Gender Roles During The Elizabethan Era

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet reflects many ideas of the Elizabethan era, and one of the most prominent ideas is the social understanding of gender roles. Gender roles were an outstanding influence on social classes and the general society at this time. Understanding how these specific gender roles were understood helps people now to see how we have modernized our standards of gender roles today to fit society. Many works of literature reflected the understanding of gender roles during the Elizabethan era, but specifically exemplified how they were differentiated and how they helped shaped literature.

Many works of literature reflected the understanding of gender roles during the Elizabethan era and how they were differentiated through how

Males presented themselves “by upholding the hostilities and manifesting them through violent conflict” (Carter), but Romeo was not the normal Elizabethan male while showing emotions throughout the play. Males were defined by their masculinity and their ability to take charge, while looking at Romeo, in Romeo and Juliet, a reader can see how he was scolded for showing feelings that would normally be expressed by a female. In the Elizabethan era females were presented as obedient, this idea was shown in Romeo and Juliet by Juliet’s perstiant motivations to obey her superiors. In romeo and Juliet (I.iii.69-99), Lady Capulet and the Nurse are trying to persuade Juliet into marrying Paris, as reluctant as Juliet was, she wanted to please her guardians and agreed to meet Paris. By Juliet’s actions of obedience she shows an accurate representation of an Elizabethan era female is exemplified. In the Elizabethan era the relationship between the roles of each gender was highlighted in literature because of how the characteristics in one gender would contrast the opposite gender, showing a clear distinction between the two. Referring to “How to Write About Shakespeare's Histories,” a reader can ask look at how women were defined by their social classes as seen in literature, and

Seen throughout Romeo and Juliet, is the theme of gender roles, which was modeled by the time period this piece of literature was written. Looking at gender roles at this time, a reader can understand why Romeo was very rash and infatuated with love, making him a tragic hero. Gender roles explained why certain characters acted the way they did. Character portrayals in literature were largely impacted by the Elizabethan era. The Elizabethan era created a specific formality of gender roles, making men seem very powerful and women wholesome, and these ideas effected how authors created their character. Since literature in the Elizabethan era accurately reflected the views of gender roles believed by society, people were more apt to be influenced by these ideas that surrounded them.In Romeo and Juliet, it was an important belief that the child’s parent was to determine their future, and this usually pertained to marriage within the youth of the Elizabethan era. This primitive idea shaped Romeo and Juliet because without this rule the courting of Paris to Juliet would’ve never been enforced, and Juliet would’ve never felt the need to take the potion to avoid courting Paris, eventually ending in both Romeo and Juliet’s death — which would no longer make The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet a tragedy or the