Romeo And Juliet Stereotypes

Shakespeare is known for defying and playing with gender roles with certain characters in some of his plays such as Twelfth Night and Macbeth. In particular, he gives his female lead an unusual amount of strength and defiance in Romeo and Juliet. Some may even argue that Juliet is shown even moreso as the main character of the play than Romeo. Juliet continuously defies the stereotypes of her day even when others try to force her back into her supposed place in society. She does so by proclaiming that she does not want to marry right to her parents’ faces, and by taking charge, to some extent, of her relationships with both Paris, the man she’s been arranged to marry, and Romeo, neither of which seem too upset or shocked by this. She also

“Thou face is mine and thou hast slandered it.”(68) He’s upset by the fact that she’s been crying so much and while he still seems to view her as property, he tries to cheer her up. It’s also shown that he tries not to get overly touchy-feely with her knowing that she’s still upset about the arranged marriage. However, she seems to have even more say and control in her relationship with Romeo. She almost seems to take more charge than Romeo not quite saying yes to a kiss in Act I Scene V, but engaging in playful banter beforehand. Along with telling him not to swear “not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb,”(28) but to swear by nothing at all as their relationship would be going too fast if he made such promises. Juliet also takes matters into her own hands with her relationships without even consulting either Paris or Romeo by faking her death with the help of Friar Lawrence. Paris believes that she’s actually dead as according to her plan. Romeo, unfortunately, did not receive the message that Juliet has not actually been killed and truly believes that the love of his life is dead. What results from this miscommunication leads to the famous scene of Act