Romeo & Juliet

In the play itself, Shakespeare introduces the reversed roles of men and women in a more subtle way. He doesn’t devote an entire book on it, but places these different male/female characteristics in two specific characters. The characters of Romeo and Juliet, are essentially, the only two that exhibit these differences in gender norms. The reason, of course, is because Romeo and Juliet are portrayed as the only two characters that rebel against the society they are living in. Thus, introducing the notion of rebellion.

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e most clear and evident portrayal of this, is when Romeo and Juliet meet for the second time on her balcony, ten minutes after they met for the first time.

It can be said that William Shakespeare was really quite scandalous for his times. Shakespeare takes it one step furthur here and challenges the Patriarchal structure and fathers’ role in their daughters marriage. Romeo and Juliet are symbols for what we might consider now to exhibit normal gender roles, but for the 16th century, was against the rules of a Patriarchal society. But these were the things that people were already starting to think about. His way is the way of the land, and what Shakespeare does is have Juliet disobey her father, something that was not characteristic of a daughter. Dominant in that men were the lords of the land.

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**Bibliography**

. This line is important because it shows Romeo as the irrational, hasty one. Plays are inherently used to present ideas through fantasy or fiction.

Shakespeare would be particularly interested in shifting the gender norms for Romeo, because it was a male dominated society in England and also in the play. “She speaks: O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art as glorious to this night, being oe’r my head, as is a winged messenger of heaven” (2.

The most important thing about Romeo and Juliet, in portraying these reversed gender norms, are the characters other than Romeo or Juliet. Like the first encounter, Romeo exhibits an almost feminine way in which he expresses himself to Juliet, and vice versa.

“I have no joy of this contract to-night: It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,”(2.

Common topics in this essay:
Romeo Juliet, Shakespeare Juliet, William Shakespeare, romeo juliet, gender norms, English Renaissance, play physical representation, 16th century, physical representation, play physical, english society, gender roles, 16th century english, gender norms women, ideas fantasy, characters romeo juliet, norms women, characters romeo, century english society,

Approximate Word count = 895
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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