Shakespeare’s Contradicting Love and Marriage Customs
Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, is written in the time of Elizabethan England. During this time period, marriage was common, but love was not. Many found it “foolish to marry for love,” (Love and Marriage 1). The majority of Elizabethan English marriages were arranged by the children’s parents, mainly for “social or financial purposes,” (Daily Life in the Elizabethan Era 189). Most high class families would arrange marriages very early in their child’s lifetime, and they had little to no say in the arrangement. However, lower class people had more of a choice when it came time to find a partner. These marriages determined how the two would prosper, how much money the families would receive, the social rank of the families and a “legal claim as heads of their household,” (189). All men and women were expected to marry, but very few were expected to love. Shakespeare accurately portrays the marriage norm through a few of his characters. Lady Capulet, Juliet’s mother believes that her daughter should marry Paris for his wealthy possessions, as does Paris. Similarly, Mercutio mocks Romeo for being in “love” with Rosaline, and sees him to be foolish. These characters follow Elizabethan England love and marriage norm. However, Shakespeare’s main characters, Romeo and Juliet, want to marry each other for love within the first day of meeting each other. Despite their families being enemies, they wish to believe in love, unlike many people during this time period. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, many characters follow the cultural norm of love and marriage in Elizabethan England, however some characters do not.
In Elizabethan England, marriage was...
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...aking place in reality are very rare. Shakespeare’s writing both supports and conflicts with traditional Elizabethan concepts of love and marriage. Evidently, this contradicting play was a success, despite the defiance of cultural norm, considering it is one of his most famous pieces of work.
Works Cited
"Daily Life in the Elizabethan Era." Elizabethan World Reference Library. Ed. Sonia G. Benson and Jennifer York Stock. Vol. 1: Almanac. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 181-194. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Davis, William S. Life in Elizabethian Days. N.p.: Biblo & Tannen, 1988. Print.
Dodd, A. H. Life in Elizabethan England. New York: Putnam, 1961. Print.
Ross, Maggi. "Love and Marriage." Life in Elizabethan England 10:. N.p., 2008. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
Singman, Jeffrey L. Daily Life in Elizabethan England. Westport: Greenwood, 1995. Print.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a play commonly viewed and known as a true love story; however, after analyzing several hints portrayed by the protagonists, it is evident that Shakespeare did not intend to make Romeo and Juliet seem like a true love story but a criticism of how superficial society’s view on love is.
In the time of Romeo and Juliet people would marry for the “name”. This meaning that people married to get in an elite class, and for money or income their spouse would bring in according to Gale Student Resources. Many of the marriages in the fifteenth century were also fixed, so in most cases many people did not marry for love in Romeo and Juliet’s time. That is why Romeo and Juliet were considered doing something scandalous on top of the family feud. In the twenty-first century people marry for love today. They often take their time and do not try to rush into a relationship. Also today the parents of the children do not have as much influence as they did then, so people marry today who they
All in all, Shakespeare’s writing depicts the complexities in situations regarding love; each scene of the play brings forth tension and obstacles for each lover, but the use of personification and metaphor, especially with Theseus’ extended metaphor, shows the theme of love’s difficulty to exemplify the ability to overcome obstacles.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – popularly considered by many to be the quintessential love story of all time – is a play that we are all familiar with in one way or another. Whether it be through the plethora of portrayals, adaptations and performances that exist or through your own reading of the play, chances are you have been acquainted with this tale of “tragic love” at some point in your life. Through this universal familiarity an odd occurrence can be noted, one of almost canonical reverence for the themes commonly believed to be central to the plot. The most widely believed theme of Romeo and Juliet is that of the ideal love unable to exist under the harsh social and political strains of this world. Out of this idea emerge two characters who, throughout history, have been heralded as the world’s greatest lovers and who have been set up as yardsticks against which future lovers must be measured. The tragic courtship between Romeo and Juliet has become so idealized and revered that even the Oxford English Dictionary lists this definition under the word ‘Romeo’:
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Love is often perceived as something perfect and flawless in today’s society. However, Romeo and Juliet, a play written by William Shakespeare, portrays love as a form of passionate and violent force that comes with both rewards and consequences.The tragedy focuses on two young lovers called Romeo and Juliet, whose families are intertwined in an ancient feud that disrupts the peace in Verona, Italy. For love, the two teenagers are driven to overcome obstacles they will never imagine doing, and as a result, they along other family members are forced to pay the price of their lives. Through the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare exhibits the reality of young love through the portrayal of the Queen Mab Speech, the impulsive actions taken by both lovers, and the results caused by the powerful nature of their love.
