The structure of society occasionally forbids people from certain acts and regulations that if gone against, can lead to dispute. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the incredible notion of love becomes destroyed by the patriarchal societies idea of what is acceptable and what is not. Shakespeare represents a society that frequently makes all the incorrect choices. Instead of this being represented as one of the greatest love stories ever written, the main underlying theme turns out to be “a tragedy of social justice” (Smith 2) between the Capulets and the Montague’s. Each member of authority failed in their duty to do to the correct thing by their son and daughter. They are all individual human beings that are molded to what they believe is right in their normal society. Romeo and Juliet are individuals who go against the ideologies of Verona’s society and they eventually create a major conflict that later results in both of their deaths. Their forbidden love was unacceptable so they attempted to escape from everything and leave their social identities behind in order to be together. Family, friends, economics, political authority and religion all play roles in the final destruction of Romeo and Juliet.
The long, drawn-out feud between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s is very well known. However, William Shakespeare left the underlying cause of their conflict up to the audience's imagination. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fell in love at first sight before becoming aware of each other’s family background. After they meet at the Capulet’s ball, Romeo sneaks into Juliet’s garden and overhears her on the balcony vowing her love to him despite being sworn enemies. Romeo hears these words from Juliet, “O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet.” (Act II Scene II) This scene is when Juliet presents that her loyalty is not to her family but to her “star-crossed lover”, Romeo. The feeling of love is evidently clear between both Romeo and Juliet, however desire is what lead them to their extreme measures to wed against society’s wishes.
As a woman in the 14th century, the idea of an arranged marriage is quite normal along with the male figure, usually the father, in charge of every decision. Their main role was to be great mothers and wives and to be obedient to their male superiors. Juliet Capulet was no exception to this. In Act III, Scene V, Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet arranges for her to marry a man whose name is Paris. Juliet refuses this demand and her father then tells her if she does not agree to this he will throw her out on the street. Just like the norms of their society, Lady Capulet listens to her husbands opinion and does not care about what Juliet’s feelings are. She took on her role as a wife that only obeys and listens. This is essentially the social structure of family turning against Juliet which causes major conflict within House Capulet. At this point, Juliet speaks to the nurse about how she is already married to Romeo and if she does have to take Paris’s hand in marriage then she will live in sin. She states, “O God!—O nurse, how shall this be prevented? My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven; How shall that faith return again to earth” (Act III Scene V). The nurse’s job is to take care of Juliet and to provide her with great advice, however, she does a poor job and turns against her when she needs her the most.
In this play, Shakespeare also emphasizes the meaning of masculinity. However, Romeo’s masculinity takes a back seat because of his romantic notions toward Juliet. He feels as though his love for her made him a more feminine human being. In Act III Scene I, Romeo says “Thy beauty hath made me effeminate/And in my temper soften’d valour's steel.” (Shakespeare) Before Romeo met Juliet, he was in love with a girl named Rosaline. The reason he shows up to the Capulet’s ball was because Romeo’s cousin, Benvolio, convinced him to stop his depressing feelings about Rosaline and find another girl who is more worthy. The way he acted when he was heart broken was another feminine comparison because he felt as though he would never find another love again. Compared to every other man in his society who shows interest in battle and fencing, he shows interest in things that are seen to be “womanly”. A man during this time, in this society, is seen to be protective, tough and forceful like Tybalt, Mercutio, Lord Montague and Lord Capulet. Because everyone else is this way, he is constantly looked at as different. There is only one way for a man to act, and he does not exactly fit in that category. For many reasons, Romeo does not keep up with the different standards of Verona’s society. The patriarchal society of violence enforced on the men is the main force that drove the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.
Lord Capulet’s role in society eventually leads him to play a huge part of the cause of his daughter Juliet’s death. During this time, his societal role was to protect his family and be the man of the house without being easily persuaded into something that he did not feel was right, like allowing Juliet to marry Romeo. Lord Capulet felt as though Paris was the most suitable option for his daughter because of his money and the importance he would have brought to the entire family. The economic motif behind this is critical considering how rich House Capulet is explained to be. Romeo references the wealth of the head of the family by saying that his eye is “On the fair daughter of rich Capulet” (Act II Scene III). Their wealth explains why Lord Capulet feels the need to marry Juliet off to Paris. Juliet is the only daughter of Lord Capulet which means that she will inherit his lands and property. When speaking to Paris, he persuades him of this idea hinting that he will enjoy hospitality at his home but also suggest that he inherit his house (Camaiora 17). “Earth Hath swallow’d all my hopes but she; She is the hopeful lady of my earth” (Act I Scene II). Lord Capulet thinks so highly of Paris that he will eventually then become his heir through marriage. Juliet’s opinion never mattered to him in this way because of the social norms during this Patriarchy. She was not able to give reason for her refusal because of she could not tell her father about who she loved. Lord Capulet is so conformed to his social order that he became pressured to keep the feud between he two houses going which he did not realize would eventually result in both Romeo and Juliet’s death.
