male honour

Question 1

define male honour

Answer 1

a set of beliefs that dictate men must respond aggressively to threat or insult to maintain their ideal masculine reputation

Question 2

male honour context

Answer 2

• had to adhere to attributes of machismo (hyper masculinity)
• men controlled by concept of masculinity
• dictates the way the characters interact with other men and women

Question 3

prologue: “ancient grudge”

Answer 3

• grudge manipulated into something due to male pride
• no side willing to back down

Question 4

act 1 sc 1: fight
abraham: ‘do you bite your thumb at us sir’
tybalt escalated this saying he ‘hates’ all ‘Montagues’

Answer 4

men would rather fight than be percieved as cowards

Question 5

define hegemonic masculinity

Answer 5

the idea that masculinity is built off submission of women

Question 6

act 1 sc 1: hegemonic masculinity
sampson: ‘women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to a wall: Therefore I will push Montague’s men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall’

Answer 6

• violence, aggression, submission of women, sexual imagery
• crude language: rape
• men feel they have a right to do this because of the biblical allusion ‘weaker vessels’ telling men to ‘honour their lives’ because they are ‘weaker vessels’

Question 7

act 1 sc 1: romeo
described as having ‘tears’ and ‘adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs’

Answer 7

• courtly love suffering from unrequited love - petrarchan lover
• romeo is femenised
• contrasts with violence from previous scene
• tears seen as bad = toxic masculinity

Question 8

act 3 sc 1
romeo: ‘Thy beauty hath made me effeminate And in my temper softened valour’s steel’

Answer 8

• blames juliet for own actions
• ‘steel’: metaphor, belives he should be strong and braze
• believed being weak is a femenine trait
• his love for juliet is superficial ‘beauty’ not personality
• criticises the idea that anger, violence and aggression are part of being a man

Question 9

act 5 sc 3
romeo: ‘Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man.’

Answer 9

• religious imagery - ‘tempt’, juxtaposed with ‘good’
• reminds audience how young these dying characters are
• ‘Desperate’ - Romeo has lost everything
• still is honourable enough to try to avoid a fight - Coward or Honourable?
• suggests that Romeo is much more upset over Juliet’s death