Wesley Williamson Mrs. Hallowell English 1A 22 May 2018 The Aftermath of Pressure on the Children of Nobility The children of nobility were expected to be perfect and obey, often the stereotype for many rich people. This pressure placed on the shoulders of young nobles were sometimes too much for the children to handle. The Elizabethans believed in making the children act like adults and arranged marriages. In William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, an immense amount of pressure is placed on Juliet by her family. Juliet isn’t able to handle the reality that through her, the family would gain power and wealth by her getting married to Paris, a man she does not love. The pressure placed on the children of nobility during the Elizabethan …show more content…
period forces Juliet to become secretive, rebellious and desperate in an effort to forge her own destiny. In the Elizabethan England, children of the nobility were looked at as adults.
They were expected to obey all parents’ wishes. If they didn’t obey, they were punished severely as this is against the laws of the time. The children were also put to work early, as many children died young, so the parents had to get the most usage out of them early on. (Elizabethan Family Life.) William Vaughan, a well known author of Elizabethan times, said that the parents should chastise the child and imprint disciple in his heart while he is young… thou shalt bow him to what instruction thou wilt.” Also, parents taught their children to use proper forms of address, such as “sir” or “madam” (Kirkland.) This formality at all times led to some pressure similar to …show more content…
what Juliet faced as the children were expected to act like adults during these times. An example of this theory that children were to act like adults came in the form of table manners, as children were to eat and drink softly (Children and Childhood.) This is not an uncommon practice now either, but children were punished far more severely than the children are now when they are not behaving correctly at the table. The pressure on Juliet led her to be secretive in her actions and her love with Romeo.
Both she and Romeo knew that if anyone of their families found out about their love, they would be separated or killed. Juliet shows this worry when Romeo shows up at her balcony after the Capulet Ball. She says to him with warning “And the place death … if any of my kinsmen find thee here” (Romeo and Juliet 2. 2. 62-65) This shows the depth of the secrecy of their love. If Romeo had been found on that night, he would have been killed without hesitation from their kinsmen. This would have led to an even bigger feud, and Juliet would most likely have been ostracized, meaning treated as an outcast, for loving a Montague. Even though they both know this, they agree to get married. Friar knows this could be bad as well, but he agrees to marry them in secret as he says quickly “You shall not stay alone, Till Holy Church incorporate two in one” (Romeo and Juliet 2. 6. 36-37.) This secretive act is expedited because Juliet is not wanting to marry Paris, but knows that her family doesn’t want her to marry anyone except for
Paris, Juliet’s rebellious spirit against her parents may have seemed reasonable, but was illegal in these times. Therefore, when Lord and Lady Capulet tell Juliet she is to be married, she responds saying “He shall not make me a joyful bride” (3. 5. 122) When this happens, Lord Capulet gets into such a frenzy that he says “Hang thee, young baggage” (3. 5. 166). This means he wants here to hang herself as she disobeyed him. This one line is the true showing of Capulet’s personality, as he wants everything to go his way, or he wants someone to die for it not going his way. He also says “Get thee to church o’ Thursday, Or never look me in the face.” (3. 5. 167-168) This means Capulet is willing to disown his daughter if she doesn’t go through with the arranged marriage. He would rather disown his one daughter than have her disobey his wishes. Her rebellious spirit may have been noble and good to have in a character, but in these times it was considered horrible and unlawful. Juliet becomes so desperate to get out of the pressure placed on her that she resorts to an incredibly risky plan, and to suicide. When Friar Lawrence tells Juliet of the potion that would put her in a death-like state for 48 hours, she responds in a greedy tone “Give me, give me” (4. 1. 123) because she is so desperate to get out of marrying Paris. This is risky as medicine had not really been good yet, and Friar Lawrence was known for experimenting with different potions. Juliet also was desperate in the Capulet vault with the dagger as she says without hesitation “[My body] is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.” (5. 3. 175) She was so desperate to get out of the marriage that she would rather kill herself with a dagger to the chest. She also wanted to die instead of living with Paris or without Romeo. The pressure on Juliet through the marriage led to her desperation and her unfortunate death. When the Capulets place pressure on Juliet, she becomes secretive, rebellious, and desperate in order to control her own life’s path. Juliet made many decisions in Shakespeare's tragedy because of her secretive, rebellious, and desperate mindset. This leads to many different consequences and her ultimate demise. Romeo and Juliet is a story that shows trying to force someone to be something they don’t want to be ends extremely tragic for everyone.
The two were too young to be married. Juliet wasn’t even thirteen before she got marriage. Maybe the two did not fully love each other. Maybe they were just infatuated with each other. The two could maybe fall out of love with each other later and divorce. The marriage basically helped cause the death of the two. If he would told the two families that he married Romeo and Juliet, he would not have had to create his potion plan. Without the potion plan Juliet never fake died which meant that the couple would have stayed alive. If he had not married them Juliet would’ve married Paris. Even though she did not love Paris she would have still been living.
Juliet certainly should have known that the results would be disastrous had she married a hated Montague. Some may say that Juliet marrying Paris would have been a tragedy in itself, but surely it would have been far less severe than the loss of two lives!
With Romeo from the Montague family, Juliet from the Capulet family and the deadliest of rivalries between the two. families, the relationship was extremely hazardous. The only way that The relationship could continue if Romeo and Juliet got married in secret, which is exactly what happened. Friar Laurence assisted the couple to get secretly wedded. His innocent interference is crucial to what happens in the play.
