When studying a play like Romeo and Juliet, it is easy to assume that it factually portrays the era in which it was made. A plethora of characters in the play such as Capulet, do in fact represent people of this era. However, when researching deeper into the context of the Elizabethan times, Romeo and Juliet, to little/no extent represents Juliet as an ordinary girl living in this period. Shakespeare has crafted Juliet through characterisation (speech and action) as a character that culturally and socially defies Gender roles, marries younger than the social normality and is not looked down upon after taking her life. These all rebel against how young women were seen and represented in the Elizabethan times.
Through Characterisation, in
…show more content…
Socially, in the Elizabethan times, Women were seen as the inferior sex and were expected to listen to every command that a man barked. Women in this time were also not known for questioning the morals and actions of a man. In Romeo and Juliet, to no extent does Juliet represent girls in the Elizabethan era according to the expected gender roles seen in the mid-16th century. Although other characters in the play represented women as the weaker sex (True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, is ever thrust to the wall---“(Act 1 Scene 1). Juliet defies this representation in her relationship with Romeo. Upon meeting Romeo at her father’s masked party, Juliet does not shy away as any other unmarried girl would do in the Elizabethan times. Instead, she interacted with Romeo in a friendly and flirtatious manner: “Then have my lips the sin that they have took” and “You kiss by the book” (Act 1, Scene 5). In the play, Juliet can be seen as a character that questions the morals and actions of Romeo and seems to have the role of making decisions in the relationship. She questions Romeo when Juliet brings up the idea of marriage first and is very straightforward with her ideas:” If that thy bent of love be honourable, / Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow” (Act 2, scene 2). Plus, Juliet did not ask Romeo whether he would like to marry her, she only asked when …show more content…
In the Elizabethan era, suicide was an action that was frowned upon. If you were caught attempting suicide and failed, you would be put on trial and punished due to the fact that it was illegal in the 16th century. Furthermore, if you were successful at your attempt you would be buried outside of the city as an ‘exile’, you would have dishonoured your family and you would be considered as an “exiled soul”. In the play, after Juliet wakes up to her husband dead beside her, she decides that the only way to be with him was too commit suicide: “O happy dagger, / This is thy sheath,” (Act 5, scene 3). Shortly after other characters in the play found Romeo and Juliet, they discussed what they were going to do with Juliet’s body. Montague mentioned: “For I will raise her statue in pure gold” and “There shall no figure at such rate be
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
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
...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 the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, a quintessential pair of teens fall in love, but their fate ends in misfortune. The pair falls in love in a time where women are seen as unimportant and insignificant. In spite of this, Romeo breaks the boundaries of male dominance and shows a more feminine side. Throughout the play, there is an interesting depiction of gender roles that is contrary to the society of the time period.
Many times in this play and in today's time, women are perceived to be fragile and submissive while men are seen as dominant, sinewy people. To illustrate, “Where I have learned me to repent the sin/ Of disobedient opposition/ To you and your behests, and am enjoined/ By holy Lawrence to fall prostrate here/ To beg your pardon. (falls to her knees)” (III.v.14-18). Juliet is showing how another adult told her to fall on her knees and beg for her father’s forgiveness for just giving her opinion on marriage earlier in the
According to Elizabethan society, the center of Olivia’s dilemma with her marriage was ensuring her wealth, not marrying a man she loved (Joseph 170). Social class increases division among individuals in society. This play “ is not the story of a Juliet's or an Orlando's love .., but of the very realistic struggles and intrigues over the betrothal of a rich Countess, whose selection of a mate determines the future” (170). Readers looking past these boundaries created by class and gender, can find striking similarities in emotions characters have for each other. The personal struggles the characters face in this play demonstrate the obstacles that individuals faced because of their gender or place in the social hierarchy.
Juliet’s character is a collection of innocence, youth and naïveness. Her portrayal, however, did not fit well with the stereotypical view of how an Elizabethan women should have been. Women back then had to obey their fathers and husbands. They weren’t granted free will and so Juliet initial portrayal is girl who is an obeying daughter but when she discovers love she becomes a disobedient daughter to be faithful to her husband (Romeo).
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 arrange 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. 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.
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.
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.
Romeo as a Typical Courtly Lover in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is portrayed as a typical courtly lover. In my essay I will be examining the first act of the play and exploring Romeo as a courtly lover and his transition from loving Rosaline to loving Juliet. In traditional medieval literature there were often fictional characters who were known as courtly lovers. At the start of the play Shakespeare has portrayed Romeo as a traditional courtly lover because he follows the rules of courtly love.
Juliet's disobedience to her family's wishes becomes more apparent when she decides to marry Romeo. When the Nurse arrives with news for Juliet to "hie you hence to Frair Laurences' cell; there stays a husband [Romeo] to make you a wife" (Act II.5.73-74), Juliet is ecstatic. This portrays Juliet as being disobedient because while she accepted Romeo's proposal, her family has already arranged a marriage between Juliet and Paris. Juliet's disobedience continues until her death in scene five when Romeo's dagger finds "thy sheath" (Act V.3.170) in Juliet's body. The significance of Juliet's change in character is to show her accelerated transformation from a young girl into a mature woman.
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
Friar Laurence made many bad decisions when he was dealing with the two teenagers that he easily could’ve avoided. He trusted Juliet, an unbalanced teenage girl, with a poison that would assist her in faking her death. This decision was just one of many bad ones the friar made. Friar Laurence shows his negligence by saying “If / though has the strength of will to slay thyself/take thou this vial/no warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest;” (4.1.71,93,98) This quote shows the true neglegence of Friar Laurence’s responsibility, because he is instructing her to fake a suicide. Friar Laurence’s idea for Juliet is very misguiding, and for an adult, he should have considered what terrible things this decision could bring. Everyone thinks that Juliet is dead and shortly after, she is buried alive in the tomb. If Friar Laurence did not let Juliet drink the fake poison, she would have never been put in the situation that she was in, which leads her to her real death.