Gender in Romeo and Juliet

Alternative transcript:

feud longevity with no side willing to back down • "Grudge" (noun) - seems ridiculous • "Ancient" (adjective) - has gone on for ages "Draw, if you be men" Sampson, Act 1 Scene 1 Imperative is antagonistic The condition clause suggests their masculinity depends on their willingness to fight ● ● ● "This intrusion shall now seeming sweet convert to bitter gall" Tybalt, Act 1 Scene 5 Feud has made Tybalt territorial and vengeful ↳, He has become a symbol of the family grudge Hatred is deep like bile in the gallbladder ↳ It is in his blood Sibilance "seeming sweet" makes Tybalt's hate audible which emphasises anger ● ● ● ● Romeo's challenge: lover not a fighter "Makes himself an artificial night" "Shuts up his windows" Lord Montague, Act 1 Scene 1 ● Shakespeare parodies the courtly lover through the melodramatic description of Romeo "Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs" Romeo, Act 1 Scene 1 Poetic language juxtaposes Romeo to the aggressive and vulgar language of the men at the beginning of the play ● This contrast serves to effeminise him ● "O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!" Mercutio, Act 3 Scene 1 Mercutio's disgust in Romeo's passivity is clear in the tricolon of adjectives His exclamatory sentence emphasises his anger/disappointment He clearly believes a man's honour depends on his ability to meet violence with violence ● ● Male stereotype: power over women "Women, being the weaker vessels are ever thrust to the wall; therefore I will... thrust his maids to the wall" Sampson, Act 1 Scene 1 . ● ● ● "Quivering thigh and the demesnes that adjacent lie" Mercutio's focus on the physical attributes of Rosaline, especially the attention given to her most intimate body parts, reduces women to sexual objects ● Romeo's challenge: worships Juliet "Holy shrine" "pilgrim" Romeo, Act 1 Scene 5 The use of religious language places Juliet above Romeo, depicting her as something sacred to be worshipped This juxtaposes Sampson's and Mercutio's depiction of women "Over my head, as is a wing messenger of heaven" Romeo, Act 2 Scene 2 Simile likens Juliet to an angel Refers to Juliet as his superior which is symbolised by her standing above him on the balcony "Henceforth I never will be Romeo" Romeo, Act 2 Scene 2 ● ● • Hyperbolic but very certain Romeo is willing to give up his name and identity to be with Juliet ● Male stereotype: in control of emotions "Prick love for pricking and you beat love down" Mercutio, Act 1 Scene 4 Mercutio's violent verbs contrasts to Romeo's poetic language of love His violent imagery depicts love as a battle reinforcing the idea that men were not to succumb to the weaker emotions of love ● ● "A scratch, a scratch" Mercutio, Act 3 Scene 1 Meiosis - belittling his wound shows Mercutio conforms to masculine ideals until the very end Anaphora emphasises ● Romeo's challenge: displays his emotion "Thy beauty hath made me effeminate, and in my temper softened valour's steel!" Romeo, Act 3 Scene 1 ● ● ● "Art thou a man?... thy tears are womanish" Friar Lawrence, Act 3 Scene 3 Rhetorical question intends to insight a feeling of shame in Romeo for his emotional display "Womanish" suggests that physical displays are considered to be feminine and therefore weak ● ● By beginning the play with a fight, the audience learns that male violence will pervade this play. Does it lead to the downfall of Romeo and Juliet? Context-women ● Juxtaposition between "sweet" vs "bitter" ↳ Feud is corruptive Audience feels unsettled knowing Tybalt's hatred for Romeo - builds tension Hatred foreshadows the role he will play in Romeo and Juliet's downfall • Daughters of high-class families would expect their fathers to be very involved in choosing a husband. This highlights the belief at the time that women were commodities to be used in marriage to form useful alliances There was no concept of adolescence for girls. The transition from childhood to adulthood was very abrupt Female desire - in any form but especially physical - was not recognised by the Elizabethan patriarchal society. Sharing one's desires as a female would be deemed improper; a woman was expected to serve the needs of men ● ● Female stereotype: reliant on men "Lady Capulet" "Lady Montague" "Nurse" This relationship of subordination and dependency renders women object to their