A Painful Day

Act 4, Scene 5: It was the day of the wedding and the musicians were already outside playing, so I had the Nurse go awaken Juliet immediately. All of a sudden I heard cries for help from the Nurse! I really felt like telling her to stop all of the foolishness and to get Juliet ready for her wedding, but the Nurse then told Lady Capulet and me that Juliet was dead. How it pained me to hear those dreaded words. I did not want to believe it, but it was true. Her bones stiff and her body cold, she lay there dead before our eyes. The Nurse, Lady Capulet, and I stood by Juliet wishing that such a horrible thing did not happen to such a wonderful girl. Wishing that Death did not take her away from me... from us. Oh how I did not want to be alive for this day, but sadly I was. The Friar and Paris soon came to see Juliet, unaware of the recent tragedy. It was even more upsetting letting Paris know that he would not be getting married because his wife died on the day of the wedding. I have now lost everything to death and I will die without any heirs. We all stood there mourning Juliet's death and wondering why it happened to her now. We all did not understand because we all knew that she was not one who deserved it. I would rather Death take me than my Juliet. The Friar tried to console us by telling us that she was put on earth by the heavens and now all that has happened is the heavens have taken her back. He told us that she was in a better place and will now have eternal life. He was absolutely right too. We should have been happy for her. We ended up taking her over to the church for a funeral instead of a wedding, changing everything we would use for a wedding into things we would use for a funeral. There was then a dispute between Peter and the musicians because they would not play the song that Peter wanted to hear. He took it a little too far too by taking out a knife, so they ended up playing the song Peter wanted to hear. Then they argued about the lyrics in the song! It was definitely not the time or the place and even though I should have intervened, I did not because all that was in my mind was that Juliet was no longer with me.

The Night Before

Act 4, Scene 4: It was the night before the big wedding...the day we had all been waiting for! Juliet was actually going to be wed. The servingmen and I were scattering all over the place, getting everything ready and it was just chaos. The Nurse even advised me to go to sleep before I got sick, but I was too determined to make the wedding perfect for the next day. Lady Capulet tried to belittle my perseverance, but she was just jealous. I do not blame her though. Before I knew it, it was daylight and I heard the musicians coming, so I called the Nurse to awaken Juliet and to get her dressed.

A Change in Plans

Act 4, Scene 2: Today we prepared for Juliet's wedding. I had the servingman invite all the people on the list I created and hired twenty of the most skilled cooks in Verona. I only wanted the best for my daughter at this wedding and in general, but she just does not always see things my way. She's so stubborn, that Juliet. She will thank me later for everything I have done for her later though. I sent her to confession the other day and I think it kicked some sense into her because she returned to me with such a happy look on her face. That girl is such a turntable. I just don't understand her emotions sometimes. She then told me that she learned that disobeying your father is a sin. So she got on her knees for me and begged for forgiveness, telling me that she would do anything I said. That news delighted me so much! I wanted Paris to be notified about it immediately, but Juliet informed me that she had already met with him at the Friar's and treated him with the proper respect. That thrilled me even more! The whole issue with Juliet refusing to marry Paris should not have been a problem, for instantly doing as I say, when I say, is the way things should be. I was gladdened that she came to her senses anyway though. Since she seemed so much happier about the wedding, I scheduled it for tomorrow instead of Thursday and had the Nurse go with Juliet to pick out what she would wear. Lady Capulet tried to stop me from rescheduling the wedding because she knew that supplies would be low, but I told her not to worry and that I would handle everything. She then went to help Juliet with her outfit and jewelry as well. I thought the idea of Juliet and Paris being married was amazing and I set off to let Paris know about the change of plans in the wedding. I am so happy now because I feel that Juliet has found herself and is no longer a troubled girl. I now think that everything is going to work out perfectly.

A Brilliant Idea

Act 3, Scene 4: Things have not been going well in Verona lately and they just got worse. My dear nephew, Tybalt, was killed by a Capulet that I once had respect for. His name is Romeo. The whole family has taken it pretty hard, but I feel as if Juliet has been the most upset about it. The murder of Tybalt did not stop County Paris from coming to my home late at night to speak to me about him and my daughter getting married though. I just simply had to tell him that now was not the best time. He went home after that, but gave Juliet his regards. He's such a nice young man. I would not mind one bit for him and Juliet to get married. In fact, Lady Capulet and I agreed to ask Juliet her feelings about it in the morning. We thought in the morning she might be a bit better. Lady Capulet and I thought that maybe her getting married to Paris would help get her mind off things and give the Capulet family something to be happy about. That way we would get over our grief. The idea of Paris and Juliet getting married sounded better and better as I thought about it, so I came to the conclusion that I would tell Juliet in the morning that she is to marry County Paris. I am quite confident that Juliet will do as I tell her, for I am her father. I also had Lady Capulet tell Juliet about the love Paris has for her to warm her up to the idea so that it would be a little easier to break the news.

