gender

• Elizabethan Verona was a very patriarchal society
• what are sampson and gregory joking about in act 1 scene 1?

  raping the montague women
• what quote shows sampson and gregory joking about?

  "i will frown as i pass by" and "i will bite my thumb at them; which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it"
• how does sampson question the masculinity of the montague servants?

  "draw, if you be men"
• shakespeare presents romeo as a man with femenine traits
• how does shakespeare present romeo as femenine?

  he uses words to describe juliet such as "angel" "saint" "heaven" - we would expect him to be dominant in the relationship if he was adhering to the gender norms of that time
• what is commiting suicide seen as?

  a more femenine way of commiting suicide, rather than self-infliction
• how does juliet defy gender expectations?

  she refuses to marry paris, has the more masculine role in the relationship, acts sexually and has a more 'masculine' death
• how does juliet act more masculine in the relationship?

  she proposes the idea of marriage
• "i will never be romeo"

  romeo suggests he can give up his family name - not what a masculine male would usually do, normally the woman would do it