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Romeo and juliet a love story
Romeo and juliet a love story
Romeo and Juliet
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The Elizabethan Era is known to contain certain gender roles for women that are especially demonstrated in Shakespeare’s writing. In his plays, the female characters are established as property of their fathers and their husbands. Throughout “Romeo and Juliet”, this notion justifies the behaviors of Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet especially. These gender normalities can be exemplified in 1.3 after an analyzation of Lady Capulet’s conversation with Juliet regarding her eligibility to be married to the man that she chooses for her daughter.
In “Romeo and Juliet”, the young Juliet’s role is to marry the man that her father chooses for her and to have children. Lady Capulet is evidently a victim of this notion that women are socially expected to
have children at a young age. This can first be assumed when she tells Juliet to “think of marriage now” despite her only being thirteen (1.3 75). It is more exemplified when she tells Juliet that “here in Verona, ladies of esteem/ are made already mothers” (1.3 76-7). This shows that she believes Juliet should already be a mother, simply because other girls in her city are. She also shows her feelings toward the issue by saying “by my count/ I was your mother much upon these years” (1.3 77-8). These lines explain that Lady Capulet believes Juliet is fairly late on her marriage and pregnancy because of the standards that society sets. To conclude this analyzation of Lady Capulet’s words to her daughter, it can be seen that the roles of women in the society around her lead her to think Juliet is supposed to obey her parents and marry Paris without question. In fact, she tells Juliet that most young ladies her age, including herself, would have already had children. This behavior is included in Shakespeare’s writing because it is similar to the societal normalities that surrounded him during the Elizabethan Era, despite the play taking place in a different time period.
Lady Capulet is very materialistic and she wants Juliet to gain wealth and status by marrying Paris ‘’Share all that he doth possess’’. In addition, because she got married at a young age, therefore she thinks it’s right for Juliet to be married at a young age ‘’I was likely your mother at just about your age’’. Moreover, she constantly urges Juliet to marry Paris without any sense of consideration for Juliet’s opinions or feelings, about the alliance of the marriage. Furthermore, this illustrates her cold attitude towards love and marriage as she only talks about Paris Social position and wealth.
In Shakespearean time and even up to the turn of the 20th Century men were expected to be the sole provider of the family, entailing them to be either well educated or hard working. They were also expected to be good with the handling of finances and property. It was also acceptable for them to be barbaric, boisterous and socially well connected. This has given the men of this time an overwhelming sense of power, respect and freedom; rights which were not given to women at this time. Far from what was socially acceptable in regards to men, the gender identity of women was of a somewhat weaker nature. Women during Shakespearean time were regarded as docile, quiet and non-opinionated. Their socially acceptable role in many cases was to be domestic, entailing them to spend countless hours in the home, tending to basic familial needs, such as cooking and cleaning. This position prevented many women to receive an education or to socialize outside of the home. As a result of their inferior social status, they were expected to be submissive and to cater to her husband’s needs at all times. Women in Shakespearean time were also treated as property, either by their husbands or fathers, which diminished any sense of self-worth they may have possessed. This gender ideology ultimately paralyzed women, as the majority were helpless to alter their social standing or designated familial role.
In the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, a quintessential pair of teens fall in love, but their fate ends in misfortune. The pair falls in love in a time where women are seen as unimportant and insignificant. In spite of this, Romeo breaks the boundaries of male dominance and shows a more feminine side. Throughout the play, there is an interesting depiction of gender roles that is contrary to the society of the time period.
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.
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!
William Shakespeare is known to be the greatest writer in the English language, and till this day Shakespeare upholds the title of being the start of English literature. Something every reader has possibly observed is how Shakespeare portrays women. The majority of William Shakespeare’s plays objectifies women and in some ways shows his underline feelings towards women, and their roles in society. This is clearly shown through out Shakespeare’s play ‘Othello’. The society of Othello is completely controlled by men who are the military and political leaders of their homeland. Furthermore women are seen as powerless second-class citizens, who are in place for nothing more than to serve their men. But the horrendous actions and intense downfall of the men in Othello show how men are not nearly as authoritative and powerful as they seem. The boldness of the female characters proves that they are much more capable of just serving. Furthermore, by the end of the play, I admit the men of Othello are not the ones who perform courage and power instead; this title is given to the women in the play.
