In Act 1 Scene 2, the audience has an impression that Lord Capulet is a considerate and caring father. Through the use of the agrarian metaphor 'too soon marred are those so early made', Shakespeare might be showing how Lord Capulet feels that he is marring Juliet's virginity and forcing her into motherhood. Also, he feels she is 'too ripe to be a bride' and 'has not yet seen the change of fourteen years'. In the Elizabethan era, girls were wedded as young as twelve, so Lord Capulet calling Juliet too young would surprise a Shakespearean audience. As if he was voicing the audience's astonishment, Paris says 'younger than she are happy mothers made'. Moreover, Lord Capulet's excuses to delay Juliet's marriage shows him as reluctant to marry her off due to the fact Juliet is 'the hopeful lady of his Earth' and his only child. …show more content…
Unconventionally, Lord Capulet continues to say that if Paris wills to marry Juliet, '[his] will lies in [her] consent'. Through the use of the rhyming couplets: 'within her scope of choice, lies my consent and fair according voice', Shakespeare links both Juliet and Lord Capulet's consent. Also, in a patriarchal society, this shows Juliet can only express her opinions through her father's 'fair and according voice' because as a woman she is powerless. Nevertheless, despite the patriarchal society, Lord Capulet breaks from the Elizabethan tradition of arranged marriage and gives Juliet a choice for her suitor, not alluding to the misogynistic views in the era that women were too weak to make