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Women in Romeo and Juliet
Representation of women in Shakespeare
Women in the time of Romeo and Juliet
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In Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, it is shown that women are the stronger gender. Juliet shows this by making sacrifices, taking leadership, and showing bravery. Juliet makes sacrifices by offering to change her name from Capulet to something else, and run away with Romeo. She takes leadership by starting a relationship with Romeo and defying her father in marrying Paris. Lastly, she shows bravery by taking the sleeping potion and killing herself in a harder way than Romeo.
In the beginning of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship, they fell in love the first time their eyes locked. Since the Capulets and Montagues had a bad history together, they knew telling their parents would be hard. Juliet didn’t believe there was a significance in names, saying:
What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot,
Nor arm nor face, nor any
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Juliet shows bravery by taking a potion so she can have a chance to be with her true love. She goes through a whole lot just for the sake of Romeo. She took a potion when she doesn’t even know if it’s poison or not, has fears about what could happen, has a chance at death, and yet she goes on with it. Also, when she finds Romeo dead in the tomb, she stabs herself, saying “I’ll be brief. O happy dagger, / This is thy sheath; / there rust, and let me die” (Shakespeare 5.3.167-170) which takes a huge amount of effort. When you’re trying to kill yourself, your body instantly reacts and sends signals telling you to stop. Meanwhile, Romeo simply took a vile of poison and died. It’s much easier to drink a liquid and die, rather than feel an immense amount of pain and suffer. In conclusion, females are the stronger gender in Romeo and Juliet. Juliet proves this through sacrifice, leadership, and bravery. Sacrifices are made to keep their relationship alive. Juliet takes lead in their relationship, when normally Romeo should. Lastly, bravery is shown through Juliet by her refusing her fathers orders and stabbing
Psychology Today declares “...Females generally mature faster in certain cognitive and emotional areas than males during childhood and adolescence.” In Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, it becomes clear that Juliet appears more mature than Romeo. Shakespeare proves that Juliet demonstrates a heightened level of maturity by capturing her reactions to outlandish events, displaying her awareness of sexual realities, and exhibiting her ability to tackle tragic news.
...se he believes Juliet to dead, drinks poison to take his own life as a last resort. What Romeo is unaware of is that Juliet is very much alive, so it is very ironic when he says, “Death, that has sucked the honey of thy breath,/ Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:/ Thou art not conquered; beauty’s ensign yet/ Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,/ And death’s pale flag is not advanced there” (V iii 101-105). This is fate in the works in the play. When Juliet sees that her love has not rescued her and rather is dead, she kills herself with a dagger found in the proximity. “O happy dagger/ This is thy sheath; there rust and let me die” (V iii 182-183).
In particular, “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?/ Deny thy father and refuse thy name./ Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,/ And I’ll no longer be a Capulet” (II.II.33-34). Juliet wonders why must Romeo be a Montague, and why must their families hate each other. In addition, Juliet would give up her association with the Capulets to be with Romeo, so she would be giving up a part of herself. Furthermore, “Till thou shalt know the reason of my love./ And so, good Capulet—which name I tender/ As dearly as my own—be satisfied” (III.I.41-43). Romeo tells Tybalt that since he is married to Juliet that he loves the name Capulet just as much as he loves his own name. He now affiliates with both the Capulets and Montagues and shows this with affection to Tybalt before the fight. When talking of the theme of identity in this play, you cannot forget how important the last name of a character
Juliet rejects all previous standards for women. She will not be confined to a relationship with Romeo that adheres to the courtly love tradition.
