Romeo And Juliet Gender Roles

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Shakespearean Gender Roles Term Paper William Shakespeare is well known for being a poet, playwright, and actor. Shakespeare's work appears to be very sexist in gender roles. He uses gender roles in his 'Romeo & Juliet' play. Juliet being the main and most important female role in this play; is supposed to be noble and respectful, but instead she goes against her father’s wishes and acts more educated than she really is. Romeo being the main male role in this play is supposed to be focused and noble, but instead he is passionate in love and isn't very wise with decisions but in comparison to Paris, who is very masculine, focused and noble shows a real renaissance male. This paper will demonstrate how Shakespeare uses gender role reversement ; by having feminism and masculinity, arrangement of marriages, and compare and contrast of different characters to prove the model of genders in Elizabethan England. FEMINISM & MASCULINITY In the play ‘Romeo & Juliet’, Shakespeare uses feminism and masculinity. This is just one way he shows gender roles throughout the play. However, Shakespeare doesn't necessarily follow the Elizabethan life that women followed in Elizabethan England time period. Women in the Elizabethan Time period had to follow certain rules: Elizabethan women were tutored at home (no schools for girls) Elizabethan women were not allowed to enter Universities Elizabethan women could not be take their father's titles (except female royals) Elizabethan women could not become doctors or lawyers Elizabethan women did not have the right to vote Elizabethan women were not allowed to enter politics Elizabethan women were not allowed in the Army or Navy Elizabethan women were not allowed to act in the theaters In expectatio... ... middle of paper ... ...nds. The lower on the social scale you are, the more likely you are to have a choice in the matter. Elizabethan women were expected to bring a dowry to the marriage. A dowry was an amount of money, goods, and property that the bride would bring to the marriage. It was also referred to as her marriage portion. After marriage Elizabethan women were expected to run the households and provide for children. The law gave a husband full rights over his wife. She effectively became his property. For underage marriage, parental permission is needed. The legal age for Elizabethan marriages for boys to marry is 14 and for girls to marry is 12. It wasn't usual or traditional for marriages to start at young ages but it still happen, just not as much as normal aged marriages occurred. The actual age of consent was 21. Elizabethan men would generally not marry until then.

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