Societal Standards/ Gender Roles Flashcards
Code of honour/ Male Aggressive behaviour/ Code of male pride (11 cards)
Mercutio makes fun of Romeo for being in love trying to conjure him by saying “appear thou in the likeness of a sigh”
Men were expected to be tough and Romeo’s love made him weak in the eyes of Mercutio- Romeo’s way of loving so deeply was against societal norms
Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt back when he challenges him over his presence at the Capulet feast and insults him?
Romeo is wiling to honour his newly born familial love for Tybalt over his duty to fight Tybalt for the Montague name
Tybalt refuses to back down though Romeo tells him he does not wish to fight?
Tybalt is a typical Elizabethan man and his refusal to back down is a matter of maintaining his honour- His violent nature would have been entertaining for the men, especially, in an Elizabethan audience. However, by making his somewhat petty violence concerning Romeo attending the Capulet ball a moment that hinders Romeo and Juliet’s love, Shakespeare builds up hate for his violent nature.
“O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!”
Mercutio’s comment on Romeo’s unwillingness to fight Tybalt. To him, Romeo is being weak and acting unlike a man should
Romeo and Juliet meet at night, have sex at night and tragically die at night
SOCIETY is forcing them to have to keep their love separate and in the dark. SHakespeare is presenting a DIDACTIC message through them on how societal expectations and limits hinder human relations and feelings like love which are not made to be restrained
“O calm…
…, dishonourable, vile submission!”
“Thy tears are womanish”
Friar Lawrence’s rebuke towards Romeo as he cries over his lost love- Shows how even Romeo’s father figure believes his love makes him contrary to what he ought to be as a man in Elizabethan England
Their love puts them at odds with societal conventions
How does Romeo struggle against maintaining bonds with his friends according to Elizabethan Standards and maintaining his love with Juliet?
His friendship/ homosocial upbringing leads Romeo to retaliate against Tybalt and although this is also a reflection of gender rules and the code of honour, it also shows how Romeo struggles between his former close bonds and his bond with Juliet
His love against Juliet also goes against societal conventions and so, his friends and even Friar Lawrence rebuke him on his actions. There is a struggle between their belief in what must be the acceptable way to believe and their connection with Romeo.
“Thy…
…tears are womanish”
“Thy beauty hath made me effeminate and in my temper(character), softened valour’s steel”
Romeo claims that his love for Juliet caused him to become soft which is why he refuses to fight Tybalt ultimately leading to Mercutio’s death- PORTRAYAL of how the love between Romeo and Juliet is attempting to rise up and against society, male expectations and the feud between their families. It is in CONFLICT with everything around it even the beliefs and attitudes in Romeo’s “temper” from young.
How were men expected to behave according to society in the Elizabethan era?
How is this seen in the play?
Men were expected to adhere to the attributes of MACHISMO which is a hyper sense of masculinity.
SHAKESPEARE portrays the negatives of this right from ACT 1 SCENE 1 where the audience see how the men of the play are violent and how the feud is heavily reliant on male pride and the code of honour.
SHAKESPEARE is showing how the men are almost enslaved to this idea of a hyper sense of masculinity and will even fight between themselves rather than be seen as cowards and lose their pride.
AND SO?- By placing these ideas right at the start of the play, after the Prologue, Shakespeare could be showing that actually although the Prologue hints that the feud causes the tragedy, the feud itself is fueled by unreasonable expectations of masculinity from men.(Wants the reader to be able to look back at the actions of the men after Romeo and Juliet’s death and see whether their deaths were worth maintaining honour)
