year-olds who are already mothers. Capulet's reply seems to carry on the Juliet=a piece of unripe fruit metaphor because he implies that Juliet would be "marr'd" (bruised, tainted, ruined, etc.) if she were to have sex with Paris and give birth to children at such a young age. Yikes!