gender in r&j Flashcards
importance of act 1 scene 1
it sets the tone for the extremity men are willing to go to defend their honour and how they would rather battle then be deemed cowards by society, even other something as unimportant as a gesture can lead to a deathly duel
sets the tone of how conflict and pride dictates the autonomy of the characters and will throughout the play
men are alike to women in that they have a need to adhere to the concept of masculinity, whilst women bend to mans needs men need to become a hyper masculine type
ancient grudge
the audience do not know the source of the conflict and in fact it seems that the characters do not, rather its a matter of masculine pride and either sides unwillingness to back down as it would show cowardice
i will push montagues men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall, weaker vessels meaning
sampson is a vehicle in the first act for the crude perception of women that men held, often men lacking in true masculinity used their patriarchal status as a way to gain control over their inferior
this is crude langauge and has an innuendo of rape, asserting his dominence as a man
this is a biblical allusion to when peter tells his followers to honour the women as they are weaker vessels, which shakespear flips here to show how the biblical sexist teachings of women have been misconstrued in persuit of power, in the same way the ancient grudge is now lost to the drive of pride and agresssion, treating women as lesser but with respect has been loss to bearing power
HEGEMONIC
his as an ownership pronoun shows how women do not ever have their own autonomy
romeos overall character in relation to masculinity
we never see romeo aside of in a lovesick state regardless of whom he is under, this could mean we do not know wether he adheres to the same standards as his frieds but its likely due to the fact hes so easily receptible to falling into this state it is because he is very affeminiate and can be easily dictated by his overbearing emotions, a sign of youth
romeo in act one scene one
we get an introdution in the first scene to the crude hegemonic masculinity with little basis except the drive of pride from many of the other prominent males
this is juxtoposed immediatly by romeos introduction who is femenised and used by shakespear to subvert the idea of manliness created in the initial opening of the play.
he is described as breathing heavily and having tears in his eyes, an outward display of emotion, whilst also being found ‘underneath the grove of a sycamore’- this is new to the play but not new to the audienceas he embodies a naive unreciprocated courtly lover lusting after rosaline
away from light steals home
petrachan lovers were famed for being so obsessive and malancholy they could not eat or sleep and could fall into a state of lovesick despondency over their unreciprocated lover, romeo has not been home or slept
marriage in romeo and julliet
mariage was transactional and women often from richer families had little say in who had power in their romance
in act one scene two we see lord capulet subvert typical ideas of marriage by letting julliet have the deciding vote on wether she takes to paris, likely because he cherishes her youth
objectification of women
in act two scene one as romeo hides in the capulet household, mercutio uses a range of sexual language which subverts romeos affeminite use of petrachan sonnets- he calls to romeo by rosalines ‘red lip’ and ‘quivering thigh’ he lessens her to an object of sexual gratification, red lip is asymbol of promsicuousness- indeed it appears men do not understand the depth of human love as they cant thathom romeos naive but honest love
in act 1 scene one sampson uses crude imagery and rape innuendos to discuss women
even romeo who claims to be driven by ideals of pure love reveals a lot about young petrachan lovers as he calls to rosalines chasitity- he is unable to escape from the prospect of lust
even the women around have accustomed and grown to agree with their sexual subordination, the nurse makes jokes of how julliet as a baby too will ‘fall backwards’ when she is of age
julliet subverting ideas
she subverts ideas of femeninity as she has the courage to stand up to men in the story adn question the patriarchy that neither her mother nor the nurse dare to
she has the autonomy to persue and actually dictate her relationship with romeo, demanding that he ‘send me word tomorrow
masc as traditional in r&j thesis
In many ways the surrounding characters in the novella completely abide to socities ideals of gender in both the hegemonic dominence of men and the repression of women- largely through the original scene of vioelnce and the character of mercutio
traditional masc in r&J paragraph
-‘ancient grudge’ the audience do not know the source of the conflict and in fact it seems that the characters do not, rather its a matter of masculine pride and either sides unwillingness to back down as it would show cowardice. All men act in an intense manner of pride
