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Romeo And Juliet Gender Roles

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Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, tells a tragic romance of a teenage couple’s forbidden love ultimately leading to their deaths. Romeo and Juliet are madly in love with each other and will go any lengths to be together. Unfortunately, the excessive love caused destruction to not only them, but to their surroundings as well. Clashes always drive the rivalry between Verona’s warring families, where Romeo and Juliet are from. Due to the instability and conflicts between the families, the star-crossed lovers cannot be together. As a result, the two grievously take their lives. The gender expectations in Romeo and Juliet are dissimilar to today’s society. Throughout this story, it is evident that gender expectations are shown through …show more content…

During The Elizabethan Era, a men’s role was to objectively learn and become the role of being the “bigger man”, such as having all the authority, expected to be the head of the household, and generally being the one with all powers. In this story, in many occasions, it was often the case that men from opposite of families and sides were meant to be defeated through fighting duels. For instance, Sampson challenges Abram to a fight by saying, “ Draw, if you be men…” (1.1) The quote identifies the societal standards he believes should be found in a man, which is with the idea that he is less than a man if he doesn not respond to the fight. Additionally, through Abram’s enforced concept of dominance and confidence, shows that he is conforming to masculine expectations, because men occasionally showed their strengths and power through fighting duels and always had the mentality of resolving issues with violence during this era. The typical Elizabethan life for men was the one of power and were expected to live up to the standards of their titles. However, this is much different in today’s society. Up to present time, people are more considerate and understanding, which means everyone is aware of the fact that everyone has their weaknesses, as well as their strengths.Many have left the idea of a having a standardized definition for a “perfect man or women”, unlike the Elizabethan Era. Not to mention, even though in every society violence is present no matter that the circumstances are, many have evolved from the brief that violence isn’t always the immediate response to all unpleasant

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The portrayal of women in Romeo and Juliet is complex. On the one hand, the play presents women as passive and submissive, particularly in their relationships with men. Juliet, for example, is expected to obey her father and marry the man he has chosen for her, even though she is in love with Romeo. She tries to defy him so she can be with Romeo but it doesn’t turn out her way. Similarly, Lady Capulet is portrayed as a dutiful wife who defers to her husband's authority and does not challenge him.

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625 Words | 3 Pages

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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1002 Words | 5 Pages

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778 Words | 4 Pages

Their tough archetypes were always present in many plays and reinforced the idea of male superiority. This fact held true, especially for a certain tragic classic by William Shakespeare. There was a misogynistic mentality towards women in Romeo and Juliet, evident through the way women were shown as objects, portrayed as weak, and made to seem unable to dictate their own lives. Men in Romeo and Juliet could be seen acting like owners towards women. Women were seen as nothing more than possessions, as illustrated when Romeo first described Juliet as, “My lady…/my love” (II.ii.10).

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1408 Words | 6 Pages

In today’s world, gender expectations and roles of men and women are a highly debated topic. However, the reconsidering of these expectations is not a new phenomenon. Set in Verona, Italy, the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare explores the reversal and fluidity of characteristics usually assigned to a specific gender. In this play, two young people fall in love and end up tragically taking their lives as a result of their forbidden love. Shakespeare suggests that men are not necessarily masculine, women are not necessarily feminine, and that when people are forced by society to act the way their gender is “supposed” to, problems will arise.

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