Romeo And Juliet Gender Analysis

In Elizabethan England, men were believed to have a much higher status than a woman. For instance, throughout the play Romeo and Juliet, social status is used appropriately for the time and also goes against Elizabethan era beliefs in other scenes. However, in 3.5 when Capulet abuses Juliet, words used suggest how people living during the Elizabethan era would have believed in women’s inferiority to men.

First of all, Shakespeare uses many words to indicate how the average Elizabethan would have acknowledged relations between genders. For instance, when Lord Capulet begins to become angry he uses the words, “Chopped logic” when referring to Juliet. (3.5. 154) Lord Capulet symbolises the average wealthy man, as does Lady Capulet symbolise the average wealthy woman, and so on. With this knowledge, it can be inferred that Lord Capulet’s choice of words show that men felt women were unintellectual during Elizabethan times. It

During the same scene, Lady Capulet retrieves Lord Capulet after learning that Juliet does not want to marry Paris. This brings much anger, discomfort, and abuse upon Juliet as he profusely slaps her across the face. However, as Juliet kindly tells her mother she is not ready she flips a switch and becomes cruel towards her daughter. This can be seen while comparing her language used before and after Juliet’s refusal. For instance, before her refusal Lady Capulet uses words such as, “happily” and “joyful”. (3.5. 120) However, after Juliet politely rejects, her mother’s language suddenly becomes much more crass while using words such as, “fool” and “grave” in a negative connotation. (3.5. 145) This displays her mother’s quick change in mood showing that she is unreasonable, illogical, and dumbfounded. Moreover, it shows that women too believed that men were of higher cognitive function as Lady Capulet tells Lord Capulet of Juliet’s lack of “thanks”. (3.5.