Confined Entrapment

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Confined Entrapment

"Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge." This particular feminist's belief, exposes a typical attitude that many women during the Elizabethan Era felt: restricted, dominated, and suppressed. John Knox stated in 1958 that a "Woman in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man", thus defining the term patriarchy. In a patriarchal society, the "authority in the family is vested in males through whom descent and inheritance are traced" (Ivan 00), and women are expected to conform to the social restrictions by demonstrating reverence and obedience to the males in their lives; they are merely commodities and dealt with as possessions. Shakespeare's tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, explores the effects of patriarchal authority exerted over women and the responses to it. Through Juliet, Lady Capulet, and the Nurse, he 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 a vociferous attendant.

Webster's Dictionary defines courtship as "the act of wooing in love; solicitation of woman to marriage." In a patriarchal society, a daughter remains under the control of her father until she is married; often, the marriage is arranged or encouraged for economic or political reasons, and it is her father that ultimately holds the keys to her heart, giving permission for the suitor to pursue her. Her obligation is to submit to her father and accept his blessing, often leaving her little or no choice in the matter. In the Elizabethan society, "girls were raised to obey their parents without quest...

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... or desires. This claustrophobic sensation daily burdens women, disabling them to reach their greatest potential. In Romeo and Juliet, this thick environment suppresses each of the three crucial women, and ultimately, it is the agent of their fate. Would Juliet's tragic death been avoided if the societal structure been changed? Would Lady Capulet had been so apathetic, withdrawn, and submissive if she was no longer bound by marriage? Or would the Nurse be so condemned every time she desired to speak her voice? Shakespeare constructs and illuminates these three distinct reactions to social oppression by portraying a determined, passionate lover, an idyllic, apathetic housewife, and a vociferous, bawdy attendant, and by doing so, he establishes that no matter what a woman does, the patriarchal society has already determined her fate in infinite, confined entrapment!

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