Gender Roles

• Gender roles


  An important theme in Romeo and Juliet that contributes to the characters and their development, though it can also be a source of conflict as the characters do not always adhere to the roles they are traditionally supposed to fulfil
• The play is set in a patriarchal society which was oppressive to women, but men also had their own social rules that they had to follow
• Masculinity


  A key theme in Romeo and Juliet that dictates the way in which the male characters behave towards each other and the female characters
• The feud between the Montagues and Capulets is based on male pride, with no side willing to back down to create peace
• Male conflict and violence


  Pervades the play, as shown in Act 1 Scene 1 where the men would rather fight than be perceived as cowards
• Hegemonic masculinity


  The idea that male dominance is established through the submission of women as well as the excursion of their aggression
• Sampson: '"women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall"'
• Sampson's crude language and sexual imagery is suggestive of rape, as he feels he has the right to do this because women are the "weaker vessels"
• Shakespeare uses this ironically as he has flipped the biblical verse upside down, where the weakness of women is used as a reason to take advantage rather than a reason for men to be kind
• Romeo's masculinity

  The audience never sees his natural disposition, only when he is suffering from being lovesick or madly in love, making him an effeminate character
• Shakespeare's portrayal of Romeo


  Juxtaposes the hypermasculinity shown by Tybalt and Sampson in Act 1 Scene 1, feminising Romeo as a Petrarchan lover suffering from unrequited love
• Petrarchan lover


  A man suffering from unrequited love, often melodramatic about their rejection and going into a state of depression
• Romeo's struggle with masculinity


  Is portrayed as being caused by external factors such as the influence of other characters
• Romeo's relationships with women

  Affect his masculinity, as shown when the Friar tells him his tears are "womanish" and Romeo blames Juliet for softening his "valour's steel"
• Romeo's transformation


  From a Petrarchan lover to someone consumed by murderous rage after Mercutio's death, which allows him to refind his masculinity through acts of violence and revenge
• Mercutio's curse on both houses may be responsible for Romeo's transformation, or it could be that the death caused him to recalculate what was important to him
• The women in the play are also restricted by their role as women within Elizabethan society, particularly in terms of marriage
• Juliet's death has different possible interpretations and messages for the audience
• Juliet has agency and makes her own choices

  The consequences of these actions are her death
• Through death Juliet can no longer defy the men who have power over her, she has been silenced forever
• Juliet affirms her freedom by choosing to die
• Juliet finally found freedom in the afterlife instead of spending her life being constrained by her marriage to Paris
• If Juliet has committed suicide because of a man, is she really liberated? Instead she died because she was so "possessed" by a man she could not live without him
• There are different possible readings of Juliet's death and the message Shakespeare may have been trying to send to his audience
• It is unclear whether the story was purely for entertainment or if Shakespeare was trying to send a message to his audience