Flying Bee at 06:44, 7 August 2021

2021-08-07T06:44:15Z

New page

{{Short description|character in Romeo and Juliet}}
{{Other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox character
| name = Juliet Capulet
| series = [[Romeo and Juliet]]
| image = DickseeRomeoandJuliet.jpg
| caption = The balcony scene in ''Romeo and Juliet'' as depicted by [[Frank Dicksee]] (1884)
| creator = [[William Shakespeare]]
| based_on = Juliet from ''[[The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet]]'' (1562)
| portrayer =
| first_major = [[Romeo and Juliet]]
| first_date = {{circa|1591–95}}
| alias =
| spouse = [[Romeo|Romeo Montague]]
| affiliation =
| family = {{ubl
| [[Capulet|Lord Capulet]] (father)
| [[Lady Capulet]] (mother)
| [[Tybalt|Tybalt Capulet]] (cousin)
| [[Rosaline|Rosaline Capulet]] (cousin)
}}
| nationality = [[Italians|Italian]]
}}
'''Juliet Capulet''' ({{Lang-it|Giulietta Capuleti}}) is the female [[protagonist]] in [[William Shakespeare]]'s romantic [[tragedy]] ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''. A 13-year-old girl, Juliet is the only daughter of the patriarch of the [[House of Capulet]]. She falls in love with the male protagonist [[Romeo Montague|Romeo]], a member of the [[House of Montague]], with which the Capulets have a [[blood feud]]. The [[The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet|story]] has a long history that precedes Shakespeare himself.

[[File:Juliet - Philip H. Calderon.jpg|thumb|''Juliet'' by [[Philip H. Calderon]] (1888)]]

== Juliet's age ==
One aspect of the story which now seems problematic is Juliet's age. As the story occurs, Juliet is approaching her fourteenth birthday. She was born on "[[Lammas]] Eve at night" (1 August), so Juliet's birthday is 31 July (1.3.19). Her birthday is "a fortnight hence", putting the action of the play in mid-July (1.3.17). Her father states that she "hath not seen the change of fourteen years" (1.2.9). In many cultures and time periods, women did and do marry and bear children at an early age. Lady Capulet had given birth to her first child by the time she had reached Juliet's age: "By my count, I was your mother much upon these years that you are now a maid." (1.3.74–75).

Even Capulet tries to encourage Paris to wait a little longer before even thinking of marrying his daughter, feeling that she is still too young; "She hath not seen the change of fourteen years, Let two more summers wither in their pride, Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride". However, in the English poem the story is based on (''Romeus and Juliet'' by [[Arthur Brooke (poet)|Arthur Brooke]])<ref name="Romeus and Juliet">[http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/shakespeare/romeus.html The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet], Arthur Brooke.</ref> Juliet is approaching her sixteenth birthday and Romeo is the same age whereas in the [[Bandello]] novella she is nearly eighteen with Romeo about twenty.<ref name="Franson, J. Karl 1996">{{cite journal|first=J. Karl|last=Franson|title="Too Soon Marr'd": Juliet's Age as Symbol in 'Romeo and Juliet.'|journal=Papers on Language & Literature|date=Summer 1996|volume=32|issue=3}}</ref> The common English people of that age were very rarely in their teens when they married and even among the nobility and gentry of the age, brides 13 years of age were rare, at about one in 1,000 brides; in that era, the vast majority of English brides were [[Western European marriage pattern|at least 19 years of age]] when they first married, most commonly at about 23 years, and most English noblewomen were at least 16 when they married. That the parts of young women were played by pre-adolescent boys in Shakespeare's day also cannot be overlooked; it is possible that Shakespeare had the physique of a young boy in mind during composition, in addition to the fact that Romeo and Juliet are of wealthy families and would be more likely to marry earlier than commoners.<ref>{{cite book|first=Peter|last=Laslett|date=1965|title=The World We Have Lost|location=New York City|publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]]|ISBN=978-0415315272|pages=82–86}}</ref> At the time, English noblewomen married on average at 19–21 years (compared to 24–26 years for English noblemen) while the average marriage age in England was 25–26 years for women and 27–28 for men;<ref>{{cite book|first=Bruce W.|last=Young|date=2008|title=Family Life in the Age of Shakespeare|location=Westport, Connecticut|publisher=[[Greenwood Press]]|page=41|ISBN=978-0313342394}}</ref> [[Sir Thomas More]] wrote in his ''[[Utopia (book)|Utopia]]'' that, in Utopia, women must be at least 18 years of age when they marry and men at least 22 years.<ref>[http://elizabethan.org/compendium/9.html Life in Elizabethan England: Weddings and Betrothals]</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Uzgalis|date=1997|title=Utopia, by Sir Thomas More|publisher=P.F. Collier & Son|location=New York City|url=http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-slaves.html |access-date=13 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026010854/http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-slaves.html |archive-date=26 October 2013}}</ref>

