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Themes of gender roles in Romeo and Juliet
How women are portrayed in Shakespeare plays
Shakespeare's representation of women
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In the Elizabethan period, woman of higher social classes were supposed to embody “obedience”(Gerlach et al. 1) and this is shown throughout the text. In the beginning of the book, Lady Capulet tells Nurse to summon Juliet, so she can inquire about her getting married. As Juliet enters the room she says,“Madam, I am here. What is your will?” (1.3.7). Here, we can see not only Nurse being obedient to Lady Capulet’s wishes, but also Juliet being obedient and going to her mother after she is summoned. Similarly, after a discussion with Count Paris, a noble man who seeks Juliet’s hand in marriage, Lord Capulet decides that Juliet will marry him and tells Lady Capulet to deliver the news to Juliet. Not happy with this, Juliet expresses her opposition
Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is a story of two young lovers. These two hearts, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet belong to feuding families. The family feud causes them to keep their love a secret and therefore only Romeo, Juliet, Benvolio, the Nurse and Friar Lawrence know of their love. Romeo and Juliet are able to look past the feud and let themselves fall in mad love with the other. They let themselves do almost anything for the other and at times it seems like too much to do, even for the one they love. Although fate and character traits play a key role in the play, ultimately Rome and Juliet’s personal choices lead to their downfall.Fate originates all of the conflicts in Romeo and Juliet, from when they met until they die.
Context has greatly influenced how Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare in the 1500’s to how Williams Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet was produced in 1996 by Baz Luhrmann with a more modern intention.
Juliet was pressurized to devise a plan, no matter how atrocious it was. Alternatively, Shakespeare presents Lady Capulet as a stereotypical woman among the patriarchal society. They usually belonged to their father or husband, like land or money and were expected to follow their orders. Women in the 16th century didn’t have much power or right to voice their opinions to their husbands. Perhaps, Lady Capulet realizes that Juliet has no choice but to obey Lord Capulet's request, as socially Juliet doesn’t have the power to reject
Although disobedient maybe true from Capulets point of view, it doesn't mean it is a bad thing if it is. he's in the wrong. I think Juliet should be felt sorry for as she has no one to turn to, her mother says. "Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word" and the nurse just leaves her on her own. As for Lord Capulet he is just being selfish and trying to control Juliet to protect his
In the article “Juliet’s Taming Of Romeo” Carolyn Brown discusses that Juliet “tames” Romeo in the play Romeo and Juliet, however, I do not really agree with that. While some believe that Juliet controls Romeo throughout the play, I maintain that it is almost impossible for Juliet to completely control Romeo because of the fact that they barely talk throughout most of the play and because Friar Lawrence is controlling most of the play.
Juliet was a beautiful girl who was lovestruck and she would give her life away for love. She is obedient, eager and passionate young girl. She was deep in love with Romeo. Romeo and Juliet is a play written by William Shakespeare.
It is expected of her to do as her father declares, as the good obedient daughter she is. In this day in age, it was unheard of for the woman to choose the man they wanted to marry. These strict gender roles inhibit Juliet from choosing her own path, and holds an influence in her rebellion against her family. Juliet understands what is unfairly expected of her as a female, but continues to fight a losing battle of breaking free from those stereotypical duties. In a conversation with her mother, she inquires what Juliet’s position is on marriage, “Lady Capulet: Tell me, daughter Juliet,/How stands your disposition to be married? Juliet: It is an honour that I dream not of” (I.iii.64-66). This is one of the first and only times where anyone considered that Juliet may have a say in signing away her future. Perhaps it is Lady Capulet who asks as she too was expected to marry at a young age, so she can best understand what Juliet is going through and the pressures put on her. Juliet realizes that an arranged marriage into a good family is an honour, but it does not seem to be something that she is looking for in life. She does not want to marry a man simply because it is expected of her. Later in the play, Juliet is the
The decision of pursuing personal desire or choosing to conform is a conflict that every person in life experiences. In his play, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare portrayed that the aforementioned conflict was existent in everyone’s life, and, depending upon what they chose, there would be corresponding repercussions. Shakespeare displays this conflict when the protagonist, Romeo, attends the ball, marries Juliet, and kills Tybalt.
Instead it is the wife’s duty to inform her child that she must prepare herself for marriage. Lady Capulet was married at an age younger than Juliet is. She says, "By my count I was your mother much upon these years that you are now a maid" (1.3.73-75). It is time Juliet leaves her nest and adds to the family’s fortune. The mother is the one to tell Juliet this news because she was put into the same situation as her daughter. During the ...
As Juliet enters the presence of her mother and the Nurse, Shakespeare portrays Juliet as a very faithful daughter. When summoned by the Nurse, Juliet comes promptly and then responds politely to her mother, "Madam, I am here, what is your will?" (Act I.3.7). When Juliet refers to her mother as 'madam" (Act I.3.7), the audience also gets the impression of Juliet being compliant to her elder's wishes. This can be observed when her mother asks her about her thoughts on marriage, and Juliet responds, "It is an honor that I dream not of" (Act I.3.68).
When one looks closely at the story of Romeo and Juliet, one will see that it is a story with many ethical aspects. The first ethical concern was the two feuding families. How moral is it to hate someone only because they have a certain family name? This all come from a time period when people were fairly focused on religion, which teaches us not to hate. I also question this because I think it is ironic that both Romeo and Juliet seem to be fairly religious, since the first person Romeo went to for help was Friar Lawrence, and a few scenes in the play took place in or around the church. I think that this hatred is especially bad in the case of the Capulets and the Montagues, because I was always under the impression that the families had been feuding for so long that no one really knew why they hated each other anymore. This was the beginning of the problems for Romeo and Juliet. They had a moral decision to make. Should they stay true to their families, and deny their love, or should they stay true to their feelings and disgrace their families? In order to resolve this dilemma, Romeo turns to Friar Lawrence, who perhaps could be seen as the most moral character, to begin with. Because he was a holy man, he was the most logical confidant of anyone in the play. People see men of the cloth as reliable and a good source of advice. Of course, Friar Lawrence has every intention of helping the two lovers, also hoping that he could reunite the feuding families. However, unbeknownst to him, everything he will do throughout the play will have an unnerving consequence. No matter what he did to correct what he had done wrong, it only drug him deeper into trouble. Who ever would have thought that by marrying the two young lovers, he would have caused all of this heartache for the families, and really for all of Verona? No one ever considered the fact that two young people wanting to get married would have affected the entire city. Friar Lawrence was only trying to be a good friend and ally, but everything he did just ended up backfiring for him.
Romeo and Juliet is a timeless tale of lovers who's misfortune and immaturity was a cause of their own destruction. The characters individually show immaturity and together demonstrate how ignorance of the world effects more than just their own lives. Romeo and Juliet, as expressed in the succeeding examples, fall in love quickly as a result of their naivety.
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/
In the first scene of Act one there is the servants Sampson and Gregory talking about sexual love. As they both talk about taking girls virginity. They both sound arrogant as they talk as if it is through experience. To them the thoughts of taking a girl’s virginity seems a joking matter.
Capulet is shown to be very authoritative over his wife, asking her to ‘Go 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 of the imperative verbs such as ‘go’ and ‘prepare’ imply that women are 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. Works Cited Romeo and Juliet sparknotes shmoop.