Scarica romeo and juliet di shakespeare e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! 1. We can understand how Shakespeare presents the role of women by analysing Juliet, the main feminine character in the play. Moreover, we have to understand that Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in the 16th century so the role of women was very different to what we would be expecting today whether we talk about Juliet’s relationship with her parents or her attitude towards her arranged marriage with Paris. Juliet is a very determined woman who doesn’t like to be told what to do, she is young, she just wants to live her life with the love of her life. In this extract, especially in this scene we can see how Juliet is oppressed by her parents choices. In this case, the choice was made manly by her father and we know that in the Elizabethan Era men had all the power, they had a big influence on society. Juliet is young so her father decides for her but when she’ll become a wife her husband would have total control on her life. Even if Juliet would like to call off her marriage with Paris she is not allowed to speak out against her father’s will, since it was seen as a great act of disrespect. We can also see how Juliet’s relationship with her dad is toxic in act III scene 5 when Capulet tells Juliet that she is a ”young baggage, disobedient wretch” showing his disgust and the fact that he feels like Juliet is challenging his authority since she doesn’t want to marry Paris. Juliet still shows respect and submissiveness towards her father, “beseeching” him on her knees, this shows how women couldn’t speak against men, she couldn’t do anything without her father's permission. Juliet has to become Paris' possession even if she doesn’t love him. Another example for the role of women in this play is Lady Capulet, she is what we would expect of an upper class woman of that time, she had her marriage arranged when she was very young and she gave birth to Juliet at 16. Actually, she didn’t really spend a lot of time with Juliet when she was a baby since, as a lot of upper class women do , she employed someone to nurse her child. The nurse was a woman employed to take care of Juliet, she spent a lot of time with her and their bond is stronger than the one between Juliet and her mother. In my opinion, Juliet is the best character in the play, she shows how at just 14 women should be able to make their own decisions, she is a strong woman who knows what she wants and would not let anyone cross her path. She is not like other girls from the 16th century; she is different, it’s like if a girl’s mentality from 2020 was in a body of a girl living in the 16th century. You would never expect a girl that acts like her in the time she is living and I think this is the most original thing in this play. Juliet is an atypical portrayal of an Elizabeth woman, she always transcends the cultural boundaries of her time, she refuses to be subjected, she reclaims to be the one to decide for her life. 2. Juliet is the feminine character in this play, you would expect from her that she is obedient and does everything her father says since Shakespeare wrote this play in the 16th century but this is not the case.
