#giulietta capuletti

[romeo-and-juliet-sims]

Scene IX - To love your foe

They were one without knowing each other’s name. Romeo and the strange beauty. But loud noises suddenly shattered their world of love. It was Romeo who first departed his lips from hers. “Something must be wrong” he said before rushing to the great hall. He held her hand still, but she took it from him to stay behind.

A man had been pushed down to the marble floor while everyone else surrounded him. Romeo noticed anger on their faces. But why? Then he recognized the man dressed in a toga with golden horns.

“Uncle, a Montecchi has dishonoured your house” Tebaldo indeed looked like Lucifer himself. So furious.

Odoardo Capuletti said nothing. His deadly green eyes focused on the kneeling Mercutio. His wife at his side looked down in disgust.

“Let me kill him here and now!” Tebaldo demanded. “He mocked you, he soiled your name. We have every right to kill him” Odoardo Capuletti shook his head.

“No” he said loud. “And do you know why? This man is a shameless fool who lived in my enemies’ house. But yet he ate my bread tonight. There’s a thing holier than revenge and it’s called guest law. I may hate him, but I won’t spill his blood within my halls. I’m sorry, Tebaldo”

The young Capuletti’s face turned red with fury. He spat out in front of Mercutio but stayed silent

Romeo, impressed with Odoardo’s hospitality, stepped forward.

“Milord”, he said. “You know me. My mother is your mortal enemy.”

“Another rat in our house” Tebaldo turned to his uncle. “You must do something!” Odoardo ignored him.

“We hate you” Romeo said bravely. “But whatever happened between our houses, everyone agrees that you are a man of honour.”

All Odoardo answered was: “Leave now! All of you!”

But Romeo had only eyes for his strange beauty who was still standing on the gallery.

“Feast is over” Capuletti’s wife told her. “It’s time to go to bed, sweet daughter.”

Daughter! Romeo couldn’ believe: “I’m in love with my foe.”

[romeo-and-juliet-sims]

Scene X: Through the Night

Romeo couldn’t bear to leave the house where he had been so soundly struck down. Each step he took would carry him further away from Giulietta. He couldn’t go just like that. His heart was here – nowhere else. And he knew what would happen on the way home. Mercutio and Benvolio would mock him. He could do without that. 

‘Romeo! Hey Romeo!’ They were right behind him. He pressed himself against the hard stone wall as though trying to find a hiding place among its crevices. 

‘Romeo!’

 ‘Cousin!’ 

‘Oh Ro-me-o! Ro-ho-ho-me-o!’ They were coming closer. In desperation Romeo searched for a foothold and found one. He pushed himself up the wall. Another foothold, and another, and before he knew it, he was on top of the high wall…

[romeo-and-juliet-sims]

Scene VII - The Ball

I don’t want to dance, Romeo decided when they arrived at Capuletti’s palazzo. His heart was still sick with love for Rosalina. May his friends be jolly, he couldn’t.

He wandered around in hope he’d raise no suspicion. The other guests were dressed as if it was still carnival. He saw the lord and lady of the house all in red and gold. And he kept an eye on Tebaldo, dressed as Lucifer himself. The young Capuletti in all his cruel beauty danced with young lady.  But he had no eyes for her. His gaze always wandered to another, Romeo noted.

He searched for her himself and found her dancing with the god of the forest. Romeo watched her closely: she was dressed all in gold and was shining brighter than the sun. Something about the girl fascinated him. The way she moved. Her smile. Romeo drew his breath. His mind was completely preoccupied with the heavenly image before him, moving so gracefully to the music. She was an angel. She stood out from the other girls like a snowy dove in a field of crows.

He couldn’t watch any longer and decided to make a move. The girl’s partner bowed and departed right then. Romeo’s chance. His heart was beating faster. She’ll reject me, his conscience told him, but his voice had already spoken:

“May I ask for this dance?”

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[romeo-and-juliet-sims]

Masquerade: Giulietta

“Then have my lips the sin that they have took.”

                            Coming soon...

[romeo-and-juliet-sims]

Scene III: The Rose of Capuletti

“Giulietta! “, Gianna was running through the garden. Well, indeed she was running through the labyrinth which Odoardo Capuletti called a garden. Well, his wife called this a garden. Her lord never cared for such representation, but that was another story.

“Giulietta, where have you been hiding, child?” It wasn’t funny anymore. Gianna’s legs were hurting, She couldn’t catch her breath and she reminded herself that she was past forty.

