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Gender roles in Romeo and Juliet
Gender roles in Romeo and Juliet
Influences of Shakespeare in modern culture
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Shakespeare takes the societal concept of marriage and completely re-examines the entire paradigm by using his changing characters, gender roles, and reasoning of why his characters married to cause a large paradigm shift. Early on in the book Bianca, Kate’s younger sister is seen as a tamed and lovely woman. On the other hand, Kate, is deemed to be untamable, ruthless, and just simply undesirable. All of the men want to marry Bianca. Most individuals would prefer to marry someone similar to Bianca. Marriage is supposed to be a lifetime of happiness and love for another person. Nobody wanted to marry Kate. As the play progressed a shift is seen in these two sisters. Kate turned out to be not what she seemed and was able to be tamed. Bianca …show more content…
This factor was crucial because it showed the outcome of the paradigm shift and how the change in Kate made her the best wife of all. Hortensio had his heart set on marrying Bianca. After being denied, he married a very rich widow. His sole purpose on marriage was that he was in it for the money. This way of life for him ends up backfiring because the widow isn’t obedient when he asks her to come. Lutencio marries Bianca for looks. He doesn’t take a second look at Kate because Bianca is supposedly the most gorgeous woman he has ever witnessed. Once again, this reasoning of marriage backfires because she also does not come to her husband when he calls. Petruchio's reasoning for marrying Kate was to tame her. He was determined to do this. After he finished she obeyed when asked to come forth. Thus made her the best wife even though none of the others would have imagined it. The reasoning on why the male characters married who they married benefitted Shakespeare’s societal concept of marriage because without it the paradigm shift would not have been as nearly relevant to the
Did you know that Romeo and Juliet was one of the biggest love story of all time. Romeo and Juliet is a story of two star-crossed lovers from two families the Capulets and the Montagues. The Capulets and the Montague had a big fight that made the families very angry at each other. Romeo and Juliet decide to get married. The two couple marry and run away. In the process both of them will die. When it comes to Romeo and Juliet who are the top three people that caused the two to die. The two people that are chosen are Friar Lawrence and Lady Capulet. Friar was chosen because he is the one that married Romeo and Juliet. Lady Capulet was chosen because she is forcing Juliet to marry Paris which is making Juliet want Romeo even more. The third thing
Kate and The Taming of the Shrew describes the progression of the outspoken and headstrong Kate, wife of Petruchio, as she gradually transitions into an almost perfect example of an archetypal loyal wife. This classic female archetype can be expressed through blind and ignorant support of their husband without any personal opinion or any priorities and objectives other than to satisfy the needs and desires of their husbands. While Kate begins possessing traits that oppose the loyal wife archetype due to her strong willed personality, her shift to obedience. However she continues to think with cunning strategy throughout the entire play, regardless of her weakened mental state caused by Petruchio limiting her food and sleep.
As was stated, although Kate, in many instances, appears to be controlled by others, she is actually in control of her actions. She is the one who does everything, such as allowing herself to be married off to Petruchio. Some people may say that she was forced to marry Petruchio, but she could have just run away if she really hadn't wanted to marry him. In this instance, Kate's family, especially her father Baptista, and society were influencing Kate to make the choice to not run away and follow through with the marriage. In the end, though, this was Kate's decision - no one made it for her, she had to make it for herself. She had the ability to choose to run away or do something else about being forced to marry Petruchio. Kate was already considered a shrew and often did not let society's roles for men and women influence her: Why couldn't she have done the same in this instance?
Bianca is relentlessly sought by men, but she faces a problem concerning marriage. Bianca and Katherine’s father, Baptista, commands, “That is not to bestow my youngest daughter before I have a husband for the elder” (Shakespeare I.i.50-51). Baptista declares that no man shall marry Bianca until Katherine is married. At this point in the story, marriage for Bianca seems hopeless, because no one seeks to marry a shrew like Katherine. However, a man named
In Act II, Kate comes in, dragging Bianca with her tied up. When first reading this, the thought of one sister tying up the other and dragging her is pretty funny. But when you stop to think about why Kate is doing this to her sister, you start feeling sorry for her. We see the immaturity of Kate and that she does not know how to deal with her feelin...
In The Taming of the Shrew, Katharina, or Kate, transforms from a shrewish woman to an obedient wife to Petruchio while still maintaining her aggressive attitude. Katharina was undesirable to many men due to her abusive and obnoxious actions. At this time, most women were submissive and did not have the same temperament that Katharina did. Along with this, men often took more interest in her younger sister, Bianca, as she was much more attractive and was a submissive woman like many other women at this time. Although this is true, Petruchio still finds a way to look past this and find a wife in Katharina as he is a bachelor and she has wealth. Kate’s transformation can be credited to the love of Petruchio and the observation of his shrew like attitude towards others. In a sense
During the Middle Ages and Renaissance period marriage and love were idealized, divine and celebrated. Weddings were large events that included the entire families of both the groom and the bride. Reality was different; women were viewed as being fickle, inferior to men and a possession of men. Women had very little, if any, choice in who they would marry. Marriages were arranged so that both families would benefit in gaining wealth or power. Even though the ruler of England for over 4 decades was female, women were still not respected. Women were kept at home and not allowed to take place in public events. In Shakespeare’s Richard III, male and female relationships are displayed as deeply cynical and are based on lies, lust and political gain.
