Compared to her cousin, Rosalind’s, behaviour Juliet appears to have gone about dealing with Romeo’s affection in the wrong way. It is said that Rosalind has “sworn that she will still live chaste”. Which means that she will ignore Romeo’s attempts to court her. This is what Juliet should have done, but she is was too young to realise this.
The danger Juliet got herself into, by denying her family was shown by the violence of her father, which, although intimidating, does put the audiences sympathy with Juliet;
“Hang thee, Young baggage, disobedient wretch!”
“You shall not house with me…and you be not, hang, beg, starve on the streets, for my soul, ne’er acknowledge thee.”
This denial of her father makes Capulet look weak, as though he’s lost all his power over his daughter, and therefore vulnerable to enemies. As men in this society require passive obedience from women, this makes him look very powerless and he must eliminate this problem. Leaving him no option but to throw her out on the streets, in total poverty, and make her fend for herself.
Another good example of how men were treated as god-like in Elizabethan time; Juliet is on her knees begging, and praying, to her father to forgive her, and it’s a supplication of the wrath of God.
It is ironic that Juliet says she would rather die than marry Paris, as this is exactly what happens to her;
“Delay this marriage for a month, a week, or if you do not, make the bridal bed in that dim monument where Tybalt lies.”
Juliet, by now, has given Romeo the god-like status she would have given her designated husband, and her father. Which shows that it comes naturally to women of that time. It’s nit really something they’re forced to do, it’s something that just came naturally.
Juliet’s death probably seems inevitable to an Elizabethan audience as she transgressed the social order of things, and people took this very seriously in that time period. So they expected her to either die or be banished, to fend for herself, with no money, so she will surely die, along with Romeo. Her’s, and girls in that time’s, choices was either “marry your designated husband, or die”. This may seem like a bit of an over reaction now, but one of this plays major themes is the foolishness of the older generation, whose ideas are often more destructive than those of the younger generation.
Juliet had the more painful and violent death as she had done most wrong, being a woman. She should have ignored her heart and respected her families opinions, and married Paris. Instead Paris ends up dead, along with several other males. A good example of this is when Juliet’s body is found; Romeo, Tybalt and Paris’ bodies are all around her, and show the audience how destructive her behaviour was to the people around her.
In conclusion to what I have looked at I have learnt that Juliet seems like a rebellious teen, and a female role model. She went against her family for love, no matter what the consequences were.
Society has a strong grip on what people think and do, whether they know it is, or want it to. Everybody conforms to the rules laid out by society. It’s not a choice anybody has, it’s an order.
Even in society today everybody has set roles to play, and nobody really realises it but we still have many aspects of Elizabethan society with us today.
