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Romeo and Juliet scene II actII
In the Romeo and Juliet the personal relationships
Romeo and Juliet scene II actII
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I believe that in act one scene 1,2 of Romeo and Juliet that the male gender brings most of the dramatic impact on the audience. One of the dramatic male figures is Romeo. Romeo is a very dramatic character and it shows in how he feels towards the girls, also how he acts around them. An example is when he says “Did my heart love till now? For swear its sight! For I ner’er saw true beauty till this night.” The reason this is so dramatic, is because he has just been talking about how he could never love any other girl, also that no girl was prettier then Rosaline, yet he is saying these things about Juliet. Mercutio is also a good example for this, he likes to make jokes and make people laugh, but he can go to far and be
Romeo develops the theme of gender roles by being an example of society’s view of a male during this time period, Romeo also shows that he is aware of his masculinity when he states that by being around his lover,Juliet, he has become “womanly” and non-masculine, “This gentleman, the Prince 's near ally,My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt In my behalf. My reputation stain 'd With Tybalt 's slander—Tybalt, that an hour Hath been my cousin! O sweet Juliet,Thy beauty hath made me effeminate. And in my temper softened valor 's steel!”(3.1.114-120). In Verona, in Romeo and Juliet, the world of men and the measure of a man was determined by violence, sexual domination, and also conquest, Romeo displayed these characteristics with his first motive to go to the Capulet’s Ball, he went after Rosaline, Juliet’s cousin, whom he was trying to seduce, and this shows that Romeo saw Juliet by accident because he was only at the ball due to his determination to sexually dominate Rosaline and make her his. Romeo has given countless examples of the claim of masculinity through violence, but one example comes from when Romeo kills Tybalt, who had previously killed Romeo 's best friend Mercutio, and restates his masculinity as well as getting revenge on the behalf of his slain friend, “ Alive in triumph, and Mercutio slain!Away to heaven, respective lenity,And fire-eyed fury be my conduct
One clear representation of the reverse gender roles displayed throughout the novel is when Juliet proposes the idea of marriage to Romeo. On the balcony, following Romeo’s profession of love, she states, “Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow” (Rom.2.2.146). During the time of Romeo and
3 Dec. 2013. Kerschen, Lios. A. A “Critical Essay on ‘Romeo and Juliet’. ” Drama for Students. Ed.
The Manipulation of Gender Roles in Shakespeare’s Othello. Of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, the story of the rise and fall of the Moor of Venice arguably elicits the most intensely personal and emotional responses from its English-speaking audiences over the centuries. Treating the subject of personal human relationships, the tragedy, which should have been a love story, speaks to both reading and viewing audiences by exploring the archetypal dramatic values of love and betrayal. The final source of the tragic action in Shakespeare’s
William Shakespeare 's play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, (Romeo and Juliet) includes two very rash, passionate characters who refuse to listen to the demands of their families. This ends with them paying the ultimate penalty, death. In Pamela Berkman’s story, “Duty”, there is a grieving mother who is not grieving as much as one usually would over the circumstances involving the death of their child. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and "Duty" by Pamela Berkman, there are two main female roles that are progressively changing along with the plot and as they interact with other characters and are thus labeled as "complex characters". These characters would be Juliet, from Romeo and Juliet, and Lady Capulet, from "Duty".
Plot Context: King Claudius is talking about Hamlet mourning the death of his father still. His mother Gertrude says she also still misses her husband but you have to move on.
Othello represents a prime example of Shakespeare's ability to develop relationships between the sexes so as to demonstrate those relationships' weaknesses. In Othello, the sexes are divided by misconceptions and ego- centric views of the opposite gender. The men of the play, in particular Othello, maintain a patriarchal, chivalric notion of the sexes, while the women of the play yearn for more involvement in their husbands' affairs. So it is that the thrust of the play emerges from "the opposition of attitudes, viewpoints, and sexes." (Neely 214)
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.
Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in the 16th century, at a time where the role of the woman was to be subservient to men and act as a wife to their husband and a mother to their children. Women were expected to conform to the expectations of society, and were seen as possessions by their fathers and husbands. Fathers arranged their daughters’ marriages, usually for financial or social gain for the family. In Romeo and Juliet, the unfair treatment of women is conveyed through characters such as Juliet, a young girl who is growing into the expectations of society, and Lady Capulet, who represents a traditional side of love and values social position rather than men themselves.
The societal roles and expectations forced upon Juliet regarding her identity impact her actions and decisions. Juliet’s expected contributions to society are based on her gender, her age, and her family name.
When a man is attracted to a woman they express the feeling mutually. An example would be in “Michelle”, sang by Paul McCarthy where a man sings to his lover in French. Context clues point to the fact that she does not speak English, which is why he sings in French, “the words she will best understand.” In “Romeo and Juliet”, written by William Shakespeare, Romeo spots Juliet and immediately notices her great beauty. By saying what he did, he shows her that he noticed her over all the other ladies in the room. Looking at what both sources portray about how men show their emotions, we are to see that when a man feels attraction towards a woman, they are compelled to express this by talking and complimenting the woman they feel attraction to.
Throughout Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, there is an overlaying presence of the typical roles that men and women were supposed to play. During Elizabethan times there was a major difference between the way men and women were supposed to act. Men typically were supposed to be masculine and powerful, and defend the honor. Women, on the other hand, were supposed to be subservient to their men in their lives and do as ever they wished. In Romeo and Juliet the typical gender roles that men and women were supposed to play had an influence on the fate of their lives.
Shakespeare's Othello is commonly regarded as a work depicting man's ability to use his reason towards evil intentions. A lowly ancient in a general's army is able to destroy him through manipulation and deceit. But although Iago's deceit of Othello is undoubtedly a central theme in the play, another theme regarding the nature of the man towards woman is apparent. Shakespeare's Othello suggests that men mistreat women because women, as a sex, allow themselves to be mistreated.
However, throughout Romeo and Juliet, Romeo possessed little to none of these traits. “Men in Renaissance society were expected to engage in public affairs in the way of soldiers, politicians, and other leaders; to be talkers, decision makers, and move events forward. Their lives were duty-bound to the state and were aggressive and self-satisfying.” (Leann Pettit 1). When Romeo is upset about having to be away from Juliet, he goes to friar Lawrence for help. When Friar Lawrence is talking to Romeo, he says that he is being preposterous and not acting like a man for sulking around and crying. Men were supposed to be valiant, and it was not very brave of Romeo to talk about attempting suicide as Friar Lawrence points out. Friar Lawrence says “Hold thy desperate hand! Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art.Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote the unreasonable fury of a beast. Unseemly woman in a seeming man,Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both!” (3.3.118-123). Friar Lawrence tells Romeo he is being very feminine, and that instead he should be brave and act how an Elizabethan man should. Another way in which Romeo breaks gender roles is when he blames Juliet for his lost manhood. Prior to meeting Juliet he has always been feminine, yet he blames it on the fact that because he was hanging out with Juliet all the time he became womanly. Romeo cries “O sweet Juliet. / Thy beauty
In Hamlet, gender plays a huge role in the assumed capability of people. Queen Gertrude had to remarry instead of rule the kingdom by herself. If she wouldn’t have gotten remarried, it would have been likely that her kingdom would have been usurped by a chauvinist male ruler; who felt that women couldn’t rule a kingdom.