The play ‘Romeo and Juliet ' written by William Shakespeare is a romantic tragedy about the two ‘star-crossed lovers ' from Verona, who ‘take their life ' primarily due to the social expectations that are put upon them by society and the actions of the people who they depend on the most. The protagonists grow up in a strict society in which gender roles and family dignity are classified more important than an individual 's happiness. However, Romeo and Juliet go against this expectation in order to be with each other. The characters of the play are constantly put under the pressure of behaving according to the social expectations that apply to their gender. The families, Montague and Capulet who are ‘both alike in dignity ' have a strong desire
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In the Elizabethan Era where Romeo and Juliet 's tragedy was written, society had an expectation that people will behave according to their gender roles. Men and women were expected to live differently in society. Woman were expected to be chaste and obedient while men were expected to be controlling and masculine. The head of the house would always be the father, he had the authority to control the actions of all the family members. As the father of Juliet, Lord Capulet 's duty is to find a suitor that he believes is the best for both Juliet and his family. In order to fulfil his duty as a father, he had to disregard his daughter 's happiness. "And you be mine, I 'll give you to my friend; And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets" (Pg135), the social pressure put upon Lord Capulet gives him no other choice but to force Juliet into marriage. This is because society 's expectation is that a father would choose who their daughter 's suitor will be and to disobey this expectation would mean he didn 't fulfil his duty. Lord Capulet believes Juliet is his property and therefore he can do what he wants with her and she must obey his orders at all times. With this belief, he threatens to disown her hoping she will obey him since there would be no way for Juliet to survive without her parent 's help. Juliet being a woman cannot stand up to her father 's aggressive orders directly because it would get her disowned from her family, which will make matters worse for her, her only option then was to go with Friar Lawrence 's potion plan. If Lord Capulet didn 't obey his gender roles as a man, his daughter wouldn 't have taken the potion, and Romeo and Juliet wouldn 't have committed the double suicide. Accordingly, the gender roles that are given to the characters of the play ‘Romeo and Juliet ' caused the deaths of the two young
In the Elizabethan Era where Romeo and Juliet 's tragedy was written, society had an expectation that people will behave according to their gender roles. Men and women were expected to live differently in society. Woman were expected to be chaste and obedient while men were expected to be controlling and masculine. The head of the house would always be the father, he had the authority to control the actions of all the family members. As the father of Juliet, Lord Capulet 's duty is to find a suitor that he believes is the best for both Juliet and his family. In order to fulfil his duty as a father, he had to disregard his daughter 's happiness. "And you be mine, I 'll give you to my friend; And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets" (Pg135), the social pressure put upon Lord Capulet gives him no other choice but to force Juliet into marriage. This is because society 's expectation is that a father would choose who their daughter 's suitor will be and to disobey this expectation would mean he didn 't fulfil his duty. Lord Capulet believes Juliet is his property and therefore he can do what he wants with her and she must obey his orders at all times. With this belief, he threatens to disown her hoping she will obey him since there would be no way for Juliet to survive without her parent 's help. Juliet being a woman cannot stand up to her father 's aggressive orders directly because it would get her disowned from her family, which will make matters worse for her, her only option then was to go with Friar Lawrence 's potion plan. If Lord Capulet didn 't obey his gender roles as a man, his daughter wouldn 't have taken the potion, and Romeo and Juliet wouldn 't have committed the double suicide. Accordingly, the gender roles that are given to the characters of the play ‘Romeo and Juliet ' caused the deaths of the two young