Juliet as Assertive and Rebellious in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Juliet as Assertive and Rebellious in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

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William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1595. Queen Elizabeth

was on the throne at this time.

During Elizabethan times young women were expected to get married at

the age of about 12-14, which today would be illegal in England. Women

had very few rights, they weren't even allowed to act. When the play

Romeo and Juliet was first performed the character of Juliet was

played by a man.

Romeo and Juliet is about two families The Monagues and The Capulets,

who are enemies. Juliet's parents (Capulets) have a party and Romeo

and his friends (Montagues) gatecrash it. This is where Romeo and

Juliet meet and it's love at first sight. The Capulets have arranged

for Juliet to be married to Paris, but Juliet is madly in love with

Romeo. Romeo gets into trouble because he kills Juliet's cousin so he

is sentenced to banishment. As a result Juliet takes a potion to

pretend she is dead. There is a misunderstanding and they both end up

killing themselves.

In this essay I will explore the character of Juliet and show that

Juliet is both assertive and rebellious.

Juliet is very obedient to her parents to start with. Lady Capulet

asks Juliet whether she will love Paris and Juliet replies "but no

more will I endart mine eye than your consent give strength to make it

fly" [act 1, scene 3] She is saying she will meet up with Parisas her

mother requests and will not do anything that her mother would not

approve of. At this point the audience can tell that Juliet is willing

to please her parents because she is agreeing to what her mother is

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...oes this by threatening to kill herself.

The play tells the audience a lot about Juliet, it portrays her as

powerful, assertive, rebellious, intelligent, loving and very

determined to get what she wants. The play also shows that she could a

bit rash at times and did not think before rushing into things so

quickly. Alternatively, she should have thought things through

properly, because she was very bright and could have designed a much

better plan to get what she wanted.

In conclusion, I think Juliet should have been more assertive and

rebellious because then maybe Romeo would not have been sentenced to

banishment. She had enough power to sort out the squabble between the

Capulet's and Montague's. She should have been more patient instead of

rushing into love so quickly, which after a short time ends with

death.