Power of Women in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Essay

Everyone in the world of literature knows about the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Men in the story find power in sexual domination and violence. Women are treated as a belonging, and such as a property. Any person who was a female was expected to do as the men wished, and had no power over it at all. The women of this play are hampered by conventions, but many of the women still show great strength. The poor treatment acts upon major characters in the play such as, the nurse, Lady Capulet, and Juliet. In the play Lady Capulet shows strength by her tremendous personality of demand. The nurse, also shows an immense amount of strength by her ability to stay seriously involved with her work. Finally, Juliet shows her monumental strength by staying independent to herself.The women of this play are hampered by conventions, but many of the women still show great strength.

After marriage, the husband was considered lord and master of the family. But not all the women were meek and submissive. By the 1700's, the woman’s status had rapidly improved in colonial America. A wife and child made as much as a man did. Although women did not have equality with men, their status greatly improved from their status in Europe. A woman’s station in life was determined by the position of their husbands or fathers. The women of the poorest families, compiled to work in the fields, stood at the bottom of the social ladder. One of the surest signs of the accomplishments a family had made, was the exemption of their women from the fields. Before 1740, girls were trained in household crafts and the practical arts of family management. But afterwards they began to study subjects that required reading and studying such subjects as grammer and arithmetic. The women of the upper classes occupied themselves mainly with planning the work of the home and with supervising the domestic servants. Along with these tasks the women also baked, nursed, and sewed. But there were many social restrictions placed on the women of that time. One such restriction was that a wife, in absence of her husband, was not allowed to lodge men even if they were close relatives. For

In Shakespeare’s time, women didn’t have as much freedom as they do now. Instead, it was a time that they ought to behave in a certain way in response to their family’s honour under a strict social hierarchy and rules. However, Shakespeare gave three women power in Othello. Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca, although they are from different social classes, are able to use their power to successfully resist male authority.

Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in the 16th century, at a time where the role of the woman was to be subservient to men and act as a wife to their husband and a mother to their children. Women were expected to conform to the expectations of society, and were seen as possessions by their fathers and husbands. Fathers arranged their daughters’ marriages, usually for financial or social gain for the family. In Romeo and Juliet, the unfair treatment of women is conveyed through characters such as Juliet, a young girl who is growing into the expectations of society, and Lady Capulet, who represents a traditional side of love and values social position rather than men themselves.

In a patriarchal society, women are expected to conform to social restrictions by demonstrating reverence and obedience to the males in their lives. Shakespeare's tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, explores the effects of patriarchal authority exerted over women and how the patriarchal structure left no escape from it, save death. Through Juliet, Lady Capulet, and the Nurse, Shakespeare establishes a common understanding of this type of society, but illuminates three different reactions to the social oppression by portraying the responses of a passionate lover, an idyllic housewife, and an attendant.

This left women with a clear disadvantage. The system worked well in happy marriages, but if a situation such as a husband's death, desertion from his family, or divorce were to arise, it was usually the woman who suffered as a result. According to the Code, a contract was necessary for marriage. Also, when a man and woman were getting married, the most important item to be negotiated was the bride price. This, again, shows that men were superior to women when it came to the ownership of property. Regardless of the amount of this bride price, it was managed by the husband and it was used to support the wife and her children: "If a woman who lived in a man's house made an agreement with her husband, that no creditor can arrest her, and has given a document therefore; if that man, before he married that woman, had a debt, the creditor can not hold the woman for it" (Pritchard 155). The bride's father had the right to change his mind about the marriage, in which case he would have been required to refund the purchase price in full showing again how women were nothing more than a piece of property: "If a man bring chattels into the house of his father-in-law and pay the price; if then the father of the girl say "I will not give you my daughter," he shall give back all that he brought with him" (Pritchard 156). Another horrific example of how women were regarded as nothing more than mere possessions was that if a wife died before giving birth to

Women had great social pressure on them to marry. Young girls were often married by the age of 13 or 14 . It was socially unacceptable if women were not married by the age of 25 . Marriage was mostly for economic benefits, not romantic situations. A wedding, rather than a religious ceremony, was a civil contract that set the responsibilities and duties of husband and wife . Once married, they legally became one with their husbands. Married women had no control of their earnings, inheritance, property, and also could not appear in court as a witness nor vote . Their husbands, therefore, were responsible for all aspects of their wife including discipline .

Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in the 16th century, at a time when the role of the woman was to be subservient to men and act as a wife to their husband and a mother to their children. Women were expected to conform to the expectations of society, and were seen as possessions by their fathers and husbands. Fathers arranged their daughters’ marriages, usually for financial or social gain for the family. In Romeo and Juliet, the unfair treatment of women is conveyed through characters such as Juliet, a young girl who is growing up within the expectations of society, and Lady Capulet, who represents a traditional side of love, and values social position rather than men themselves.

Throughout Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, there is an overlaying presence of the typical roles that men and women were supposed to play. During Elizabethan times there was a major difference between the way men and women were supposed to act. Men typically were supposed to be masculine and powerful, and defend the honor. Women, on the other hand, were supposed to be subservient to their men in their lives and do as ever they wished. In Romeo and Juliet the typical gender roles that men and women were supposed to play had an influence on the fate of their lives.

"Upon marriage, woman became the legal wards of their husbands, as they previously had been of their fathers while still unmarried" (Martin, 68). It was common for a father to sell his young daughter into marriage and the young women had no say in her preference of her suitors (Mahaffy, 48). This was done while the girl was in her young teens while the groom was ten to fifteen years older (Martin, WEB2). As the father, or guardian, gave the young girl away he would repeat the phrase that expressed the primary aim of marriage: "I give you this women for the plowing [procreation] of legitimate children" (Martin, WEB2). The woman’s role was primarily in the home. "Households thus depended on women, whose wok permitted the family to economically self-reliant and the male citizens to participate in the public life of the polis" (Martin, WEB2).

To some degree, women in New England did enjoy better legal protections than the women of England. For example, New England women had more of a chance to break off unsuccessful marriages. Nevertheless, they endured the same legal injustices as Englishwomen. Unless a husband agreed to a prenuptial agreement giving her power of land she already possessed, a wife had no property rights separate of her husband. Also, a widow was only allowed 1/3 of her husband’s assets if he died without heirs or instructed so in a will.

Jewish parents had strict control over whom their children married, and made arrangements through a matchmaker or marriage broker (Freeze, Jewish Marriage and Divorce, 12). Often times, the two parties which were to be married only met at the altar, when all marriage arrangements were completed by their parents (Id, 13). Marriage contracts without the permission of one’s father were punishable (14). However, in the nineteenth century, the matchmaker started becoming less and less popular, and parents began being more liberal with their children’s marriage arrangements. Young couples were now allowed to communicate prior to their marriage by writing letters and being allowed short and supervised meetings (23). Increasingly, young couples began to take marriage into their own hands without seeking the involvement of their parents.

During the Renaissance of Italy in Florence, marriages have been considered the concept of movement which obligation kinship with the custom that valued the wealth of life. It was the beginning of a new method for relationships among men and women. Furthermore, on March 31, 1393, multiple families were involved in major marriage decisions because of the realignment of social rank, political implication, and transfer of property. In additional, these marriages were among the families of Gregorio Dati, Two Marriages in the Valori Family, the Marriage Negotiations the Del Bene, and the Marriage Negotiations The Strozzi. All of them were not entirely personal matters, but they were relevant to the system of alliances that underlay a family’s success and prospects. In fact, they have formed the fabric of loyalties, affection, and obligation that supported civic

One of the major areas this reality is demonstrated is the process of arranged marriages (Ross 279). Typically, Renaissance women were used as a way to combine families and increase political or financial growth for both families. Lucrezia Borgia is a perfect example of how young women were used during this time. When Lucrezia was just thirteen years old, she was married to Giovanni Sforza who was twice her age. She was married to him because an alliance with Giovanni would bring great political advantage to Lucrezia’s family (Hibbert 44). These marriages were basically business transactions with the daughters and sisters of the family being moved around like pawns to create the best possible outcome for the men. In some extreme cases, a widowed woman could be taken away from her children and forced to remarry because it would benefit her family (Keuhn 62).

Marriage In the medieval era is certainly a difficult one to study, as evidence often lies within the realm of poetry, or a narrative tale. Sometimes one can look into non-narrative prose, like written laws, or contracts, however, these documents do not always provide the entire scope of social structure. When looking into certain characteristics of marriage in Western Europe, specifically in the timeframe of ca. 1000 through ca. 1300, there are many characteristics of marriage that one may find to have a progressive nature. During this time, marriage seems to transcend from political ideals, to that of a purer construct. We will begin by looking into certain traits of marriage in Western European medieval times that I believe to be the most important aspects of marriage, not only for woman, but also for society as a whole. Before I begin, I would like to note that when I speak of marriage, I’m specifically referring to that of Western Europe during the timeframe stated above.