Romeo And Juliet Gender Roles Essay

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.

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.

In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, social expectations about gender significantly contribute to the tragic ending of the play. That daughters always should obey their parents in the case of marriage and that men have ‘to keep their honour’ even if it comes to violence are just some mere examples of these backward expectations. They strip both males and females of the liberty to make common, taken-for-granted decisions, and come with no profit; only causing the untimely death of the play’s main characters.

Compare and contrast the presentation of gender in two films we have looked at on the course

    Othello represents a prime example of Shakespeare's ability to develop relationships between the sexes so as to demonstrate those relationships' weaknesses. In Othello, the sexes are divided by misconceptions and ego- centric views of the opposite gender. The men of the play, in particular Othello, maintain a patriarchal, chivalric notion of the sexes, while the women of the play yearn for more involvement in their husbands' affairs. So it is that the thrust of the play emerges from "the opposition of attitudes, viewpoints, and sexes." (Neely 214)

During the 14th century, the view regarding gender roles was nothing like today’s perspective. Boys were raised to become men: violent, dominant, confident, and decisive beings. Girls were raised to become ladylike figures: subservient, obedient, diffident, and emotional individuals. Conveyed in the tragic play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, 14th century gender roles shape and impact the female protagonist, Juliet Capulet. Furthermore, the play reveals the development and growth of Juliet, despite her challenges regarding specific gender roles and complicated relationships.

The role of women in Romeo and Juliet, and in fact in most of Shakespeare’s works, is complicated. For one, Juliet is shown as stronger than Romeo throughout the entire play, but she is also treated as property by her own father. The role of women in the fourteenth century wasn’t any better. However, even staying true to the times, Shakespeare’s portrayal of women was quite advanced for his time.

Objectified and Mistreated Analysis of Shakespeare’s Treatment of Women in the plays Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Lear, Much Ado about Nothing, and Tempest Women have always played a large role in society. It is arguable that without women, the world could not possibly exist. Well, humans would not exist. This ultimately suggests that women are needed very much.

In “Othello the Moor of Venice” by William Shakespeare, though the play revolves around two leading male characters, Othello and Iago, the women characters are often overlooked and viewed as the pawns, to the plans laid out by Iago in his journey to end Othello. Shakespeare’s play, presented women with an image of being inferior to the men and throughout it we learn how this came to be as the women are all in critical relationships to the point where they are disregarded and mistreated by the men in their lives and as a result they are forced to take ways of fighting back. Men are often viewed dominant, but when faced with the others, especially women, of equal or more stature and significance, they find themselves unable to cope with such a spectacle and are often ignorant of the existence of this power.

Most of us grow up with the classic gender roles imposed upon us; pink is for girls and blue is for boys; girls should like dolls and clothes and boys should like trucks and sports. Kids are taught to act according to these gender roles and they are expected to follow them. Shakespeare’s classic character Juliet also grew up with restricting gender roles that influenced her actions and decisions throughout the play. Juliet is the daughter of one of the two feuding families in 1500’s Verona, Italy, the Capulets, the other being the Montagues. The Montagues have a son named Romeo and the two children fall into a hasty and reckless adolescent love. Throughout Shakespeare’s work Juliet is impaired by gender roles set by society and leaders such as her father and Friar Laurence. These stereotypes are damaging and degrading and compel Juliet to conform to some and revolt against others. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare uses the character of Juliet to portray that the perpetuation of gender roles constricts the victim and forces them to either succumb to the expectations or rebel against them.

William Shakespeare’s “Othello”, a tragedy most admired and illustrious, is presented to us as, yet another society based on the inferiority of women. Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca are depicted to have three completely different attitudinal characteristics, towards their possessive, self-centred male counterparts. Set in a late 16th Venice, the play tells of a deceived, newly wed Venetian general on his wife’s infidelity and his road to revenge and calamity. When his right hand, Iago, induces Othello into thinking that his wife is having a sexual affair, he transforms from the loving husband, to the covetous murderer. Throughout the entirety of the play however, all three leading women remain unselfish and obedient in their love for their partners,

Juliet is a privileged only child who comes from a wealthy family in the 16th century, in the city of Verona in Italy. Juliet’s family, the Capulets have an ongoing feud with the Montagues. Shakespeare presents similarities between both houses, ‘two households both alike in dignity’ this shows the audience that both families are similar and by using the word dignity shows they have similar social status as each other, showing they are both upper crass and well respected families. Both also share similarities as they both enjoy causing violence between each other even if it ends in death.

According to Brett’s article Representation of Gender within Othello, women are always victims because it is men who determine social organization (2). Shakespeare's tragic masterpiece Othello shows how the women are portrayed as victims due to men determining social organization. This conception is supported throughout the play through the representation of women. The play Othello by Shakespeare presents the readers with a male dominant society where women are faced with a rough time. The manner in which women are perceived is a dominant social issue that affects people in the society. Desdemona, Bianca, and Emilia, the female characters in this play, show genuine love and affection to their partners but they are still rejected and hence become symbols of suspicion within the society. Whereas the play Othello contains numerous complex social issues, the victimization of women in a male dominant society is amongst the most significant issues, and this notion is supported all through the play.

Set in the late sixteenth century among the wars between the Turks and the Venetians, Shakespeare’s Othello is one of the earliest works in history to explore topics such as interracial marriage and the dangers of jealousy. When compared to the traditions of its time period, many critics will argue that the play portrays modern, radical ideas about gender relations. However, this claim isn’t completely true. Although the strong women in Othello are well ahead of their times, the men of the play remain grounded in the traditional ideas about gender and marriage.

Though women were unexceptional to men, women in diverse classes had changed conquerors. Low class women were expected to be housewives and take care of everything to do with the house. The expectation of working class women was a little bit different. These women were likely to work for their husbands and benefit them run their business. They would work beside with their husbands and then go home and take care of the house hold. Some women were permitted to work small jobs as leather workers, fabric merchants, or as assistants to bakers. In rare cases, the wife of a merchant would take over her husband‘s position and duties after he died. This didn’t put the woman on equal footing, however, women were paid much less than a man doing the same type of job. Even a Renaissance merchant woman was expected to remain silent unless spoken to, avoid all discussions of religion or politics, and to attend to the duties of their husbands business and household.