The Power of Juliet In the play, The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, Juliet is written to be different from other young women during the time of this play to prove a point in arranged marriages. Shakespeare purposely makes sure that Juliet perceived marriage differently than other young women to show her right to make her own decisions the play is written during times when young women/girls are groomed to marry at an early age for the sake of family reputation and status. While other girls looked at marriage as merely something to raise their status, Juliet took upon a different view on marriage. Since she was raised not properly groomed, she had no intention of being forced to marry …show more content…
Because Juliet was raised by her wet nurse she was taught and groomed to see marriage as something to not prioritize. As these other girls were raised to obey their parents and agree with arranged marriages to help the family status grow, Juliet was not raised by her mother and never got the grooming to understand the reason for marriage. When Lady Capulet talked with Juliet about the arranged marriage planned for her, Juliet was uninterested and clearly shows she has no interest in …show more content…
This quote is her telling Friar Lawrence many other things she would rather do than marry someone her parents are forcing her to. Juliet was not just trying to avoid being forced to marry Paris; she wanted to choose who she wanted to marry. Yet when Juliet lists all the things, she would rather suffer than marry Paris, which is what she ends up doing in the end. Juliet kills herself just as she said because she knew if she were to still be alive, she would have to marry Paris. Juliet as a feminist, wants to choose who she would like to marry rather than being told who she needs to marry. She refuses to give in to her parents’ expectations and breaks them to show she wants to make a choice for herself. In the end, Juliet makes the brave choice to kill herself, it might be seen as weak but to Juliet, this choice was for her to get away from being controlled. While Romeo killed himself for love Juliet not only killed herself to go with him into the afterworld but also did it, so she did not need to be forced to marry Paris. Juliet killing herself made society reflect on arranged marriages and this showed her power as a