During Shakespeare's period, social status was the main focus of life. Everything was made around social status. Who was acceptable to talk to, who was acceptable to marriage, and who even how they treated others. Women had to live to strict ways of life. The father controls the daughter, she is accepted to do as her father says and what he pleases. A women must always have a man in charge of her, the father picks out her husband to which the future husband will help higher the social status that they have already. Shakespeare uses Hero and Beatrice to demonstrate the dangers of love at first sight vs. the benefits of a relationship based on mutual understating.
Her personality is strong and she is independent, unlike most women. This makes her unattractive to most suitors and gains her the label of shrew. She demonstrates her personality in the beginning of the play: "I pray you sir, is it your will to make a stale of me amongst these mates?" (1.1 57-58). Shakespeare uses the characterization of Kate to demonstrate the defiance against traditional gender roles and how Kate almost immediately speaks out for herself, unlike her sister Bianca. In addition, Kate describes her future husband as a "mate," unlike how most women would describe their lovers. Moreover, Kate is educated: "I 'faith, sir, you shall never need to fear: I wis it is not half way to her heart; But if it were, doubt not her care should be to comb your noodle with a three-legg 'd stool and paint your face and use you like a fool." (1.1 61-65). Shakespeare uses the characterization of Kate to demonstrate how she defies traditional gender roles by being the only person to speak in iambic pentameter. This demonstrates her intelligence unlike many women. In addition, Kate doesn 't enjoy receiving orders from others. When her father leaves with Bianca and tells Kate she may stay, she gets angry. "Why, and I trust I may go too, may I not? What, shall I be appointed hours; as though, belike, I knew not what to take and what to leave, ha? (1.1 103-105). Shakespeare uses the characterization of Kate to
A Study of Teenage Infatuation in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Love and infatuation are both strong emotions that most will encounter within their lifetime. The two feelings are often misunderstood, but are differentiated through their outcomes and stability. True love does not only rely on physical attraction, but also on one’s personality. When one is truly in love, they accept their partner’s flaws and perfections.
Throughout the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, various types of love are portrayed. According to some of the students of Shakespeare, Shakespeare himself had accumulated wisdom beyond his years in matters pertaining to love (Bloom 89). Undoubtedly, he draws upon this wealth of experience in allowing the audience to see various types of love personified. Shakespeare argues that there are several different types of love, the interchangeable love, the painful love and the love based on appearances, but only true love is worth having.
...st play, it is not sexist and demeaning towards women. Petruchio, Hortensio, and Lucentio may have bet on their wives compliance in some eyes, but after further analysis, they were actually betting on the trust between the couple. The reader must also take into account the time period the play was written in which was the 16th century, where women were usually not even allowed to go to school to be educated, and Bianca was having private tutors for her education. Kate was changed by Petruchio’s “taming” from the beginning to the end of the play, but at the end of the novel when Kate was called upon and made her speech, she was the happiest she had been in the entire story. There are however some sexist elements in the story, but just because there are certain characteristics of sexism in a play does not mean the play in itself is sexist and demeaning towards women.
First and foremost, the married couples in As You Like It all have similar social statuses in the society. Shepherd Silvius married shepherdess Phebe, nobleman Orlando married mistress Rosalind, and Touchstone the clown married goatherd Audery. Not only did all the couples share the same social status, but their ideology and actions in the play conformed to the social convention as well. Right after Rosalind met Orlando, Celia asks Rosalind about why she had been silent for so long. Rosalind responded Celia with “Some of it is for my child’s father” (1634: 09-10). Then Celia asks why Rosalind suddenly fell in love with Orlando, to which Rosalind replies “The Duke my father loved his father dearly” (1634: 24). It is clear that Rosalind’s affection towards Orlando stems from his father’s affection to Orlando’s father. It was a convention for parents to arrange their children’s marriages, especially for aristocracy. Therefore, Rosalind knew that she was to marry Orlando and that became the rationale for her further affection towards Orlando. Another example of a character in the play conforming to social convention is Phebe. As a native of the forest of Arden, Phebe was straightforward and somewhat arrogant. She was very clear about her feelings to Ganymede and Silvius. However, in the ending scene, when she realizes that the man of her dream was actually a noble woman, and that she was set up into the marriage with Silvius, Phebe conforms to the arrangement and marries Silvius. With a comedy one might expect Shakespeare to make happen something unconventional. However, the marriage part seems to be very conventional as everything was socially expected. But the title of the play somehow conveys an ironic
Everyone is to blame for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo, Juliet, Friar Laurence, and Romeo and Juliet’s parents all played their own role in causing the four deaths of Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, and Paris. It is not just one of them to blame, every one of them did something to cause the tragedy. Some of them played a bigger role than others, but everyone contributed. Fate had nothing to do with it and it was all the different characters faults. Romeo, Juliet, and Friar Lawrence’s rash decisions where the main cause of the tragedy.
As You Like It is remarkable among Shakespeare's plays for ending with four marriages, something of a record even among comedies. Love is a central theme of the play, although in some of its variations it cannot quite be said to be romantic! The love relationships may, at first glance, appear to be stock types: Rosalind and Orlando representing romantic hero-heroine love, Silvius and Phebe combining love in the lower classes with unrequited love, Audrey and Touchstone a darker attempt to seduce, and Celia and Oliver simple tying up of loose ends. However, Shakespeare makes the theme interesting not just through the sheer variety of relationships that he explores, but also through the unusual elements he brings to each.