Romeo and Juliet Essay
Texts reflect the values of the context in which they are produced.
Juliet, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1595), does not abide by the stereotypical values of women, from the Elizabethan era. Women had three main roles they could undertake in society; motherhood and being a wife, daughters or servants. Romeo and Juliet focuses a lot on the stereotypes of women in the Elizabethan era and how Juliet defies those values to be with Romeo. Romeo and Juliet looks at a few stages of women, in Elizabethan eras, life. Specifically; how daughters were expected to act compared to how Juliet acts, the social ranking of women in the Elizabethan era and Women in relation to marriage. The defiance of these conventions ultimately …show more content…
Women were almost the lowest thing you could be, only above, children and criminals. They were expected to listen to their father or husband, bear children and manage the household. Women had very restricted rights in the Elizabethan era, but they could be taught a trade and make a living in certain professions. This way of life seems unusual to people looking back at the Elizabethan era, as the person who controlled the country was Queen Elizabeth, a lady. This bought on a conflicted idea about gender. Gender was thought to be a set of socially described qualities. You can be gendered as a female by your behaviours although you may be biologically male, gender was viewed as how you behave in society. Sex is what you’re born as. Juliet lives in a family of people who believes in the traditional role of women in the social order; however her father does try to respect her needs and wants as a girl. Juliet goes against the idea of women ideas being valued as low, when she chooses her own opinion over her fathers by refusing to be married to Paris. Lady Capulet: “Marry, that 'marry ' is the very theme I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet, How stands your disposition to be married?” Juliet: “It is an honour that I dream not of.”(Act 1, scene 3 64-67). Marriage was seen as something that daughters were expected to do. In this time of social change the families ideas and Juliet’s ideas on women’s social ranking in society clash, this causes issues for Juliet as she decides to value herself in the hierarchy rather than follow social
Texts reflect the values of the context in which they are produced.
Juliet, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1595), does not abide by the stereotypical values of women, from the Elizabethan era. Women had three main roles they could undertake in society; motherhood and being a wife, daughters or servants. Romeo and Juliet focuses a lot on the stereotypes of women in the Elizabethan era and how Juliet defies those values to be with Romeo. Romeo and Juliet looks at a few stages of women, in Elizabethan eras, life. Specifically; how daughters were expected to act compared to how Juliet acts, the social ranking of women in the Elizabethan era and Women in relation to marriage. The defiance of these conventions ultimately …show more content…
Women were almost the lowest thing you could be, only above, children and criminals. They were expected to listen to their father or husband, bear children and manage the household. Women had very restricted rights in the Elizabethan era, but they could be taught a trade and make a living in certain professions. This way of life seems unusual to people looking back at the Elizabethan era, as the person who controlled the country was Queen Elizabeth, a lady. This bought on a conflicted idea about gender. Gender was thought to be a set of socially described qualities. You can be gendered as a female by your behaviours although you may be biologically male, gender was viewed as how you behave in society. Sex is what you’re born as. Juliet lives in a family of people who believes in the traditional role of women in the social order; however her father does try to respect her needs and wants as a girl. Juliet goes against the idea of women ideas being valued as low, when she chooses her own opinion over her fathers by refusing to be married to Paris. Lady Capulet: “Marry, that 'marry ' is the very theme I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet, How stands your disposition to be married?” Juliet: “It is an honour that I dream not of.”(Act 1, scene 3 64-67). Marriage was seen as something that daughters were expected to do. In this time of social change the families ideas and Juliet’s ideas on women’s social ranking in society clash, this causes issues for Juliet as she decides to value herself in the hierarchy rather than follow social