The portrayal of gender roles in William Shakespeare’s play Othello, demonstrates the inferior treatment of women and the certain stereotypes of men placed on them by society. Both the male and female characters in the play have these certain gender expectations placed on them. In a society dominated by men, it is understood that the women are to be seen rather than heard. The women are referred to and treated much like property. If indeed they do speak up, they are quickly silenced. One woman’s attempt to be the perfect wife is what ultimately led to her demise. The expectations of men are equally stereotypical. Men are to be leaders and to be in control and dominant especially over the women. The male characters compete for position and use the female characters in the play as leverage to manipulate each other. Shakespeare provides insight in understanding the outcomes of the men and women who are faced with the pressures of trying to live up to society’s expectations, not only in the workplace, but also in the home. The pressure creates jealousy issues amongst the men and they become blind to the voice of reason and are overtaken by jealous rage, leads to the death of many of the characters.
Considerable expectations are placed on Juliet due to her gender. As a female, Juliet was expected to marry the man of her family’s choosing, granting her no control over her future. Capulet and County Paris discuss whether Juliet is fit to be a bride. Although age plays a factor in this decision, Capulet is deciding his daughter’s fate based on the expected gender roles of her being the sole female daughter of the family, “ She hath not seen the change of fourteen years;/Let two more summers wither in their pride/
Throughout the historical literary periods, many writers underrepresented and undervalued the role of women in society, even more, they did not choose to yield the benefits of the numerous uses of the female character concerning the roles which women could accomplish as plot devices and literary tools. William Shakespeare was one playwright who found several uses for female characters in his works. Despite the fact that in Shakespeare's history play, Richard II, he did not use women in order to implement the facts regarding the historical events. Instead, he focused the use of women roles by making it clear that female characters significantly enriched the literary and theatrical facets of his work. Furthermore in Shakespeare’s history play, King Richard II, many critics have debated the role that women play, especially the queen. One of the arguments is that Shakespeare uses the queen’s role as every women’s role to show domestic life and emotion. Jo McMurtry explains the role of all women in his book, Understanding Shakespeare’s England A Companion for the American Reader, he states, “Women were seen, legally and socially, as wives. Marriage was a permanent state” (5). McMurtry argues that every woman’s role in the Elizabethan society is understood to be a legal permanent state that is socially correct as wives and mothers. Other critics believe that the role of the queen was to soften King Richard II’s personality for the nobles and commoners opinion of him. Shakespeare gives the queen only a few speaking scenes with limited lines in Acts two, four, and five through-out the play. Also, she is mentioned only a few times by several other of the characters of the play and is in multiple scenes wit...
Novy, Marianne. Love's Argument: Gender Relations in Shakespeare. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1984
Brown, Steve. 'The Boyhood of Shakespeare's Heroines: Notes on Gender Ambiguity in The Sixteenth Century.' Studies In English Literature 30 (Spring 1990): 243-264.
The feminism of Shakespeare’s time is still largely unrecognized. Drama from the 1590’s to the mid-1600’s is feminist in sympathy. The author
Capulet is shown to be very authoritative over his wife, asking her to ‘Go you to Juliet’ and ‘Prepare her’ for the wedding. This shows us that Capulet has no doubt his wife will do what she tells her, and the use the imperative verbs such as ‘go’ and ‘prepare’ imply that women were forced to obey their husband’s instructions. We are also shown that the role of the mother was to prepare her daughter for her wedding day.
In nutshell, women in Elizebathan era were expected to play second fiddle to men in their families irrespective of the strata of society they belonged to. In contrast, men enjoyed all the power & authority and had the final say in everything that mattered.
Women (An Analysis of Shakespeare’s Treatment of Female Characters Within Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth) More often than not, literary giants of the English language provide some sort of controversy in their works that is ahead of their time. This can be found within the main themes, character development, or content matter. Widely known as the greatest writer in history, Shakespeare was no stranger to controversy. A great many of his plays are still critically studied for countless reasons. However, it is quite interesting to take a closer look at his treatment of female characters within several of his plays.