Gender Roles in Romeo and Juliet Essay Example

In the late 1500s, the city of Verona portrayed many stereotypes and societal differences between men and women. Men were presented as masculine, tough and prideful while women were delineated as feminine and were expected to keep their opinions to themselves and please their men. At the time of writing his renowned play, the world had yet to progress past the many gender roles and expectations that were upheld 500 years ago. Though society deemed the roles essential and significant for the community as a whole, Shakespeare defied the cultural norms of gender and expression through his play.

As the protagonist of the story, Romeo expresses his love and sadness, despite the many stereotypes put on men in the 1500s. One of the social expectations men were supposed to follow at the time included not showing or conveying their emotions unless they were aggression or pride. Regardless of the believed rules, Romeo was still one of the characters with the greatest vocabulary for talking about his feelings. Throughout the story, Romeo talked in a poetic and feminine way that easily allowed the public to understand what was going on from his perspective. During the famous balcony scene, Romeo talked about Juliet as if she was his superior, and as though her role of gender didn’t matter in terms of love “O’ speak again, bright angel, for thou art.”. Romeo speaks of her as if she is greater than him, and he looks up to her as a superior. He breaks the barrier between gender roles and self-expression, and though he later expresses his fear of becoming inferior and effeminate, his want to communicate his love is greater than his trepidation at the time. Later in the story, Romeo addresses his concern about losing his masculinity by falling in love “O’ sweet Juliet. Thy beauty hath made me effeminate, and in my temper soft’ned valor’s steel.”. His fear increases with time, and he eventually starts becoming aggressive and violent, abiding by the common stereotype of men. When he follows the gender expectation, tragedy strikes and his battle with femininity leads to his final death. It isn’t until the end of the story that Romeo finally accepts his love and lets go of his forced masculinity, dying together with Juliet and ending the play by refusing to commit to the common characteristics of men.

Mercutio is another essential character in the play, and as Romeo’s best friend, he portrays a very constructed and definite idea of what he views masculinity to be. Mercutio has strong opinions on how masculinity and femininity should be separated, constantly criticizing those around him for how their gender roles are painted. He objurgated Tybalt for his obsession with fashion and censured Romeo for his effeminate love for Juliet. As said by Mercutio “If love be rough with you, be rough with love; prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.”. His idea of love reinforces the idea that men must stay above emotions of weakness and feminine attributes. Mercutio is scared of becoming effeminate, and in comparison to Romeo, he never accepts the idea that men can be feminine. His idea of masculinity could even be argued to reflect that of Shakespeare’s. Though the playwright did come up with new definitions as to how gender roles should be conveyed, his views were still strict and the whole idea of masculinity was still important. Mercutio as a character was flamboyant, open, and fun to be around, yet he still idealized his version of gender roles and how they should be acted out.