The Changing Role Of Women In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

The story of Romeo and Juliet is based on the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues thus it is not surprising that Verona is dominated by masculine tension. As well as masculine tension is also sexual domination and violence a part of the life in Verona.(cf.https://underthefallenleaves.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/romeo-and-juliet-an-exploration-of-gender-roles/)

Romeo and Juliet is a classic play composed by William Shakespeare in the 1500’s. This tale is about two star-crossed lovers whose love was forbidden by their feuding families. Through the story, Shakespeare educates us on his opinion about the society of Verona, Italy and the societal expectations, beliefs, values and gender standards, behaviors for both men and women.

At first, quick-witted Juliet manages to fool her parents with subtle punning. She deceives them into thinking that she is complying with their wishes when, in actual fact, Juliet is defying them in an unobvious manner. Such an example is when Lady Capulet enters Juliet’s chamber, questioning the reason for her sorrow and tears. Juliet answers, “Indeed I shall be satisfied/ With Romeo till I behold him – dead -/ Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vexed.” (III.v.97-99) This disobedience and disloyalty towards her parents escalates when her father gives her instructions to wed Paris. At this point, Juliet cannot stand her outrage and displays outright disobedience, instantly retorting “He shall not make me there a joyful bride!” (III.v.21) She then seeks help from Friar Lawrence, begging him to help her avoid marrying Paris. “And I will do it without fear or doubt,/ To live an unstained wife to my sweet love.” (IV.i.89-90) As the story plays out, Juliet learns to be bolder and more defiant towards her parents, showing that she is a strong individual with her own views and mindsets. She even resorts to the most desperate of measures in order to go against her parents’

After Juliet meets Romeo, many of her opinions and interests begin to change. Juliet is now more excepting of love. While in the beginning of the play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet seems uninterested in loving anyone. But, after she meets Romeo, her opinion changes. Juliet is now more willing to love. She even confesses her love to Romeo on her balcony by saying, "Take all myself" (2.2.49). Juliet's interests in marriage also changes when she meets Romeo. Before Juliet had met Romeo, she was uninterested in marriage, "It is an honor that I dream not of." (1.3.66). Juliet had said this to her mother, Lady Capulet, when the general topic of marriage was being discussed. But after the feast where Juliet met Romeo, she tells him in her garden that she wishes to be married. She came to this decision to accept marriage because of the fact that she met and now loves Romeo. Juliet's is no longer as faithful to her family through compliance after she meets Romeo. Juliet is no longer as obedient to her family. When her father, Lord Capulet, tells her that he has arranged for Juliet to be married to Paris, she objects. By doing this she is being faithful to her own morals and being faithful to her husband. She is willing to comfort her father, Lord Capulet, in order to have what she believes is right and stay faithful to her husband even though her father threatens to disown her.

In the Elizabethan Era, gender roles were something that people would try to break, even if their life was on the line. We can see this from the play, Romeo and Juliet, where Juliet disobeys her father when she is told to marry someone who she doesn’t like. In this era, Juliet, as a women, would usually be married off to someone and would not get to choose. However, she finds a man named Romeo, who is from the rivaled clan, and runs off to marry him even though she knows both of them could die. Juliet could die from disobeying her father where Romeo could get killed for trying to be with the rivaled clan.

The tragedy Romeo and Juliet has been criticized by many critics throughout the years. Most critics tend to agree that Shakespearean literature has strong gender roles. This means that the men will carry themselves with honor and pride. A typical man for the time period in which Shakespeare set his play was the head of the household; anything the man or also known as the head of the family wanted would be put into motion almost as soon as he finished saying the words. The strong males in the tragedy Romeo and Juliet are Juliet’s father Lord Capulet, Romeo, Mercutio, and Prince Escalus. A woman’s typical role of that time period was subservient, always holding her words when it came to decision making. Most women of the time were busy