The common belief in [[Elizabethan England]] was that motherhood before 16 was dangerous; popular manuals of health, as well as observations of married life, led Elizabethans to believe that early marriage and its consummation permanently damaged a young woman's health, impaired a young man's physical and mental development, and produced sickly or stunted children. Therefore, 18 came to be considered the earliest reasonable age for motherhood and 20 and 30 the ideal ages for women and men, respectively, to marry. Shakespeare might also have reduced Juliet's age from 16 to 13 to demonstrate the dangers of marriage at too young of an age; that Shakespeare himself married [[Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare)|Anne Hathaway]] when he was 18 might hold some significance.<ref name="Franson, J. Karl 1996"/>

== In modern-day Verona ==
=== ''Casa di Giulietta'' ===
[[File:Juliet Statue.JPG|thumb|left|Bronze statue of Juliet in Verona]]
[[File:Love letters to Juliet.jpg|thumb|left|Love letter wall, Verona]]
[[File:Romeo and Juliet love locket wall Verona.jpg|thumb|left|Love locket wall beneath the balcony, Verona]]
[[File:Balcone di Giulietta a Verona.jpg|thumb|Juliet's purported balcony, in Verona. Beneath it, on the walls, there are love letters.]]

[[File:Juliet's wall with names.JPG|thumb|The entrance wall known as Juliet's wall]]

In [[Verona]], an early 14th-century house at Via Cappello no. 23, claiming to be the Capulets' has been turned into a tourist attraction but it is mostly empty. The real second name was in Italian Cappelletti, a noble family, and not Capuleti. Cappelletti were in the past members of the light cavalry of the Republic of Venice. They fought for it since the 13th century and they were originally from Dalmatia and Albania. It features the balcony, and in the small courtyard, a bronze statue of Juliet. It is one of the most visited sites in the town. The metal of its chest is worn bare due to a legend that if a person [[statue rubbing|strokes]] the right breast of the statue, that person will have good fortune and luck in love.<ref name="igougo" />

Many people write their names and the names of loved ones on the walls of the entrance, known as Juliet's wall. After a restoration and cleaning of the building, it was intended that further writing should be on replaceable panels<ref name="Veronissima" /> or white sheets<ref name="PremioTerna" /> placed outside the wall.

It is also a tradition to put small love letters on the walls (which is done by the thousands each year), which are regularly taken down by employees to keep the courtyard clean.<ref name="DesenzanoItaly" />

Another tradition that occurs in Juliet's courtyard is writing one's name and that of a loved one on a lock and attaching it to a large ornamental gate in the back left.

=== ''Club di Giulietta'' ===
Since the 1930s, letters addressed to Juliet have arrived in Verona. As of 2010, more than 5,000 letters were received annually, three-quarters of which were from women. The largest single group of senders was American teenagers.<ref name="Hooper 2010" /> The letters are read and replied to by local volunteers, organised since the 1980s in the ''Club di Giulietta'' (Juliet Club), which is financed by the City of Verona.<ref name="Hooper 2010" /> The club has been the subject of a book by Lise and Ceil Friedman and is the setting for a 2010 American film, ''[[Letters to Juliet]]''.

== Performers ==
[[File:Study for Miss O'Neill as Juliet (Dawe, c. 1816).jpg|thumb|right|[[George Dawe]]'s 1816's ''Study for Miss O'Neill as Juliet'']]
A number of famous actresses and some actors have portrayed the role of Juliet:

* [[Mary Saunderson]] was the first woman to play Juliet professionally. Previous actors had all been males.<ref name="Halio1998" />
* [[Eliza O'Neill]] played Juliet at [[Covent Garden]] in 1814.
* [[File:Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer as Romeo and Juliet.jpg|thumb|Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard as Romeo and Juliet]][[Katharine Cornell]] had a notable [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] success as Juliet opposite [[Basil Rathbone]] as Romeo in 1934, and revived the production with [[Maurice Evans (actor)|Maurice Evans]] as Romeo and [[Ralph Richardson]] as [[Mercutio]] the following year.
* [[Peggy Ashcroft]] was one of the most well-known Juliets in history, most famously in the 1935 London production directed by [[John Gielgud]], in which Gielgud and [[Laurence Olivier]] alternated the roles of Romeo and Mercutio.
* [[Norma Shearer]] in [[George Cukor]]'s ''[[Romeo and Juliet (1936 film)|Romeo and Juliet]]'' (1936). [[Leslie Howard (actor)|Leslie Howard]] was her Romeo.
* [[Judi Dench]] portrayed Juliet in [[Franco Zeffirelli]]'s 1960 [[London]] production at the [[Old Vic]] theatre.
* [[Olivia Hussey]] portrayed Juliet in Zeffirelli's 1968 film, ''[[Romeo and Juliet (1968 film)|Romeo and Juliet]],'', opposite [[Leonard Whiting]] as Romeo.
* [[Niamh Cusack]] portrayed Juliet in 1986 with [[The Royal Shakespeare Company]]. [[Sean Bean]] was her Romeo.
* [[Claire Danes]] was Juliet in [[Baz Luhrmann]]'s modernised 1996 version, ''[[Romeo + Juliet]]'', alongside [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] as Romeo.
* [[Gugu Mbatha-Raw]] portrayed Juliet at the Royal Exchange Theatre's 2005 production.
* James Patrick Davis portrayed Juliet in an all-male 2008 production with [[Shakespeare Theatre Company]], opposite actor [[Finn Wittrock]] as Romeo.
* [[Hailee Steinfeld]] portrayed Juliet in [[Romeo and Juliet (2013 film)|Carlo Carlei's film adaptation]], opposite [[Douglas Booth]] as Romeo.<ref name="Sneider2011" />
* [[Deepika Padukone]] portrayed Juliet in [[Sanjay Leela Bhansali]]'s 2013 [[Hindi language|Hindi]] adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, ''[[Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela]]'' (translated as "A Play of Bullets: Ram-Leela"), opposite [[Ranveer Singh]] as Romeo.
* [[Teresa Palmer]] portrayed Julie Grigio, Juliet's analogue in the 2013 [[zombie movie]] adaptation ''[[Warm Bodies (film)|Warm Bodies]]'', opposite [[Nicholas Hoult]] as R, the film's [[zombie]]fied Romeo analogue
* In the 2019 West End musical ''[[& Juliet]]'', Juliet is played by actress [[Miriam Teak-Lee]].<ref>https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/miriam-teak-lee-and-juliet-west-end-musical_48389.html</ref>

=== Animation ===
* In ''[[Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss]]'', Juliet is portrayed as a white [[Fur seal|seal]] and is voiced by [[Patricia Trippett]], while her brother Daniel was the voice of the brown seal Romeo.
* [[Fumie Mizusawa]] voices Juliet in the [[heroic fantasy]] adaptation ''[[Romeo x Juliet]]'' by the Japanese animation studio [[GONZO]], with [[Takahiro Mizushima]] voicing Romeo; [[Brina Palencia]] and [[Chris Burnett (actor)|Chris Burnett]] portrayed the characters in the English-language [[Dubbing (filmmaking)|dub]].
* [[Kristin Fairlie]] voices Juliet in the children's TV series ''[[Peg + Cat]]''.
* In ''[[Gnomeo & Juliet]]'', Juliet is a [[Lawn gnome]] voiced by [[Emily Blunt]]. She reprises the role for the film's sequel ''[[Sherlock Gnomes]]''.
* ''[[The Sea Prince and the Fire Child]]'' is a loosely-based Japanese animation film adaptation, with [[Mami Koyama]] voicing Malta the Fire Child and [[Tōru Furuya]] as Sirius the Sea Prince; [[Tony Oliver]] and an uncredited voice actress portrayed the characters in the English adaptation.

=== Fictional performers ===
* The Academy Award-winning film ''[[Shakespeare in Love]]'' depicts history's first Juliet as being illegally played by a noblewoman named Viola de Lesseps ([[Gwyneth Paltrow]]), who is romantically involved with William Shakespeare ([[Joseph Fiennes]]).
* In her music video ''[[Love Story (Taylor Swift song)|Love Story]]'', American singer-songwriter [[Taylor Swift]] played the part of Juliet. The plot was transformed to a happy ending, instead of tragic.
* In the credits of ''[[Toy Story 3]]'', one of the [[List of Toy Story characters#Aliens / Little Green Men|Squeeze Toy Aliens/LGMs]] play the role of Juliet while wearing a dress, a wig and a princess hat.
* In the climax of "Casting Call" from ''[[The Mysteries of Alfred Hedgehog]]'', after Camille Wallaby solves the episode's mystery with help from fellow protagonists Alfred and Milo, she is chosen to portray Juliet in a production of the play.
* In ''[[The Sims 2]]'' Juliet reappears as ''Juliette Capp''.
* In the episode "Chem Gems" from ''[[Danger Rangers]]'', during the song called "Don't Touch That", the pink cat Kitty portrays Juliet.
* In the sitcom ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'', actress [[Bridgit Mendler]] portrays Juliet (as a [[vampire]]) and the Romeo of the show was [[Justin Russo]], portrayed by actor [[David Henrie]]. In this episode, their families' feud is a result of rival [[submarine sandwich]] shops).