Throughout ‘Romeo and Juliet’ there is more than idealistic love shown, like the parental love from the Nurse to Juliet and the friendship Mercutio and Benvolio shared. This love had effects on everyone though because if Juliet and Romeo were known to be loved the feud between the houses may have been worsened and Juliet could've been left disowned if she had not married Paris. “But, as you will not wed, I’ll pardon you: - Graze where you will, you shall not house with me” (Act III: Sc. 5, lines 188-189).
Even though they were not allowed to be together, it didn't mean that they had to kill themselves. They thought in that moment that the best idea for them was to run away. They didn't tell anyone and pretended like nothing was going on. Just because Romeo was banished and Juliet was a Capulet meant that they could not see each other, but if they wanted to they could have tried to think of a better idea than running away. They might have to run away in the future if they want to be together but they did not really give anyone a chance to even think about the idea and give it a chance. Throughout their plan, Romeo was supposed to get a letter explaining everything but it was not delivered which resulted in his and Juliet's
...ither.” (3.5.155-156) Juliet would not have to fake fatality if she did not have to marry Paris the next day. If Lord Capulet had not moved the wedding to the next day, then Romeo would have gotten then letter he was originally supposed to receive and Friar Laurence’s plan would have worked out effortlessly. In addition, the father would never allow Juliet to marry Romeo considering he is a Montague, the rival of their family. This made the plan for Juliet to marry Romeo even harder.
The Pressure on Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In the play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare pressure builds up to Juliet. This is caused by a number of factors. Because Juliet is the only surviving daughter, the only child of the Capulet s, there there is a big expectancy on Juliet of the Capulets, because everybody expects her to make a marriage with a noble man.
One of the standards was that Juliet get married young. At the time, Juliet was in her early to mid teens, which is not really a good time to get married, because you still haven’t experienced life enough to know what qualities are good in a partner. Granted, he dad was going to marry her, but still on qualities he thought was good. Anyway, the marriage probably would not have been good. Also society thought that she should marry someone her dad chose for her, as shown by this quote, said by Lord Capulet, “She shall be married to this noble earl,” (3.5.24) This “noble earl” was Paris. If she had not had to marry Paris, I think that everyone would’ve gotten along a lot easier. Society also considered the Montagues and the Capulets to be enemies. So, they didn’t think that two children of opposing families should express love to each other, rather than
There are two families that hate each other Romeo's family the Montague's and Juliet's family the Capulet's. The families have hated each other for many generations. Romeo and Juliet met at a party even though Lord Capulet has found Juliet a husband but she doesn't like him and falls in love with Romeo who was previously in love with Rosaline. Romeo and Juliet get married in secret hoping in the long run that this deed will end the family feud but Juliet's family don't know about the wedding. Mercutio Romeo's best friend and Tybalt Juliet's cousin get into a fight and Mercutio dies but Romeo turns up and kills Tybalt. Romeo is banished to Mantua for killing Tybalt so Juliet isn't happy because she has lost two of the people she cares about most.
Legally women had the legal status of a modern infant – it was practically impossible for a women to get a divorce since the Church also favoured men, plus it was practically unheard of in them times. This is far different from a modern Western society, where all people’s opinions and social wealth are considered equally valuable; and everyone has freedom of speech and choice, even children (though to a lesser extent.) The principles of marriage are also far different now than in Shakespearian times. Now, the man and woman have equal say in marriage but in back then, as in some modern Eastern cultures, the father decide if the woman would marry, and who to.
One of Queen Elizabeth’s accomplishments was the improvement of education she brought to England. At the beginning of her reign, about 20% of the population could sign their own name. When she passed, 60% of the population was able to write. Both girls and boys would be taught the skills appropriate for their rank in society at the age of six. No schooling was equal to another, and not everyone could get an education. The noble-class would be home schooled by England’s top educators. The middle-class children were able to attend public schools, which were not free. Education among low-class children was much harder to come by (Benson and Stock World Wide Web).
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 Juliet’s marriage to Romeo, so he arranged for his daughter to marry Paris.
While Juliet is not as overzealous with love as Romeo is, his effect on her expresses a different side about herself even she did not know. Romeo’s influence on her takes a completely different direction in which she was raised. ‘O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore are thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name.’/ ‘or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet’ – (Act 2, Scene 2 L. 33-36). Juliet grows up in a very patriarchal society and that means the father is the head of the house. What he says, go. When Capulet, Juliet’s father, hears of her refusing to marry Paris he retorts ‘How, will she none? Doth she not give us thanks?’/ ‘Is she not proud? Doth she not count her blessed,’/ ‘Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought’/ ‘So worthy a gentleman to be her bride?’ – (Act 3, Scene 5 L.142-145).
Pleasing their husbands, parents, and families were all things women should aspire to do. At the beginning of the play, Juliet follows gender conventions. She always obeyed her parents and did what they wanted her to do. After Juliet meets Romeo, things change dramatically. Juliet breaks gender conventions by denying her parents request for her to marry her suitor Paris, something that was unheard of in Elizabethan times. It is said that “Marriages were usually arranged by the families of the bride and the groom in order for both sides to benefit from one another” (Women's Rights in Romeo and Juliet 1). When Juliet's father finds out she does not want to marry Paris, her father says “Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch!
	Due to the secret marriage, Romeo and Juliet tragically die. Had Romeo and Juliet announced their wedding, they could still be alive. Juliet would not have had to fake her death to get out of the arranged marriage with Paris if she had told her parents about her and Romeo. Romeo does not receive the information of the Friar and Juliet's plan in time, and he kills himself in anguish over her death. As Juliet awakes from her slumber, she sees Romeo dead. Juliet then kills herself in bereavement over Romeo's death. Had Romeo and Juliet announced their wedding, then none of these tragic events ever would have happened as a result of their parents dispute.