Romeo and Juliet Family Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the 2008 Norton edition of the play.

Quote #10

CAPULET
How now, my headstrong, where have you been
   gadding?

JULIET
Where I have learned me to repent the sin
Of disobedient opposition
To you and your behests, and am enjoined
By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here              Kneeling.
And beg your pardon. Pardon, I beseech you.
Henceforward I am ever ruled by you.
(4.2.16-23)

Juliet tells her father what he wants to hear: that she will be obedient and do what he wants her to do. She even lies that she's been off at Friar Laurence's cell, confessing her sins (being a disobedient daughter). The thing is, Juliet now has a new master: her husband. She's obeying her husband by disobeying her father, which is exactly what she should be doing.

Quote #11

ROMEO
I do protest I never injured thee
But love thee better than thou canst devise
Till thou shalt know the reason of my love.
And so, good Capulet, which name I tender
As dearly as my own, be satisfied.
(3.1.69-73)

When Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel, Romeo refuses to fight because he's secretly married to Tybalt's cousin, Juliet. Here, it seems that Romeo's love for his new wife is the most important thing to him—right up until Tybalt kills Romeo's best friend. Then, the ties of birth family seems to be stronger.

Quote #12

JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy
   name
When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;
Your tributary drops belong to woe,
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain,
And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my
   husband
All this is comfort.
(3.2.106-118)

After (briefly) rejecting Romeo for killing her cousin, Juliet is caught between her loyalty to her family and her loyalty to her new husband. She eventually chooses Romeo and confesses that she's relieved her husband wasn't killed in the duel. (Well, duh. She can't have her wedding night with Tybalt, after all.)