male subject as seen in the names given to some of the female characters • Women don't have an identity separate to the man in their life whether that be their husband or employer "By having him, making yourself no less" Lady Capulet, Act 1 Scene 3 Reveals how a woman's social status relied completely on their husband's status No independent identity for Juliet. Her status will be attached to her husband ● The noun 'vessels' depicts women as empty objects of little worth The comparative adjective 'weaker' reveals how Sampson establishes his own dominance by focusing on the weakness of women The possessive pronoun 'his' presents women as men's property, something to be 'overthrown' as an assertion of power The dialogue normalises sexual violence revealing the extent Sampson is willing to go to prove his male dominance Juliet's challenge: independent Sonnet form, Act 1 Scene 5 ● ● ● Direct reversal of gender roles when a woman would be expected to give up her family name for her husband "If that by bent of love be honourable, ... send me word tomorrow" Juliet, Act 2 Scene 2 ● ● Personifies Juliet's beauty to have power over him Hyperbole - emphasises the great effect Juliet's beauty has Female stereotype: sexually subservient "Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest of age" Nurse, Act 1 Scene 3 • Lewd joke makes light This joke girls and His metaphorical "valour's steel" suggests, as a man, his courage should be unwavering, yet Juliet's beauty is so powerful it can soften the strongest of metals The exclamatory sentence may reflect a sense of fear in Romeo that he has lost his courage and masculinity ● "Making • Mercutio reduces women to functions of sex and childbearing ● Their worth is dependent on their service to men Elizabethan England was a patriarchal society in which women were considered to be the lesser sex Juliet's challenge: sexually driven "Then have my lips the sin that they have took" Juliet, Act 1 Scene 5 The imperative 'have' is direct Juliet is the antithesis of what was expected of a girl: coy and passive "O, I have bought the mansion of a love, but not possessed it" Juliet, Act 3 Scene 2 reveals and ● ● ● Romeo sonnet This symbolises how the couple are each other's equals in status and in mind and Juliet share equal lines in their first interaction which form a ● ● The conditional clause challenges Romeo's motives Imperative "send" is direct of the subservience of women was told to Juliet when she was 2-highlights early objectification of their assumed role of satisfying the needs of men of good carriage" Mercutio, Act 1 Scene 4 Female stereotype: powerless "No more deep will I endart mine eye than your consent gives strength to make it fly" Juliet, Act 3 them women Her erotic monologue love The language "Have you delivered to her a sexually charged woman who seeks to make not just to fulfil Romeo's needs of possession "bought" "possessed" challenges the perception for her own pleasure of the sexual subordinate woman - Juliet very much wants to be an active participant in her union with Romeo "Hang, beg, starve, die 1 Scene Juliet is initially depicted as a dutiful daughter who obeys her parent's wishes Juliet's challenge: agency over "I will not marry yet" Juliet, Act Declarative sentence demands our legal authority Paradoxical to limited options: She "O happy dagger!" Juliet, The interjection willingness to ● Juliet makes Her suicide contrasts 'Decree' connotes over Juliet Question shows Lord Capulet expects the women around him to serve him "If all else fails, myself have power to statement decree?" Lord Capulet, Act 3 Scene 5 in the streets" Lord Capulet, Act 3 Scene 5 Lexical field of suffering highlights the vulnerability of Juliet Her welfare depends her obedience to her father on an her life 3 Scene 5 shows Juliet to be unwavering against her father's reveals marry Paris which emphasises control Lord Capulet has chooses to take control die" Juliet, Act 3 Scene 5 how patriarchal restraints on Juliet confine her or kill herself own destiny in the limited way she can of her Act 5 Scene 3 and exclamation express her heightened emotions and her die Shakespeare's message: A commentary on unequal, A cautionary rale for those that reject gendered active decision to end her life - in control to Romeo - it is more violent and more masculine power structures? their gendered roles?