Role of Gender in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

I think people still find `Romeo and Juliet` fascinating today is because the play is built up of a mixture of scenes. For example it has romance in the form of Romeo and Juliet's relationship, fate which occurs regularly throughout the play and violence mostly caused by Tybalt. It contains an interest for all ages and different types of people, despite people think it's outrageous to find true love and get married at the age of thirteen! `Romeo and Juliet` is popular worldwide with the famous saying "Romeo, Romeo, where art thou Romeo?" The beautiful language throughout the play is unique which also attracts an audience.

This theme would be very poignant and interesting to the people in Shakespeare's time because they were scared of civil war. Nevertheless love is still a very strong theme in Romeo and Juliet. We see lots of different views and representations of love in this play but the only true or real love shown in the play is the love between Romeo and Juliet. I think Shakespeare chooses to do this to show us the strength of their love. The nurse as well as Gregory, Sampson and Mercutio talk a great deal about sexual love and their views of the roles of men and women.

She tells Juliet that Romeo has been banished form Verona for murdering Tybalt, who killed Mercutio. Juliet is devastated by this news and starts to mourn about her banished husband (Romeo). Later that day, Paris comes over to the Capulet residence to talk abou... ... middle of paper ... ...e it appears that Juliet is dead but she is actually just faking it. Thought out the story, Romeo and Juliet, there are many examples of appearance vs. reality. The examples discussed were when Juliet appears to be crying for Tybalt but she is actually crying for Romeo, when Romeo and Juliet get married in secret but it looks as if they are still single and when Juliet appears to be dead but instead is just in a deep sleep.

In the middle of the play there is big conflict between the two families when Romeo fights Tybalt. Romeo says: “This fight will decide who dies.” (Act lll, Scene 1, Line 93). Here the reader will notice that Romeo is just about to fight with Tybalt and ... ... middle of paper ... ...t Verona which basically means because Juliet is there. When Juliet wakes up and sees Romeo’s dead body right by her she also kills herself. This suicide is what really demonstrates the immaturity of Romeo and Juliet’s passionate love.

Unfortunately, the fighting gets worse and Mercutio (Montague) a good friend of Romeo ends up in a fight with Tybalt (Capulet), Juliet's cousin. Tybalt killed Mercutio, which caused Romeo to kill Tybalt in an angry rage. For this, Romeo is banished from Verona. At the same time, the Capulet's were planning Juliet's marriage to Paris. Juliet didn't want to marry this man so she arranges with Friar Lawrence to fake her own death with a sleeping potion that would make everyone think that she was dead.

Meanwhile, Juliet is in turmoil, her cousin has just been murdered and her husband has been banished. To make things worse for Juliet, her mother and father try to make her happier by finding her a husband not knowing, of course, she is already married. When Lady Capulet enters Juliet's room to tell her the news, she sees Juliet has been crying, and assumes the tears are for Tybalt. "Evermore weeping for your cousin's death? What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?"

The comparisons drawn between Beatrice and Benedick's love and the superficial love of Hero and Claudio are typical of the constant contrasts that Shakespeare builds into this play, comical or otherwise. It is in this way that Shakespeare manages to cross-reference almost all of his characters with each other; ` the 'wise' Beatrice with the 'modest' Hero, the 'valiant' Benedick with 'Sir boy,' the young Claudio. This emphasises their strengths and highlights their weaknesses respectively. By this he makes them more interesting, and so more realistic, pointing out things about the society in which the play was written, and about human relationships as a whole. One of the topics Shakespeare is especially fond of is that of Love being a force for good in society, improving anyone who is infatuated with it.

In another instance in act four, the same thing nearly happens again to Florinda when she ventures into Blunt’s house. Blunt has been tricked by another woman and decides to take his revenge out on that woman by sleeping with Florinda. He gets very physical with her and Florinda protests with, “Dare you be so cruel?” (IV.v.51). Blunt replies with this heartless speech: “Cruel? ...as a galley slave, or a Spanish whore…I will kiss and beat thee all over, kiss and see thee all over; ... ... middle of paper ... ...the patriarchic society, Florinda’s father and brother won’t allow them to be married.

The main themes in the play are love, family, conflict and death. Like many other plays it is built on contrast, such as youth against age and also love against hate. Shakespeare builds it so that opposites collide all the time which forms a central dramatic technique. Other key dramatic techniques include the use of contrast, structure, interaction between the main characters, differences in the style of verse, dramatic irony and imagery created b... ... middle of paper ... ...ggest impact of this scene is on the audience, mainly because of the fact that they probably know from previous knowledge that at some point or other Romeo is going to meet Juliet, and from that moment onwards, the plot will develop. Right from the beginning of the play tension is mounting up as the scene is progressing closer, and when it arrives I am sure that it grasps the audience’s full attention because they want to witness the meeting that will eventually lead the two lovers to their death.

The disagreements and fight between the two family, that is Capulet and he Montague, their children Romeo and Juliet who truly were in love with each other end up dying. So, after this incident, the quarrels stop between the two families. The whole play starts because of the mutual hostility and conflict between the Capulet and the Montague and ends with tragedy of two lovers. The abundant swordplay throughout the play affects the theme of conflict used in ?Romeo and Juliet?. In this play, there are spontaneous actions of the characters rather than their thoughts.