Romeo And Juliet Gender Roles

1097 Words3 Pages

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.

Show More
Related

  • Romeo And Juliet Gender Theme Essay

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gender Roles are norms set by society that dictate what types of behavior would be deemed appropriate and desirable for a person based solely upon their actual or perceived gender. Gender roles have been placed on society since the beginning of humanity and we can find examples of gender roles even in holy texts, such as the Holy Bible. Examples of gender roles found in the Bible are, I Corinthians, 11:14 and 15 which states “Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory?”, this quote states the obvious long hair is feminine, you are a man,short hair is masculine, it is wrong to do anything feminine because

    Read More

  • Gender Sterotypes defined by Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Shakespeare’s writing reflected and at times emphasized the gender oriented stereotypical roles and responsibilities of the English Renaissance. However, many Shakespearean characters including Benedick and Beatrice of Much Ado About Nothing challenged the standard image and characteristics of men and women.

    Read More

  • Gender Relations in Shakespeare´s Romeo and Juliet

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Wedding Customs In The Elizabethan Era

    210 Words  | 1 Pages

    Wedding customs in the Elizabethan times were unfair and strict. The ages of consent in the Elizabethan times were twenty-one for boys and twelve for girls: “With parental permission is was legal for boys to marry at fourteen and girls at twelve although it was not usual or traditional for marriages at such young ages. The age of consent was twenty-one and boys would generally not marry until thi age” (Elizabethan Wedding Customs). The quote shows how young a marriage could happen in the Elizabethan times. The key word in the quote is “boys.” Men had more control over their “wives” or captives. Parents could force their daughters into any marriage, and the man in the marriage would use said wife for her “benefits.” This is known as dowry:

    Read More

  • The Treatment of Women in Romeo and Juliet

    1577 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Gender Identity And Alternative Sexualities In Twelfth Night, By William Shakespeare

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    This paper will look at the different conceptions highlighted by Bulman in his article through the use of different methods used by the actors in the play. Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare captures the different conceptions of gender identity and different sexualities within the Elizabethan period.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In Romeo And Juliet?

    1949 Words  | 4 Pages

    Society at this time was dominated by men, making women live extremely challenging and limited lives. The position and status of a woman ultimately depended on that of her husband. She was not given many rights unless it was allowed by her husband. Women had to withstand arranged marriages and there were times they encountered abuse from their spouse. What many people do not see in this society is that women longed for their own empowerment and they wanted to be given the opportunity to create their own success in life without being overshadowed by their husbands. Women were supposed to be seen and not heard. They did not carry a voice in this society. This was a way of life for women "the relations of the sexes were restructured to one of

    Read More

  • Love in Romeo and Juliet

    2127 Words  | 5 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet is set during the Elizabethan period when women had to acquiesce to men. This was known as a patriatical society. It was the time when fathers decided whom their daughters should marry. In the Elizabethan period events such as marriage were more traditional and were taken very seriously as well as the fact that men were more powerful than women. The Elizabethan period was a period of internal peace between the English Reformation and the battles between Protestants and Catholics as well the battles between the Parliament and the Monarchy that repulsed the seventeenth century which relates to the Period that Shakespeare wrote the play because it creates this contrast that people were fighting over reputation for example, Capulet wanting to give his daughter Juliet to a rich and respectable man like Paris rather than someone like Romeo who does not have a reputation in the society. However, In the Elizabethan society men were the ''head of the household'' so the women of the Elizabethan society had no say in anything or anyone as well as not being able to know what the men had been up to because the men were seen as the dominant sex but on the other hand, in the twenty first century the women are mostly controlling the men such as a wife of a footballer. Men that were married were able to masquerade (sleep with another women or cheat) on their own wife's and even if the wife of the husband found out about the situation, she could not have done anything about it. She would either accept the situation or leave the husband but rarely women of the Elizabethan period did that because most of the men in the Elizabethan society were rich. As soon as the play starts, Shakespeare wants the audience to know that there is goin...