At the party, they truly fell in love at first sight. Romeo loved Juliet much more than he loved Juliet. The quote from the Chorus “Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie, and young affection gapes to be his heir”(Act 2, prologue, line 1) proves the point. The Chorus is saying that Romeo’s old desire for Rosaline is dead, and his new desire for Juliet emerges. Furthermore,Romeo was willing to give up his own identity; his family name and honour for Juliet on the first day they met. The quote from Romeo “My name dear saint is hateful to me, because it is an enemy to thee: had I it written, I would tear the word.”(Act 2, scene 2, line 55) orives the point. Romeo is saying that he hates his last name Montague, because the were at feud with Juliet’s family, the
Romeo drank a vile of poison because he heard the news that Juliet had died, but in reality she was asleep awaiting for his rescue. Juliet awakes to the horrifying sight of Romeo’s lifeless corpse where she commits suicide in the fashion of stabbing herself with Romeo’s dragger. Though both Romeo and Juliet seem to progress through the Five Stages of Grief in an instant. In the case of Romeo, he initially denies the news of Juliet’s “death” and then retorts to searching for a means he should use to kill himself. Romeo experienced the first stage of denial and skips all the stages until acceptance where he acknowledged the terms of the situation and believed that suicide is the best method in order to be with Juliet forever. “Romeo felt cold, even in that terrible heat … ‘It can’t be!’ said Romeo at last … Romeo had made up his mind. He would sleep with Juliet that night. The only question was what means should he use to kill himself? He felt nothing- his only though was to get Juliet and be with her forever” (Shakespeare 94). On the other hand, based on the inferences from the text, Juliet doesn’t seem to experience the Five Stages of Grief at all and appears as if she has given up hope and decide to die to live by
The significance of Juliet’s change in character is to show her accelerated transformation from a young girl into a mature woman. In the beginning of the play Juliet is unable to make her own decisions. However after her meeting with Romeo, Juliet becomes more assertive and defends her love for Romeo. In conclusion, individuals cannot be forced to love; love is nurtured and nourished but also is always put to test.
Romeo & Juliet is a play written by Shakespeare about two young lovers, who cannot have each because of their family’s never-ending fighting. They both come from rich upper class families and, in which they have a big impact on the society of Verona. In the fifteenth century social statuses were based on how much money a person had, and if the person were born in to the right family or not. In Romeo & Juliet there are a lot of gender rolls, which there still is in today’s society. A woman gets paid $0.77 for doing the same job that a man does for $1 dollar an hour. This is even less for women of color. So another question woul...
Romeo and Juliet has different roles for different genders. During the Shakespearean period, when Shakespeare writes, most women had to marry when they were teen, when they were in adolescence or even before. However, the men who they were marrying were in their early to late twenties. In the household that the women lived in, the men basically owned them. The women always followed men’s word, which says that the male was the dominant gender of the society. Romeo and Juliet reflects this in a number of ways. Juliet was forced to marry Paris, by the word of her father, who said that if she did not marry Paris, she would go to the streets(Shakespeare, 3.5.154-62). Women were thought to be weaker and less important than men in Romeo and Juliet because men are trying to be the strongest out of everyone, women have a lower social status, and men think they owned women in Romeo and Juliet.
In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice, there are several strong, predominate female characters. Emilia, Desdemona, and Bianca have to defend themselves from the vicious men in the play. However, despite being victimized by the domineering men, their individual strengths set them apart from their abusers.
Romeo and Juliet are not supposed to be together. Upon seeing Romeo, Juliet sends The Nurse to find out who he is. Nurse returns saying, “His name is Romeo, and a Montague, / The only son of your great enemy” (I v 36-37). They instantly become desperate to see each other all the time, ignoring the fact that their families are feuding. Juliet likes the proverbial forbidden fruit, saying, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called / Retain that dear perfection which he owes / Without that...
Shakespeare shows how the women characters are not strong minded, but shows how their love and deception towards the male characters leads them to their behavior. Lead to their own demises due to the flaws such as dependence they have. The male characters bossed the women around and the women did as they were told. Shakespeare used Gertrude and Ophelia to show how the men seemed to do as they wished and women were forced to follow. It provides the power that the male towards the woman. The dependence of women on men may have traditionally been a factor in their lives; however, in today's ever-changing society, women have become more and more independent to overcome circumstances such as these. Not only were the women manipulated by the male characters, but they were also controlled by their beloved ones.
Shakespeare challenges the assumption that men hold more power than women do. He subtly hints that the power men posses is superficial when Jessica dresses like a boy, and later when Nerissa and Portia disguise themselves as men in The Merchant of Venice. Masculinity is merely a costume that can be donned or doffed at will; therefore its associated power can be removed and redistributed as well.
The story of Romeo and Juliet is one that almost everyone is familiar with. Not even having read the book yet, you know immediately that it will end in tragedy. It’s a remarkable tale about two young people in love who’s tragic ends result from fate. William Shakespeare describes the battle of love and hate and spreads a universal message—in which love is always victorious.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet centres on the relationship between two young protagonists, but much of what occurs during the play is as a result of the inequality between men and women. Juliet’s arranged marriage with Paris, as well as the ancient feud between Capulets and Montagues eventually contributes to the deaths of their children.