Firstly, Romeo and Juliet’s problematic marriage was a result of their impulsiveness. In Verona, the Capulet-Montague feud was infamous: even the servants loathed each other. Therefore, Romeo and Juliet knew of the consequences their marriage would entail since their families dislike each other. Yet, they still took that risk and got married. Afterwards, their secret marriage caused a big problem for Juliet. Lord Capulet was unaware of
In this essay I am going to examine love and marriage and the way it
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 arrange 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. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet centres on the relationship between two young protagonists, but much of what occurs during the play is as a result of the inequality between men and women.
to be a quite romantic person, as, to start with, he is in love with
At the beginning of the story Juliet is this young and obedient girl. In the time period Romeo and Juliet takes place, young girls at her age get married. Juliet isn't worried about getting married nor thought of it one bit. During the story, Lady Capulet brings up the topic of Paris wanting to marry Juliet. Juliet not knowing what it would be like obediently says that she will try to love him. As in the play, (1.4.103-05), she says, “I'll look to like, if looking liking move. But no more deep will endart mine eye than your consent gives strength to make it fly.” Juliet hasn't experience real love yet, so she doesn't understand what love is. Juliet promises to consider Paris as her possibly husband due to her mother's desires. Juliet's attitude and personality changes right after she meets sweet, charming Romeo. During the time she meets Romeo, her adulthood is force into her life, though she is deeply in love with Romeo. Juliet spots the flaws in Romeo, where he likes to romanticize things and romance girls with his words. At the party that Capulet...
Romeo and Juliet is set during the Elizabethan period when women had to acquiesce to men. This was known as a patriatical society. It was the time when fathers decided whom their daughters should marry. In the Elizabethan period events such as marriage were more traditional and were taken very seriously as well as the fact that men were more powerful than women. The Elizabethan period was a period of internal peace between the English Reformation and the battles between Protestants and Catholics as well the battles between the Parliament and the Monarchy that repulsed the seventeenth century which relates to the Period that Shakespeare wrote the play because it creates this contrast that people were fighting over reputation for example, Capulet wanting to give his daughter Juliet to a rich and respectable man like Paris rather than someone like Romeo who does not have a reputation in the society. However, In the Elizabethan society men were the ''head of the household'' so the women of the Elizabethan society had no say in anything or anyone as well as not being able to know what the men had been up to because the men were seen as the dominant sex but on the other hand, in the twenty first century the women are mostly controlling the men such as a wife of a footballer. Men that were married were able to masquerade (sleep with another women or cheat) on their own wife's and even if the wife of the husband found out about the situation, she could not have done anything about it. She would either accept the situation or leave the husband but rarely women of the Elizabethan period did that because most of the men in the Elizabethan society were rich. As soon as the play starts, Shakespeare wants the audience to know that there is goin...
Names are a big deal to Juliet’s family because their family doesn’t get along with Romeo’s. In Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, marriage was significantly different than it is in the present day. Marriage choices, preparation, and ceremonies have all changed since the late 1500’s. In the ancient Shakespearean time, marriage was based off of commodity, wealth, or political status.
To start off with, the harsh cultural traditions could have played a role in Romeo and Juliet’s false love. As published in Bard Graduate center “the Italians society use to be very critical to those women who did marry” (“wedding traditions in Italy” Para 1). These harsh cultural traditions could have pushed Juliet to feign love affair with Romeo so that she would not be judged. Furthermore the cultural traditions could have contributed to their so called love. According life of Italy “modern concepts of marriage as an act of love was just beginning and wedding of the time were more a social contract between families” (“life in Italy During the Renaissance” page 6). This contradicts the cultural traditions due to the fact that Romeo and Juliet’s wedding was in confinement. In the play Romeo does not want to go agents the Capulets, and this shows that he wanted to connect the Capulets and Montagu. These cultural traditions contributed to their false love for each other showing that Romeo and Juliet were not truly in love.
Shakespeare’s plays are very drastic with how he ties love into them. Shakespeare always adds comedy or tragedy to any romance that might be taking place. For example in Twelfth Night, As You like It and Romeo and Juliet there is romance but he also puts comedy in there so love is not that easy. In the play Othello he makes it into a tragedy which makes the love even harder to take place. Shakespeare has always found a way to make love as complicated as he can which leads me to believe that he feels that you must work for love and it should not be handed to you. Love is already complicated, but when Shakespeare is involved he makes sure at least two things come around that can make it harder for those who are in love to actually stay in love.