== See also ==
* ''[[& Juliet]]'', 2019 musical

== Notes ==
{{Reflist
| refs =

<ref name="igougo">
[http://www.igougo.com/travelcontent/JournalEntryActivity.aspx?entryID=16818 La casa di Giulietta, Verona – IgoUgo]</ref>

<ref name="Veronissima">
{{cite web| author = Veronissima| title = Veronissima – Juliet's Wall Graffiti| publisher = Veronissima.com| url = http://www.veronissima.com/sito_inglese/html/shakespeare-verona-juliet-graffiti.html| access-date = 4 November 2011}}</ref>

<ref name="PremioTerna">
{{cite web|publisher = PremioTerna.it|title = Terna02 – Juliet's graffiti at the D'Orsay Museum in Paris|date = 4 September 2009|url = http://www.premioterna.it/en/new/juliet%E2%80%99s--graffiti-at-the--d-orsay-museum-in-paris|access-date = 4 November 2011|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://archive.is/20120907215338/http://www.premioterna.it/en/new/juliet%E2%80%99s--graffiti-at-the--d-orsay-museum-in-paris|archive-date = 7 September 2012|df = dmy-all}}</ref>

<ref name="DesenzanoItaly">
{{cite web| publisher = DesenzanoItaly.com| title = Desenzano Lake Garda Italy – Verona – Romeo and Juliet| url = http://www.desenzanoitaly.com/romeo_and_juliet.html| access-date = 4 November 2011}}</ref>

<ref name="Hooper 2010">
{{cite news| last = Hooper| first = John| date = 19 May 2010| title = Dear Juliet: the fans who write to Shakespeare's heroine| access-date = 20 May 2010| newspaper = [[The Guardian]]| url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/19/dear-juliet-letters-shakespeares-heroine}}</ref>

<ref name="Halio1998">
{{cite book| last = Halio| first = Jay| year = 1998| title = Romeo and Juliet| location = Westport| publisher = Greenwood Press| page = [https://archive.org/details/romeojulietguide0000hali/page/100 100]| isbn = 0-313-30089-5| url = https://archive.org/details/romeojulietguide0000hali/page/100}}</ref>

<ref name="Sneider2011">
{{cite web| last = Sneider| first = Jeff| date = 21 June 2011| title = Douglas Booth, thou art 'Romeo'| work = Variety| url = https://www.variety.com/article/VR1118038903| access-date = 4 November 2011}}</ref>

}}

== References ==
* Bevington, David, Ed. ''Romeo and Juliet'', The Bantam Shakespeare (New York, 1988)
* Levenson, Jill L., Ed. ''Romeo and Juliet'', The Oxford Shakespeare (Oxford, 2000)

== Further reading ==
* "Juliet's Taming of Romeo" Carolyn E. Brown; ''SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900'', Vol. 36, 1996
* "A Psychological Profile of Shakespeare's Juliet: Or Was It Merely Hormones?" Nancy Compton Warmbrod ''The English Journal'', Vol. 69, No. 9 (Dec. 1980), p. 29

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.julietclub.com The Juliet club in Verona]
* [http://juliet.close-to-heart.org The fanlisting for Juliet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901013157/http://juliet.close-to-heart.org/ |date=1 September 2018 }}
* [http://shakespeare-online.com/plays/romeoandjuliet/julietcharacter.html Juliet Character Analysis]

{{Romeo and Juliet}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Literary characters introduced in 1597]]
[[Category:Fictional Italian people in literature]]
[[Category:Female Shakespearean characters]]
[[Category:Characters in Romeo and Juliet]]
[[Category:Fictional suicides]]
[[Category:Teenage characters in literature]]
[[Category:Teenage characters in musical theatre]]
[[Category:Teenage characters in film]]
[[Category:Fictional nobility]]

Juliet - Revision history

Flying Bee at 06:44, 7 August 2021