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare

    849 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Power of Women in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    Property was a central concern in most marriages. Among the upper classes, marriage meant the transfer of a great sum of money through the dowry. Renaissance England lacked a well-defined mode of marriage. They followed canon law, which "declared marriage a sacrament dependent only upon the consent of the man and woman to be wed, secret marriages - marriages without the presence of parents or other witnesses and even without priests - were legal" (Diefendorf 670) and allowed for much ambiguity and personal freedom. Even though such marriages were legal, sanctions were often imposed against priests who performed secret ceremonies as well as the couple. Renaissance parents took preventative measures to ensure the security of the family name and property by ...

    Read More

  • Romeo Juliet Women

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women in Verona during the time of the Renaissance had a completely different place in society than the men did. Juliet, Lady Capulet, and the Nurse were the only female characters in the play, but were able to illustrate the roles that all women had during that time period. All women during the Renaissance time, based on the characters of Romeo and Juliet matured more quickly then women do today, played a subservient role in society, and played the role of an object to possess. Their roles show that they were powerless compared to men, but still had an important role in society. Women have gained significant control and influence since Romeo and Juliet was written, but unfortunately there are still many cases around the world where women are secondary to men.

    Read More

  • Confined Entrapment

    1634 Words  | 4 Pages

    Webster's Dictionary defines courtship as "the act of wooing in love; solicitation of woman to marriage." In a patriarchal society, a daughter remains under the control of her father until she is married; often, the marriage is arranged or encouraged for economic or political reasons, and it is her father that ultimately holds the keys to her heart, giving permission for the suitor to pursue her. Her obligation is to submit to her father and accept his blessing, often leaving her little or no choice in the matter. In the Elizabethan society, "girls were raised to obey their parents without quest...

    Read More

  • Romeo And Juliet: Gender Roles In The Elizabethan Era

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Elizabethan era gender roles were much different than they are today. Women were regarded as the weaker sex, and men were always dominant. These “rules” are shown prominently throughout Romeo and Juliet, and paved way for obstacles they went through in their relationship. The gender conventions for women and men were prodigiously stereotypical and unreasonable, as they made men out to be the superior gender. Women should not have been perceived as inferior to men, and these unwritten rules for masculinity and femininity were shown throughout the play. Romeo acted very feminine which contradicted his gender conventions while Juliet did not abide by rules and disobeyed her parents. Romeo and Juliet had many ways in which they followed and

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Richard II

    2164 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout the historical literary periods, many writers underrepresented and undervalued the role of women in society, even more, they did not choose to yield the benefits of the numerous uses of the female character concerning the roles which women could accomplish as plot devices and literary tools. William Shakespeare was one playwright who found several uses for female characters in his works. Despite the fact that in Shakespeare's history play, Richard II, he did not use women in order to implement the facts regarding the historical events. Instead, he focused the use of women roles by making it clear that female characters significantly enriched the literary and theatrical facets of his work. Furthermore in Shakespeare’s history play, King Richard II, many critics have debated the role that women play, especially the queen. One of the arguments is that Shakespeare uses the queen’s role as every women’s role to show domestic life and emotion. Jo McMurtry explains the role of all women in his book, Understanding Shakespeare’s England A Companion for the American Reader, he states, “Women were seen, legally and socially, as wives. Marriage was a permanent state” (5). McMurtry argues that every woman’s role in the Elizabethan society is understood to be a legal permanent state that is socially correct as wives and mothers. Other critics believe that the role of the queen was to soften King Richard II’s personality for the nobles and commoners opinion of him. Shakespeare gives the queen only a few speaking scenes with limited lines in Acts two, four, and five through-out the play. Also, she is mentioned only a few times by several other of the characters of the play and is in multiple scenes wit...

    Read More

  • Theme Of Comedy In A Midsummer Night's Dream

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    All of these cases and more show Shakespeare’s penchant for challenging and bringing to attention gender roles and stereotypes in Elizabethan England. While humorous, Shakespeare still conveys his idea to those who can find meaning in all of the crazed women and cross-dressing.

    Read More

More about Romeo And Juliet Gender Roles

Open Document