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Gender Expectations In Romeo And Juliet

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I'm sure you've heard of the play Romeo and Juliet, but did you know that gender expectations created by society impacted their relationships? In the play Romeo and Juliet, written by Shakespeare, members of the Montagues gathered at a Capulet's party despite the feud they have been having for centuries. This all happened due to a messenger asking Mercutio and Romeo to read them the guest list of the party, they ended up seeing Rosaline on their who was Romeo's ex lover to whom he loved very dearly. Although Romeo did not like the idea of going, Mercutio convinces Romeo to go saying this will help him get over her since there will be much more beauty to look at. Mercutio still believed Romeo was in love with Rosaline and wanted to help him …show more content…

We can see this in the play where Tybalt and Romeo have a sword fight due to the fact that Tybalt disrespected Romeo. Meanwhile, while they are surrounded by all their friends, they fight, in which Romeo starts to lose. Mercutio, Romeo's best friend, jumps in to try to help him but instead he gets killed by Tybalt, and yet in his final moment, he denies being in pain. After Mercutio's death, Romeo is furious at Tybalt and decides to get revenge by killing Tybalt like he did with Mercutio. Romeo says to Tybalt, Now Tybalt takes the villain back again that late thou gavest me, for Mercutio's soul is but a little way above our heads, staying for thine to keep him company. Either thou or I, or both, must go with him (Shakespeare 3.1.130). Romeo is filled with anger and wants to get revenge, so he goes to Tybalt for revenge and kills him. By this he is conforming to the expectations of men to a tremendous extent, which reveals how his masculinity impacts Romeo and Juliet's relationship because he let his anger and desire to fight back and make his decision of killing Tybalt not thinking of the consequences this will bring to his love relationship.By killing Tybalt, Romeo was banished from Verona, making Juliet grief on finding this news out, since her beloved love was now banished. She states his banishment was worse than Tybalt's death. They are forced to separate and not see each other, impacting their relationship. Some may say that the family expectation of Juliet being forced to marry Paris impacted Romeo and Juliet's relationship because of her dad's expectations to marry her off. Lord Capulet and Paris talk about planning the marriage for Paris and Juliet's wedding, in which he says he has his blessing to marry her and they shall get married by Thursday. Lord

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In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, we see people that either keep stereotypical gender roles or break those roles. A gender role is a set of societal norms dictating the types of behaviors which are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for people based on their sex. An example of a character who keeps the gender role is Capulet, who is arguably the character that keeps the strongest gender role by leading his household with a strong manner and wanting to protect his family, deciding what is best for his daughter without her input, and expecting everyone to be grateful for everything he does for them. We will also be looking at Juliet, who does not keep her gender role by rebelling against her family, expressing her own opinions, and standing up for herself and deciding what she thinks is best for herself. Finally, we will be looking at Romeo, who takes the submissive role multiple times throughout the play, down to drinking the poison to kill himself, which is viewed as a more feminine way of killing yourself.

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In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare presents the idea of defying and showing the inaccuracy of gender norms. Shakespeare shows his defiance of gender norms in his characterization of Romeo, Romeo's defiance to fight against the capulets is an example of him defying gender norms. In the text Romeo is faced with a possible altercation between him and Tybalt, though the altercation could result in his death he refuses to fight against him. Romeo starts this interaction with saying " I do protest I never injured thee/ But love thee better then than thou canst devise/ Till thou shalt know the reason of my love./

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