Extra notes about ARRANGED MARRIAGES Romeo & Juliet Extra notes about ARRANGED MARRIAGES

Arranged marriages enabled families to elevate or maintain social status, acquire wealth and property, or gain a political advantage. Love was of little or no concern at the betrothal; there would be time for feelings to develop after the couple recited vows.  In Romeo and Juliet, Lady Capulet–excited that Paris, a young man of wealth and status, expresses an interest in Juliet–asks her daughter, “What say you? Can you love the gentleman?” (1. 3. 86). The use of can rather than do encapsulates the mother’s view that love is not an immediate concern. Then she tells Juliet that if she marries Paris, “So shall you share all that he doth possess" (100).  All that he doth possess” is of course money and social standing, benefits that Lady Capulet would share in. But Juliet feels nothing for Paris. As the nurse points out to Romeo, “She, good soul, had as lief see a toad, a very toad, as see him” (2. 4. 104).   

Nevertheless, the Capulets arrange for a marriage between Juliet and Paris after the latter visits their home on a Monday. Unaware that Juliet has married Romeo in secret, old Capulet tells his wife to inform Juliet that she must marry Paris three days hence. Such short notice may have been unusual, but early marriage was not. After all, well-to-do teenage girls would not be pursuing careers as lawyers, physicians, writers, painters, musicians, or bookkeepers. They had a common destiny, ordained by custom: to marry into rank, reputation, and riches. When they reached childbearing age, they became marketable commodities. Lady Capulet tells her daughter to: “Think of marriage now; younger than you, Here in Verona, ladies of esteem, Are made already mothers.” (1. 3. 76-78)

Juliet, of course, has not yet turned 14 Juliet, of course, has not yet turned 14. Thus, when Lady Capulet says “younger than you” have become mothers, she is referring to pubescent girls. Lady Capulet herself, who is not yet 30, was about Juliet’s age when she married. Her husband is older than she–many years older, according to the implication of words spoken by Lady Capulet. When he calls out for a sword in the Act I brawl scene, Lady Capulet sarcastically remarks that he should ask for a crutch, not a sword. Apparently, it was not for youthful good looks that she married Capulet but for social position and money.