Gender Roles in R&J

Question 1

Masculinity and violence

Answer 1

• No one knows what the feud is about and so it has been manipulated into something based on male pride, with no side willing to back down to create peace.

Question 2

Romeos masculinity

Answer 2

• The audience only sees him when he is suffering from being lovesick over his infatuation with Rosaline or when he is madly in love with Juliet
• could be argued Romeo has no identity free of emotional attachments
• his character significantly juxtaposes his own servants
• kills himself by drinking a potion which is quite feminine

Question 3

romeos rs with women

Answer 3

• constantly blames Juliet for his femininity
• Cnat stand up to his own actions
• Always looking for a way out so chooses to blame Juliet

Question 4

Role of women

Answer 4

Women were meant to be submissive and were thought of as property of men
- Women are not just seen as wives and mothers within the play but they are also perceived by men as sexual objects.

Question 5

Juliets freedom

Answer 5

• given agency and stands up to male figures .
• Shakespeare used Juliet as an opportunity to challenge gender conventions of the time.
• claims her agency by actively persuing her relationship with Romeo without telling her father
• Through death Juliet can no longer defy the men who have power over her, she has been silenced forever.
• she kills herself with a sword which is quite masculine