At birth the typical boy is growing slightly faster than the typical girl, but the velocities become equal at about seven months, and then the girl grows faster until four years, From then until adolescence girls grow faster and mature mentally and emotionally quicker.
Finally, it is a well-known fact that girls are more mature than boys so there is no argument!
To summarize, generally girls are tranquil and easier to deal with. Girls are also encouraged to be ‘girly’ and they are conditioned to be feminine. Girls are taught to be mothers, bake cakes and do other household tasks. On the other hand boys are encouraged to be ‘boyish.’ Boys will make guns out of bananas and other ‘boyish’ things. When a girl is taught to bake cakes, a boy would be taught to fix cars. This is just the society we have grown up in today. However there are signs of the female population becoming for dominant. So, after reviewing both sides of the argument, I think it is fair to say that girls are more mature than boys, until a certain age. At what point boys become equal to girls, is another debate in itself.
Are girls more mature than boys? : In the context of Romeo and Juliet
In order to research both arguments, I studied “Romeo and Juliet.” In this love story, we have to characters, Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is dreamy, romantic, quite effeminate at times and ‘in love with love.’ Where as Juliet is quiet, well behaved, respectful and above all mature for her age. Juliet is aged thirteen and about to be married, however it is a dynastic marriage. Juliet is very mature about the whole thing, though, she talks about marriage and virginity with her mother and nurse, as if it is a normal thing to be doing at thirteen. She would like to marry for love; this shows the romantic side in her: “If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully.” However, she says she won’t look at anyone that her mother does not want her to. This is another indication of Juliet’s obedience to her mother.
Juliet also falls in love with Romeo later than he falls for her. He was in love with Rosaline only a few hours before he met Juliet. Romeo also listens to Juliet declaring her love for him, in the balcony scene. This shows Romeo’s Vanity, it is very easy to fall in love with someone who is in love with you!
Only a few hours after Romeo and Juliet meet she is talking about marriage whereas Romeo is talking about the moon: “Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow.” Juliet then replies with a statement which proves she is very much in control, “ O swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon.” He is also very immature to the nurse when he rescues Juliet but then Romeo seems to be on an equal level.
Tybalt tries to challenge Romeo to a fight but he refuses and Mercutio then takes on Tybalt instead. Romeo tries to stop the two from fighting, which is quite right but could be seen as being quite ‘wet’ at the same time. Eventually Mercutio dies, which was not supposed to happen: Tybalt and Mercutio knew what they were doing. Neither had any intention of killing the other and Romeo had unfortunately got in the way. When Mercutio is lying in his arms dying he says, “I thought all for the best.” This is probably one of the weakest lines Romeo has and just highlights his immaturity. To make matters worse Romeo then kills Tybalt as revenge.
Romeo seems to be losing control of his actions as the story goes on. He blames everything on the stars saying, “O I am fortunes fool.” He then goings crying to Friar Laurence and rants and raves at him. He even says to Friar Laurence, “ Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel,” Romeo is just showing his adolescence here more than ever. He falls to the ground and starts to behave like a child. The Nurse even says: “ Stand up, Stand up, Stand and you be a man.” The Nurse is even telling Romeo that she thinks his behaviour is immature.
Eventually Romeo seems to be coming on an equal maturity level with Juliet. As they say farewell to one another, Romeo is acting very maturely. However it does not last long, we are soon back to square one. Juliet then carries the rest of the story. Romeo is being dreamy once again. He rushes in without even thinking. If he had waited for a little longer he would have received the letter from Friar Laurence explaining the situation. But he rushes in and goes to the Apothecary, which is another sign of Romeo’s immaturity and feebleness. He was carrying a knife; we know this because Juliet eventually kills herself with it. So why didn’t he use it?
Juliet’s two speeches
Juliet makes two long speeches in the story. The first speech is Act 2, Scene ii, where Romeo and Juliet meet after the ball. Here Juliet is innocently fantasising about Romeo when his eavesdropping suddenly takes their relationship to new levels. When Juliet is speaking to her nurse about her night with Romeo she speaks with an archaic tone. Juliet wants the night to come quickly and she is very impatient. She wants a curtain to spread over day and the curtains of the bed. In the night love can be performed. She is thinking about love in this speech, “In truth fair Montague, I am too fond” she shows that she is madly in love. Juliet believes that Cupid is blind she also personifies night as a woman in black clothes. She will get Romeo but lose her virginity, (however she believes Romeo to be a virgin as well.) She is pure and also very sexually charged. She is unmanned and desperate for sex but also she must appear pure to Romeo, she shows that by referring to Romeo as her “true-love passion.” In the second of her two speeches, Juliet is quite impetuous.