A Night to Remember

Act 1 Scene 5:

It was finally the night of an extravagant dinner party that I had planned! The servingmen were running all over the place trying to get things done. Poor things! They did an excellent job though and I was quite pleased with them. Anyway, I arrived with my wife, the lovely Lady Capulet, my beloved daughter, Juliet, and my hot headed nephew, Tybalt. I had quite a strategy to get all of the women off of their feet and dancing. I practically told them that if they did not have corns on their feet, then they would be dancing along with all of the fine gentleman. Haha yes I know it was brilliant. It was fun too because if any of the women did not dance, we could all say that she had corns on her toes. I also got the gentlemen off of their feet by telling them to enjoy their time being young and charming with the ladies now because before they knew it, it would be gone. Just as my time has gone. I continued to tell the musicians to play their music and continued to put my servingman to work so that the party would be the best party all of my good friends had ever been to. While everyone was enjoying themselves, I had a seat with my cousin and talked to him about the last time he wore a mask to a party like the one I was having. He told me that it was thirty years ago but I reassured him that it was only twenty-five years...not that that was much better. Apparently I was wrong though because the last time we danced and wore masks was at Lucentio's wedding, which was thirty years ago. O well I guess. Later on that night I saw my daughter Juliet with Paris. It seemed she was growing fond of him, but what do I know? I am just an old man. I did see another young man staring at her though. I do not know his name, but who knows? I thought to myself he might end up winning Juliet's attention instead of Paris. The young man stood gazing at her as if he was infatuated with her. Haha silly children. They swear they know the meaning of love when they really don't. Then I saw Tybalt suddenly get very angry and I asked him what the cause of his temper was. He told me he had spotted the Montague, Romeo. I told him to just leave Romeo alone though because he was doing no harm and he had a respectable name around Verona. I also told him to turn his frown upside down because acting violently is not the way to behave at a dinner party. I could just tell poor Tybalt still wanted to hurt Romeo though. So I told him to tolerate it because if he did not, then there would be a riot at the party and I definitely did not want that to happen in my house. Tybalt should have been ashamed of himself just for even having the thought of starting such a raucous in my home. He left my presence after the discussion we had. Later on I focused my attention on the party and noticed that Juliet was missing, but I just thought to myself that maybe she met someone and was alone with him. She is a good girl so I trusted she had good judgment in the men she chose to be around. I also knew my wife had the Nurse looking for her anyway so I knew she would be found soon. Later on I saw the young man that was gazing at Juliet earlier, attempting to leave the party along with some friends of his. I tried to get them to stay but they left anyway. It was getting late though so I decided to call it a night as well. Before I went to sleep, I saw the Nurse and Juliet talking and it seemed to me that they were talking about some of the young men that came to the party. I do not know if she found someone she liked for sure but if she did, at least she chose the man on her own instead of him being chosen for her.

A Deal with County Paris

Act 1, Scene 2: Earlier today, County Paris approached me to declare his wish to marry my beautiful, but very young daughter, Juliet. I can understand a man's desire to marry such a magnificent girl, but that is the issue at hand. She is still just a girl. She is not yet a developed woman. She is still naïve and has not experienced so much of the world yet. I told Paris to wait two more years, but he did not see eye to eye with me. He told me that even girls younger than Juliet marry and become happy, which is very true. But I know that young women who marry too soon, grow up too fast and I do not want that to happen to my precious Juliet. Although I was not too thrilled about a marriage between Paris and my daughter, I told him it was all right for him to try to charm her. If my little girl then decides that she wants to move forward into marriage with Paris, then they will have my blessing. Since I was having an upcoming dinner party where there would be many stunning women, I invited Paris so that he would be exposed to other women. Another woman might possibly catch his eye. Because the dinner party was soon, I sent out a messenger to distribute the invitations. I doubted that he would be too successful in getting all of the invitations to the people though. He is illiterate, so I understand him having difficulties knowing which people to give the invitations to. I figured he would find a way to get the job done though. When he returned with the job completed, he told me he got some help from two men on the street. He invited them to the party for helping him out. For some reason he mentioned hearing that one of the boys was heartbroken and the other one was trying to get him out of his misery. I do not really know why he felt the need to tell me this, but he did. That servant is such a silly goose.