“Giulietta? Giulietta, please. My lady and my lord will soon be home.”

She found her beneath some hedges, sitting down on the grass, her nose stuck in a book.

“Why do you dally so?” Giulietta asked with an innocent smile. Gianna has been her nurse since the child’s first day on that world. A mother in all but name.

“Oh, I should so hurry till my heart gives out. Your heart is made of sterner stuff than that. Your heart is made…”

Giulietta started laughing.

“…that you should laugh to see me so wore out. What are you reading there by any means?” 

Gianna grabbed the book. She couldn’t read but she knew the stories told by the small pictures. An expansive book but someone had torn out several pages. “What’s that?” she asked. “Your mother’s work?”

“Certainly not! She would have ripped the whole book apart” Giulietta sounded quite amused. “Young ladies shouldn’t read at all, if she’s concerned. It was my father’s doing. And I understand. Some tales are too bloody and frivolous for a girl.”

“His decision. But you miss the best part!” Gianna said. She thought of those stories her own parents told during winter nights. Stories of simple life, hot-blooded lovers, obscene jokes… It would turn Giulietta’s cheeks red…

“So, tell me” the girl insisted

“Only when you are older. Now come with me. We have to dress up for the ball.” “I hate balls. No one’s there who is of my age.”

“Maybe some young lad will fall with love with you.”

[romeo-and-juliet-sims]

House of Capuletti

Proud and valiant, the Capuletti are counted among the first families of Verona. Though they are of no noble descent, they hold their status as free citizens very high. Over the centuries, Capuletti have gained great influence in the city’s affairs. They were counsellors to the Prince, but lost such position due to their continuing feud with the Montecchi. Their war could be seen as a smaller version of a far more important conflict: The feud between the Emperor and the Pope. Odoardo Capuletti had joined the Emperor’s service and gained glory on the battlefield while Rinaldo Montecchi, his great rival, supported the Holy See.

 Odoardo Capuletti

...fought the Emperor’s wars as a Condottieri who offered his military service for gold. Rumour spread that he secretly dreamed of becoming Lord of Verona. But all his ambitions of whichever nature shattered when Pope and Emperor made peace. Capuletti was dismissed and returned home where he filled his days with endless hate for the Montecchi. No matter what people say about him, even a Montecchi must admit that Odoardo is a true knight. But old age had darkened his soul…

Caterina Capuletti 

...was born in an minor branch of Rome’s famous Colonna family. A younger daughter, she was destined to join a convent but religious life was never something Caterina desired. When her family needed to forge an alliance with the Imperial party, she offered herself as bride for Odoardo, an older man she never met before. Not wanting to give a more valuable bride to a man of lower status, the family agreed. Since then, Caterina has settled into marriage life with a husband who was merely around for years. Only one daughter came from their union, many children were lost. With Odoardo on the battlefield, Caterina searched her pleasures elsewhere after Giulietta’s birth. Her affairs produce endless gossip, but Odoardo rejects such words as Montecchi propaganda.

Giulietta 

...is the jewel of the House of Capuletti. As only daughter she is considered quite a match when she reaches adulthood. As a child, Giulietta was fragile as a flower and escaped death more than once. This, however, hasn’t warmed her Mother’s heart but her nurse’s. It was Giulietta’s begging which convinced her parents that the Nurse must stay. Nowadays, Caterina is searching for an eligible man to marry her daughter. Giulietta does not care at all. Her views of love are deeply shaped by Dante’s and Petrarch’s Sonnets dedicated to their beloved muses. She dreams of being loved in the same way by a man with a pure heart. Her days are spent quite lonely with no one but her Nurse for company. Her father prefers to keep her inside in order to protect her from the bloody feud.

Tebaldo 

...is the son of Odoardo Capuletti’s late brother. Growing up with knowledge that Montecchi men may have murdered his father, hate shaped his feelings ever since. As long as Odoardo was still hoping for a son of his own, Tebaldo was destined to become a priest or even better a cardinal. The wild boy hated the thought of it alone. Tebaldo grew up as a spoiled and indulgent child with a cruel streak within him. Finally, his uncle named him his heir and took his nephew with him to the battlefields where he was knighted and slaughtered dozens of men in a wild rage. Tebaldo never admitted, but he desires his cousin Giulietta and hopes to make her his bride one day.