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Plays › The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet › Capulet

Capulet

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet · 50 speeches across 9 scenes

Juliet's hot-headed father, a Verona patriarch whose rage drives the tragedy's second half.

Who they are

Capulet begins as a jovial host but becomes a domestic tyrant demanding Juliet marry Paris. His volatile temper—quick to threaten his daughter or brawl in the streets—accelerates the secret marriage and deaths. He loves Juliet in his own way but sees her as property; his grief at her 'death' is genuine but too late.

Playing them

Start warm and expansive (party scene), then shift to explosive authority: sudden, loud contrasts. Physicality should be large and commanding—use full stage space. Vocal range from hearty laugh to terrifying bark. Avoid making him a cartoon villain; show the genuine hurt beneath the rage, especially in Act 4, Scene 5's funeral speech.

Appearance

Rich, older Verona nobleman—sober velvet or brocade, but slightly disheveled by the party (loose collar). A heavy gold chain or ring to emphasize status. Physical presence: portly but solid, capable of grabbing a servant by the collar.

Worth knowing

Based on aristocratic fathers in Italian novelle and Brooke's poem; Shakespeare emphasizes his public/private double nature, reflecting Renaissance anxieties about patriarchal authority.

Where they appear

Play Capulet

Take the part and Yorick reads every other role aloud, following you line by line as you speak.

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Shakespeare the way it was meant to be had — out loud

These plays were written to be performed, not silently read. Yorick is a rehearsal app that lets you perform them: you take a part in any of Shakespeare’s 38 plays, and Yorick reads every other role aloud, listens while you speak your lines, keeps your place, and prompts you the moment you dry.

It is built for the person who has to be off book by tech week — school and college productions, community theatre, festivals, drama students and classical auditions — and for anyone who wants to hear a scene rather than skim it. Alongside the performance you get a plain-English translation of every speech, scene context, performance notes, and the ability to ask about any line and get an answer that already knows the play, the scene and who is speaking.

The text is the public-domain Cambridge/Globe edition. Translations and notes are AI-generated rehearsal aids for actors and students, not a scholarly apparatus. Yorick runs in a browser with nothing to install, and on iPhone and Android.