Essay On Gender Roles In Romeo And Juliet

A major intertextual link can be found to one of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Romeo and Juliet. The plays have many points of likeness, including themes, characters and context. In both plays gender roles affect characterisation. There are many similarities in terms of Hermia and Juliet. For one, they are young lovers of the same status in terms of the social hierarchy, who, due to circumstance, are not allowed to marry who they wish. Both plays were made in the Elizabethan era and the context of production, a largely phallocentric society, has influenced views in regards to gender. In both, women are being forced to marry someone they do not love and the power rests in the father’s hands, as evidenced by Theseus’ remark “to you your father should be as a god” which shows how women were expected to be submissive. At the same time, both …show more content…
Often referred to as “star-crossed lovers” it is arguable that what Romeo and Juliet faced was fate. An intertextual link to A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be found in the theme of free will as it opens up discussion as to whether the chaos in the forest was avoidable. The influence of the fairies on the mortal world, as evidenced by how Oberon can affect who loves who, positions the audience to question whether anything they do is done freely. While Romeo and Juliet have explicit references to astrology (“I defy you stars” and “star crossed lovers”) those in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are subtler, but still there. The blending of ideas of astrology is prevalent as the moon serves as a motif for change and disruption, this is seen in Scene 3 Act 2 in which the first fight, one between Hermia and Demetrius, occurs. Hermia says “This whole earth may be bored and that the moon has just started to creep”, Throughout the play the moon is mentioned in scenes in which the natural world is in