Women In The Elizabethan Era

entirely in this scene as he stops thinking of love in a bad way as he

In Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare uses literary devices to examine the nature of young love. Juliet describes her opinion on marriage and love as: “an [honor] that I dream not of” (1.3.71). This implies that Juliet has not yet thought about marriage, showing that she has yet to find her love. After meeting Romeo, Juliet’s opinion about love and marriage are completely changed. Juliet suddenly desires to be with Romeo more than all else. Similarly, Romeo, after breaking up with Rosaline feels as if he will never be able to love again. But after meeting Juliet, the passion that Romeo and Juliet feel for one another is undeniable. Their connection for one another develops quickly, despite all obstacles. In Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare’s use of literary

The characters in Romeo and Juliet have very different opinions of what love is. Firstly, Romeo has the initial view of love as being ‘too rough, too rude and too boisterous’, to which Mercutio replies ‘if love be rough with you, be rough with love’. This purports

True love is selfless. It is prepared to sacrifice. This is the dominant theme in Shakespeare 's The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet, a play is about two rival noble families from Verona, the Capulets and Montagues. Indeed, the two families have such an ongoing hatred for each other that they are constantly feuding violently without end. Having had enough, Prince Escalus, the Prince of Verona, one day decrees the penalty of death to be upon the person who disrupts the peace again. It is against this vicious backdrop that Shakespeare by contrast, accentuates love in Romeo and Juliet. Three different types of love are depicted: the infatuation of Romeo, the son and heir of Montague, with a woman named Rosaline; the arranged love between Juliet, the daughter of Capulet, and Paris, a kinsman of Prince Escalus, whom Juliet’s parents have chosen to be her suitor; and ultimately, the true love between Romeo and Juliet, whose families are each other’s worst and greatest enemies.

During the 1500s, one woman prevailed in a society dominated by males. Queen Elizabeth I of England served for forty-four stable and prosperous years. She claimed the throne in 1558 and reigned until her death in 1603. Because of her strong leadership, this time period was known as England’s Golden Age or Elizabethan Era. Queen Elizabeth’s accomplishments were possible because of her educational background, Protestant upbringing, and unmarried status.

Love, in 'Romeo and Juliet' has its own importance in the theme of inner struggle between the two protagonists, Romeo and Juliet. Juliet is torn between staying loyal to her family and therefore obeying her parents to marry Paris or staying married to an enemy, Romeo, “My husband lives, that Tybalt has slain; / And Tybalt's dad, that would have slain my husband: / All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?” (3:2). On the other hand, Romeo has his struggles too. He juggles between the idea of banishment from Verona and not being able to see his beloved Juliet again and that of death, “Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say 'death'.” (3:3). The secret marriage between Romeo and Juliet is also one of the outcomes due to love. It is because of love that Juliet risked her parents' disapproval to not marry Paris and Romeo risked the danger of being killed by Capulet's kinsmen to go to see her. Yet again, this shows the inner struggle of Romeo and Juliet.

"LOVE IS A Certain Inborn Suffering derived from the sight of and excessive Meditation upon the beauty of the opposite sex, which causes each one to wish above all things the embraces of the other, and by common desires carry out all of love's precepts in the other's Embrace" is definition of medieval love. But Really, How much does Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet comes to terms of traditional " love"? Think about Romeo in the very beginning of the play, when he talks about Rosaline. He describes, rather about her looks as he says: " O, she is rich in beauty, only poor". Romeo talks of his unattainable love to the beautiful Rosaline. He sees Rosaline as strong, for she would never be hit by cupid's arrow. This is an example of courtly

Romeo labels his feelings towards Juliet as “love”, although he has not gotten the opportunity to learn about her personality. This indicates that what he feels about her was entirely formed by her physical beauty rather than genuine feelings. Evidently, sexual desires seemed to be his ulterior motive for marrying her, instead of committing to love, care, and cherish her till death do them apart.

Over the years women have made huge changes in their daily lives and culture. Today we see women running for president, they hold high positions in their jobs, and some of our leaders our women. Although life as a woman isn’t completely equal as a man, women continue to fight for the rights they lack. The start of change in women’s life can be traced all the way back to the Elizabethan Era. In Shakespeare’s time women might not have been seen like they have a lot of power, but in reality they were given more power than other parts of Europe. For example, Elizabeth I held power as the queen of England and really helped develop England when it came to religion. Although having a female hold power caused anxiety during this time to the public, women continued to influence the culture of the time. (Marvel 39). In the Elizabethan Era, women influenced culture by their life at home, their jobs,

Shakespeare does this by noting how Romeo and Juliet do not actually love each other. This is represented by Romeo and Juliets actions and rash decision making. Their decisions are very impulsive and rushed. As a result, it impacted them negatively in the future and as well as their relationship. Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other is not actually how love really is. They’ve mistakenly confused lust for love.

Defining what a female was supposed to be and do was an act of Renaissance culture. For most of Renaissance society, women represented the following virtues which, importantly, having their meaning in relation to the male; obedience, silence, sexual chastity, piety, humility, constancy, and patience. The most important being sexual chastity and piety.

In the sixteenth century the role of women in society was very limited. Women were generally stereotyped as housewives and mothers. They were to be married, living their life providing for her husband and children. The patriarchal values of the Elizabethan times regarded women as the weaker sex.’ Men were considered the dominant gender and were treated with the utmost respect by females. Women were mainly restricted within the confines of their homes and were not allowed to go school or to university, but they could be educated at home by private tutors. Men were said to be the ones to provide for their families financially. Women were often seen as not intelligent. Property could not be titled in the name of a female within the family. Legally everything the female had belonged to her husband. Poor and middle class wives were kept very busy but rich women were not idle either. In a big house they had to organize and supervise the servants.

The Elizabethan time period emphasized the dominance of men in society and family ties. Women had no choice but to depend on their families and the man the family picked for them to marry. All the money comes from the husbands income. Family was essential to Elizabethan time, because everyone in the household depended on one another. Men and women both could not function without their immediate family.

Juliet trangessal from social norms influences Romeo’s to both defy the feud and Elizabethan society's expectation of love. In the beginning Romeo complies to the structure of courtly love as seen through his overly dramatic, elaborate, affected phrasing but no real love directed towards Rosalind. Juliet’s rejects the maidens role to be coy and difficult in courting and instead asks for the sincerity of his love and for him to “take all myself”. By valuing real emotions over the idea of love, she influences Romeo’s change in language to more sincere and poetic. By asking Romeo to “purpose marriage” Juliet transgresses the social norm of the male proposing the

In the early stages of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare conveys love in many different ways. Love is shown as being imperfect, such as bawdy love, unrequited love and fatherly and maternal love, this contrasts greatly to Romeo and Juliet’s pure, perfect and requited love, and makes it seem all the more true before it is shown to be deadly.