However, in the second speech she grows up from this impetuous young girl to being a brave young woman, as you will see in the second of her two speeches. She becomes much more aware of death and indicates many signs of maturity. You can notice this by her use of language in both speeches. The first speech is very basic and transparent, but terribly clever, educated and witty. However, primarily she is thinking about love.
In another of Juliet’s speeches, Act 3: Scene 2, Juliet is waiting to hear when Romeo will be able to come to her room following their marriage. She does not yet know of Tybalt’s death.” Here Juliet puts her fear into physicality; her speech is very monosyllabic and cold. There is a caesura after she calls for the nurse and then she is left alone. She keeps making excuses not to take the potion. She seems to know what death is like, she describes the smell of decay. She has many string sentences but still she is quite child like. Then she is surrounded by death and she thinks she might go mad. Eventually she kills herself. She wants Romeo and she refers to the sun. She is voluble however at the end of the speech she becomes more simple and childish again. After Romeo death, Juliet speaks with ubserd hyperbole. She sees herself as sold but not enjoyed.
Is Juliet typical of a girl of a girl of her time?
It is quite interesting that Shakespeare set Juliet’s character so much younger than Romeo’s character. Juliet was supposed to be about 13 and Romeo, 16 and the two are talking about ‘consummating their love’ and marriage at such a young age. Lady Capulet had told Juliet that it was normal to marry at this age: “I was your mother, much upon these years,” this is saying that Lady Capulet was a mother at Juliet’s age, which she is saying was normal of that time. However it was not normal, the average age was 23 for woman and 26 for men, in 1619. However, Shakespeare himself married very young, at the age of 18. So Shakespeare’s audience would have been shocked at the age of Romeo and Juliet and the fact that they died so young.
Juliet was supposed to marry Paris in a dynastic marriage. She knew that if she did not then there was a large threat that she could be left with nothing, no money or place to live. This is why young people waited for their parent’s consent before marrying. Capulet is absolute in his power and authority. He shows this is his speech when Romeo refuses to marry Paris:
“ Hang thee young baggage, disobedient wretch, I tell thee what, get thee to church a Thursday, or never after look me in the face.” He speaks down to Juliet in a threatening manner, which would not have been unheard of at the time.
The relationship between daughter and father as twice subject, because of sex and the child parent comparison. Juliet is not even allowed to speak to Romeo anywhere. Not only because he is a Montague but because young people were not allowed to court each other. She just had to savour short moments that she spent with Romeo like at the Masked Ball. Motherhood was another important aspect: young girls were expected to have about twelve children of which eight would die.
Elizabethan Background
I also studied an essay written by Virginia Wolf called, “A Room Of Ones’s Own.” It explored what life would have been like had Shakespeare had a sister. Men believed that woman had smaller brains and therefore were the weaker sex. The men of that time also believed that woman were feeble and weak: of course this was because they were made to wear corsets!
There were many social conditions imposed upon women in that time. We have to remember that woman had to run large homes with only the help of the maids. A wife’s status was based upon religious conceptions of hierarchy. Also women were told, “ Wives be in subjection unto their own husbands in all things.” However, Juliet thought she was going to be equal with Romeo once they married, she shows this by the way in which she takes control when they were experiencing their short lived courtship. She almost (meteorically speaking) makes Romeo sign a legalistic contract of marriage. Aristocrats married considerably earlier then other classes. Also parts of Juliet’s maturity was she waited to ‘consummate her love’ until after she married. Furthermore woman of that time were taught to be very obedient and to obey their husbands. The family and society were cold and followed very strict rules and regulations. Also we must remember the two lovers lived in a very poetic age.
To conclude, in Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare shows a young woman trapped in her sex and in society. She was made to follow very strict rules and regulations. It is oblivious from studying the story in detail that Juliet is considerably more mature than Romeo even though she is younger. Juliet is definitely the more logical and forward thinking of the two. She is devoted to Romeo. The story studies the life of the two characters up until their tragic death. From my research and looking at the story in detail, it is clear that girls are more mature then boys until a certain age. I have proved this by looking closely at the story, focusing on Juliet’s speeches and behaviour and looking at the Elizabethan background.
By Claire Gittoes