Romeo's parents mirror the Capulets. In Act 1, Scene 1 Montague wants to fight ("Hold me not; let me go") and his wife holds him back; afterwards her first words are for her son: "O, where is Romeo?" Father and son never speak to each other on stage: Montague leaves as Romeo arrives, and in Act 5, Scene 3 he speaks to a body.
- "Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, / And makes himself an artificial night" (Act 1, Scene 1). The verbs of shutting are all Romeo's; his father stands outside the door, admitting "I neither know it nor can learn of him". "Artificial night", darkness made in daylight, sets the son against nature.
- "O thou untaught! What manners is in this, / To press before thy father to a grave?" (Act 5, Scene 3). His only words to his son scold him as a rude guest who pushed ahead: grief comes out as reproach.
Use them for AQA's June 2025 mark scheme point, "Montague's concern for Romeo expressed to Benvolio", and its report's "seemingly distant relationship with his parents". Montague defends his son before the Prince (Act 3, Scene 1), whereas Capulet threatens to disown his daughter (Act 3, Scene 5). Lady Montague dies of "Grief of my son's exile" (Act 5, Scene 3). Against William Hazlitt's "one generation pushes another off the stage", the children go first. Montague's gold statue of Juliet may be grief, or the rivalry in a new currency.