In the epilogue, the audience is reminded that the character Rosalind is played by a boy actor when she says the lines; “If I were a woman, I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me, complexions that liked me, and breaths that I defied not” (Epi. 17-20). Based on the gender norms during this era, this line would cause discomfort among the audience because the boy actor is saying that he would kiss the men in the audience if he was truly a woman. During Shakespeare’s time it was okay for a man to have feelings for another man for a short period of time as long as he never acted on it because this shows that the man has not yet matured. He will only truly mature into an adult when he has taken a wife for himself and forget about

Explanation: This excerpt is from Peter, a servant of the Capulet family, when he is told to invite people from a list to an event at the Capulet household. Servants have so little education that even this is a big job. This is shown when Peter explains that it will be difficult to invite people due to the fact that he cannot read. He details

I believe that any text that is well written will be read for generations to come even after the author of the text has passed away. No matter whether a text is 100 years old or has been written 5 years ago, both will still be relevant as the themes as the themes will still be prevalent in society. Texts can also be slightly changed to adapt to the interest of the modern

Juliet’s parents are much more present, but only physically so. Neither is emotionally attached to Juliet nor do they have her best interests at heart, which pushes her towards the Nurse, who she has an emotional attachment to already. Not much can be said about Romeo’s parents as advisors, only that they seem to be more affectionate and caring towards Romeo; they are concerned about Romeo’s melancholy state over Rosaline, and Lady Montague later dies of after Romeo’s exile. Juliet’s parents, on the other hand, are very poor advisors who seek to enhance their power and wealth through her upcoming availability to marry, as evidenced through their insistence on her marriage. They do not listen to Juliet’s protests over the marriage to Paris and instead send the Nurse to discuss it with her.

In the play Romeo and Juliet, the male characters have a more dramatic impact on the audience than females. Male characters are more compulsive because they act before they think. First, Romeo makes an impulse decision at the Capulet ball. He sees Juliet across the room and falls in love. Romeo made his decision based on her looks instead of personality. Later, some male characters got in a fight. Tybalt killed Mercutio then Romeo thought Tybalt should be in Mercutio's place so he killed Tybalt. By them getting in a fight and not thinking before they act, it is another reason why the male characters have a more dramatic impact on the audience. Later in the story, Friar Laurence makes a quick decision keeping the audience interested in what

In the story of Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, women contain a different role than men that sets up conflict between Juliet and Juliet's parents. Romeo and Juliet love each other however due to the role of women and the feud between the Capulets and the Monologues they will be forced to separate. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, women are treated as toys for men, financial and social gain, and are disrespected as if women are nothing. Women in Romeo and Juliet contain the role of a toy or prize. Juliet's father, Capulet, is forcing Juliet to marry Paris however, when Juliet claims she doesn't want to he yells,"Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch!"(3.5.116).

Typically, when parents arranged a marriage for their daughter, they agreed to do so with no questions asked. In Juliet’s case, she told her father “If all else fail, myself have power to die” (3.5.255) Here, Juliet is defying her parents and saying that she would rather die than marry Paris. These rebellious actions were foreign for a woman to perform, or even for a woman to ponder in real life. Since it was uncommon to disagree with their parents marriage arrangements, Juliet’s father was infuriated, but Juliet never gave it a second thought until it was time to lie about wanting to marry Paris to manipulate her naive parents. Juliet is beginning to break the barriers of typical women actions at this point in the

In the play “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” written by Shakespeare The males in the story are more dramatic than females because the wives of the men seem to want to hold back and not fight, but the men just keep adding to the feud. The men are always wanting to fight and yell and be mad while the ladies and trying to stop it all.Male characters are more aggressive then females. The female shows they are less aggressive in Act one Scene one when Lady Montague says " Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe." In line 70 In addition to fighting they have many decisions to face. The males in the story show both sides of what a man can be, they can be peaceful and aggressive.In lines 55-59 in act one scene one Benvolio says, " Part, fools!

Shakespeare wrote about many women in his time of writing, But Juliet from Romeo and Juliet, Desdemona from Othello and Lady Macbeth from Macbeth, are 3 of the strongest and had more power then any of the other characters Shakespeare ever wrote about.