Shakespearean Gender Roles in Romeo and Juliet Lucia Njegovan 9th Grade

The social construct of gender has been challenged more than ever in the recent century, but long before this age of partial freedom, Shakespeare was placing ideas of rebellion from it into the minds of his consumers. The rigid ideas of the time were continually challenged by Shakespeare and his companions, and his audience loved the raunchy ideas that appeared in his comedies and even in some of his tragedies. The two main characters in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet challenge their gender roles during their romance, but due to the constraints placed on them by the patriarchal feud, they are not able to fully escape the rigid rules, leading to the tragic outcome.

Romeo, as the son of the family leader and potential heir to his position, is expected to be passionate and violent, characteristics of an ideal man of this era. As the article states, men would “call on a woman simply for their sexual pleasure” (Pettit p.1), and Romeo’s usual comments on Juliet are referencing her looks in a way that characterizes her as a beautiful sun and everyone else as the moon (Shakespeare 2.2.5). Although these words appear to be referencing her beauty, it could also be seen as more of a reference to her inner beauty or character, because...