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Why doesn't Lady Capulet want her husband to get involved in the fight in Act I, Scene 1?

In Act I, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Julieta fight breaks out in the streets of Verona between the Montagues and Capulets. The families are bitter enemies and the feud is described as an "ancient grudge." As soon as Lord Capulet hears the noise in the street he calls for his "long sword." Lady Capulet, who is by his side, remarks that he would be better off with a "crutch" and that he...

In Act I, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet a fight breaks out in the streets of Verona between the Montagues and Capulets. The families are bitter enemies and the feud is described as an "ancient grudge." As soon as Lord Capulet hears the noise in the street he calls for his "long sword." Lady Capulet, who is by his side, remarks that he would be better off with a "crutch" and that he has no business with a sword. The suggestion, of course, is that Lord Capulet is simply too old to be fighting in the street. Likewise, Lady Montague warns Lord Montague not to fight either and holds him back: "Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe." This reference to the two family patriarchs being too old to engage in street brawls is also revealed in Lord Capulet's remark to Count Paris in Act I, Scene 2:



But Montague is bound as well as I,
In penalty alike, and ’tis not hard, I think,
For men so old as we to keep the peace.




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