- Mercutio is damming and insympathetic to his friends petrachan views and adides to typical masculine stereotypes. Upon his untimely murder his wish of a ‘plauge on both your houses’ can be seen as an act of foreshadowing and a call out to the horrors of vioelcnce, but just as easily it could be interpretted as masculine cowardice as he has such high pride that he cannot accept his wrongs for perpectuating the fight even whilst on his death bed- we see this backed throguh his diminishing manner of the serverity of his injuries, brushing it off as a ‘scratch’ as any outward expression of pain wouldve been deemed effeminate
-in act two scene one as romeo hides in the capulet household, mercutio uses a range of sexual language which subverts romeos affeminite use of petrachan sonnets- he calls to romeo by rosalines ‘red lip’ and ‘quivering thigh’ he lessens her to an object of sexual gratification, red lip is asymbol of promsicuousness- indeed it appears men do not understand the depth of human love as they cant thathom romeos naive but honest love
-The first scene sets the tone for the extremity men are willing to go to defend their honour and how they would rather battle then be deemed cowards by society, even other something as unimportant as a gesture can lead to a deathly duel. sets the tone of how conflict and pride dictates the autonomy of the characters and will throughout the play
- men are alike to women in that they have a need to adhere to the concept of masculinity, whilst women bend to mans needs men need to become a hyper masculine type
- ‘i will push montagues men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall.’ ‘weaker vessels’- sampson is a vehicle in the first act for the crude perception of women that men held, often men lacking in true masculinity used their patriarchal status as a way to gain control over their inferior. this is crude langauge and has an innuendo of rape, asserting his dominence as a man
this is a biblical allusion to when peter tells his followers to honour the women as they are weaker vessels, which shakespear flips here to show how the biblical sexist teachings of women have been misconstrued in persuit of power, in the same way the ancient grudge is now lost to the drive of pride and agresssion, treating women as lesser but with respect has been loss to bearing power
HEGEMONIC
his as an ownership pronoun shows how women do not ever have their own autonomy
defiance of masculinity in r&j thesis
As a complete juxtaposition to their peers shakespear highlights the wave of autonomy in the youth who hav subverted any past ideals of gender in elizabethan soceity and chose to follow their heart
defiance of masculinity
- he is described as breathing heavily and having tears in his eyes, an outward display of emotion, whilst also being found ‘underneath the grove of a sycamore’- this is new to the play but not new to the audienceas he embodies a naive unreciprocated courtly lover lusting after rosaline, his comes starkly after the violent first act setting a stark contrast between Romeo and the vehicles for hegemonic masculinity
- though romeo begins with a naive and comedic outlook on love, interestingly its his relations with julliet that mature him, this is interesting as women usuakly had no say and were starkly inferior with no ability to express their own desires
- The interesting hierachal shift between the two is expressed through a semnatic field of religion that deems julliet to be a divine power, ‘holy shrine’, ‘pilgrim’ and ‘winged messanger of heaven’ all paint imagery of julliet emodiying a divine figure wilst romeo a mortal, her setting is physically above him on the balcony. Romeo continues this motif by claiming with her hell be ‘new baptised’- he plans on adopting her name something completely unheard of
- he laterclaims that her ‘beauty hath made me effeminate’ here romeo is showing how heavy the effects of human love are as he is now showing accentuated traits of femeninity that he does not repel
- julliet equally subverts ideas of femeninity as her husband seems more emotionally driven she is hevaily engaged in logic and dominence
- she uses controlling instrcutive verbs whilst speaking to romeo of which he abides with ‘send me word’ and ‘have my lips’ show how she has taken control of the situation rather than being passive or even letting herself be courted as he would chose to
- upon meeting symbolically the two share a sonnet which is both a clear indication of love but also a showing of the equality in the relationship as there is no dictator
three paragraphs
- men in socetiies need to abide to hegemonic ideas of masculinity and treatment of women
- mercutio as a mouthpiece for soceities hegemonically masculine ideals
- youthful ability to subvert traditional gender roles
