Coppelia Kahn 's article on Romeo And Juliet, Coming of Age in Verona, seeks to show the role of patriarchal rule in the play, as well as attempts to show how Shakespeare flipped it on its head. Without a doubt the patriarchal rule by both the Montagues and the Capulets is blatant. Both families are ran by the father figures, with the young men in the families acting as their father figure 's weapons. Kahn expresses how Shakespeare uses the patriarchal rule to allow for Romeo to temporarily escape the grasp of the patriarchal rule so that his love with Juliet can shine. Kahn argues that Romeo forgoed his role in his family for the chance at “true love”, where as Juliet effectively ran away from her more subordinate role so that she can be with
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Whereas the Capulets are just as patriarchal as the Montagues, Juliet throughout the play, other than a few points, is fiercely disloyal to her family. Her father 's explosive rage at most scared her into an immediate submission, but it of course is secretly subverted. Kahn explains how Juliet 's nurse plays Juliet 's surrogate-mother of sorts in the play. Juliet 's nurse offers advice, aids Juliet 's needs and trys to guide her onto the path of sub-servitude, so that the families honour can maintain itself. Kahn believes that the Nurse could not possibly understand that Juliet 's commitment to Romeo would be able to cause her disobedience to her family. Juliet 's disobedience the the typical female role in her family is shown by Kahn to be shown even before her love with Romeo. As Juliet 's nurse notes that most girls her age have already have had children and are ruled by their men. Kahn shows the importance of Juliet having control in her and Romeo 's romance, as it represents the theme in the play of the deconstruction of the romantic love story and the forbidden love due to a destruction of typical patriarchal relationships. Juliet is not taken by Romeo, she shares herself with Romeo by her own love 's …show more content…
The little hints of Juliet 's disobedience and Romeo being the more weak-willed character that is madly in love with Juliet. Their reliance on alternate mother and father figures, the nurse and the friar respectively, is an important aspect of the play as well, as Kahn notes it gave both characters the avenue needed to escape their patriarchal rule long enough to marry and elope. Unfortunately, as Kahn states, the death of the two was wholly inevitable, their love for each other ensured they would not let even death separate them, while their families would not let them truly love each other. Even in the end, as Kahn notes, Romeo dies alongside Juliet in the Capulet 's tomb, reversing the traditional passage of the female over to the male house, abandoning standard patriarchal ways. Their love, entombed and forbidden, a display of disobedience and a want for less hatred in their
Whereas the Capulets are just as patriarchal as the Montagues, Juliet throughout the play, other than a few points, is fiercely disloyal to her family. Her father 's explosive rage at most scared her into an immediate submission, but it of course is secretly subverted. Kahn explains how Juliet 's nurse plays Juliet 's surrogate-mother of sorts in the play. Juliet 's nurse offers advice, aids Juliet 's needs and trys to guide her onto the path of sub-servitude, so that the families honour can maintain itself. Kahn believes that the Nurse could not possibly understand that Juliet 's commitment to Romeo would be able to cause her disobedience to her family. Juliet 's disobedience the the typical female role in her family is shown by Kahn to be shown even before her love with Romeo. As Juliet 's nurse notes that most girls her age have already have had children and are ruled by their men. Kahn shows the importance of Juliet having control in her and Romeo 's romance, as it represents the theme in the play of the deconstruction of the romantic love story and the forbidden love due to a destruction of typical patriarchal relationships. Juliet is not taken by Romeo, she shares herself with Romeo by her own love 's …show more content…
The little hints of Juliet 's disobedience and Romeo being the more weak-willed character that is madly in love with Juliet. Their reliance on alternate mother and father figures, the nurse and the friar respectively, is an important aspect of the play as well, as Kahn notes it gave both characters the avenue needed to escape their patriarchal rule long enough to marry and elope. Unfortunately, as Kahn states, the death of the two was wholly inevitable, their love for each other ensured they would not let even death separate them, while their families would not let them truly love each other. Even in the end, as Kahn notes, Romeo dies alongside Juliet in the Capulet 's tomb, reversing the traditional passage of the female over to the male house, abandoning standard patriarchal ways. Their love, entombed and forbidden, a display of disobedience and a want for less hatred in their