Dissent In Romeo And Juliet And The Catcher In The Rye

First of all, let’s look at what dissent means. The word dissent means to hold or express an oppositional opinion to widely held perspectives. Why do people dissent? By resisting and rebelling against public views and ideas, dissenting voices challenge the limitations of the expectations set within the norm of a specific or international community. In Romeo and Juliet, the title characters dissent against the norm of the Elizabethan Society of the time in different forms and extents which in the end takes a toll on each of them as they fight against other’s opinions and views. So how does this relate to Catcher in the Rye? Well, in this novel ‘Catcher in the Rye’ with Holden Caulfield dissenting against the actions of the adults in post-war

The views of the people in 17th century Italy are very different to ours as they were mainly influenced by Elizabethan and the Catholic values of the time being very strict towards the actions and ideas of young women them being seen as the property of their parents or husband. This is explored through the story of Juliet, a young girl who is forced into a loveless marriage for social contract of their families. How would you feel if you all decisions in your life where made by others? Juliet also didn’t like it. She goes against protocol of the time through her dissent towards the people of authority in this case, her parents which demonstrates the need for us to challenge the established order where we need courage and sacrifice to make a lasting change. Need proof? An example where Juliet shows defiance towards authority is when she refuses to marry Paris, going against her parent’s wishes. Here she states “Not proud you have, but thankful that you have. Proud can I never be of what I hate, but thankful for hate that is meant love”. Another example is when she feigns her death so that she wouldn’t have to marry Paris. In this scene, she fights against her parent’s forced marriage with the help of the Friar who gives her the idea after she threatens the ideas of suicide Her consideration of suicide is clear when she says, “If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help, do thou but call my resolution wise and with this knife I’ll help it presently”, where her threat of suicide not only dissents against her parent’s wishes of her marriage, it also goes against the beliefs and values of the Catholic church as suicide was said to be a sin. Sounds scary doesn’t it? Our voices are powerful ways we can improve the future and we need to know when to speak up like Juliet did. Juliet’s dissent against authority as well as the views of her community portrays her as a strong