Prince Escalus who is the Prince of Verona is also seen as the hopeless resolver of the two conflicting families. In the opening scene of the play, representatives of House Capulet and House Montague are dueling in the street. Prince Escalus’s purpose is to “ensure social order” (Herman 97) and when he arrives on the scene he is disregarded by both parties. He states, “Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,— Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts, That quench the fire of your pernicious rage” (Act I, Scene I). The Prince cannot restrain the violence between them if he cannot do this then the law loses its power. However, he later comes back and tries a different method to keeping the families in line. He threatens the penalty of death upon the participants of any future brawl between these two families (Smith 61). In a society like the one they are living in, it is crucial to abide by the Prince’s rules, however they later ignore this, which eventually leads to Romeo’s banishment from Verona.
The concept of wealth, beauty and value is continuously discussed in this play even when referring to the language that they convey in Verona. When Juliet believes that Romeo is deceased, she says “O break, my heart. Poor bankrupt, break at once” (Camaiora 12, Act III Scene II). The way she relates to the death of Romeo as being poor shows that without him, her heart has lost all the riches that it once had when he was alive and well. Before Romeo meets Juliet, he narrates to Benvolio how he cannot convince Rosaline to “ope her lap to saint-seducing gold” (Act I Scene I) and he continues: “O she is rich in beauty, only poor/That whens he dies, her beauty dies her store” (Act I Scene I) (Camaiora 9). This means that if she dies without producing any offspring, she will not be able to transmit her richness and beauty. Romeo suggests that beauty is an asset and has a specific value and if not used the correct way, can be wasted (Camaiora). Using the same language, when Romeo sees Juliet for the first time, he states, “It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night / As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear / Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear” (Act I Scene V). He seems to be implying that Juliet is an expensive item and that she cannot be lent or borrowed. He feels as though Juliet is so costly that she deserves to be thought about in terms of a mortgage. The idea of being rich consumed their lives immensely that they eventually started to relate their unpleasant moments to becoming bankrupt.
“The fact that Paris is a highly suitable match in terms of family and social position is consistently stressed in the play.” (Gibbons) Clearly, family plays one of the most tremendous roles in this play. Family is all about loyalty, even down to the servants. This is what the love affair between Romeo and Juliet lies on, betrayal of absolutely everything that they are taught from the day they are born. In the play, there are indications that Romeo and Juliet do not have close relationships with their parents. (Herman 102) At the beginning, Romeo becomes very depressed about the loss of his love Rosaline. Lord Montague does not know the cause of his sons behavior and fails to ask what’s wrong. Another indication is that when they speak about their plain to marry, they turn to parental-like figures for assistance, Friar Laurence and the nurse, not their actual parents. (Herman 102) When Romeo kills Tybalt he also runs to Friar Laurence in hope that he tells him what is best for him to do. In a patriarchal society, the father takes responsibility and authority of the entire family and everyone is supposed to oblige. This norm ends up failing both Romeo and Juliet leading to their double suicide. (Herman 99) Coppelia Kahn writes, “the feud in a realistic social sense is the primary tragic force in the play—not the feud as agent of fate, but the feud as an extreme and peculiar expression of patriarchal society, which Shakespeare shows to be tragically self- destructive.” Lord Capulet stripped himself of his parental duties when abandoning Juliet’s feelings about not wanting to marry Paris and ignoring the fact that she was too young. However, their social convention required him to do so. (Herman 102)
Friar Laurence is a wise friend and advisor to Romeo and Juliet who provides advice on how to deal with their love for each other. At first, he advises them to take things slow and to cautiously avoid being seen because if they don’t, the feud can be taken to whole new levels. However, he realizes that if he encourages and agrees to marry them, the hatred and conflict between the Capulet’s and the Montague’s can hopefully mend. The peace of the city is what he and the rest of the civilians in Verona want and need. Considering that Friar Laurence is a representative of the Holy Church, he makes sure that Romeo and Juliet are married before they are left alone together. (Smith 62) The friar, however, violates the law when he decides to marry them without their parental consent. His motive is larger than their love and so he overstepped many boundaries to fill out this overall ambition. His obsession with putting a halt to the conflicting families feud obstructs his viewpoint and fails to realize the connection between Romeo and Juliet. Juliet came to Friar Laurence to create a plan to escape when Romeo got banished and her father was insisting she marry Paris sooner than expected. He then came up with an idea for her to drink a potion that would fake her death. Then, Romeo would later find out that she was alive and when she wakes up, they can run away together. The friar’s attempts to do the right thing were decent but because of his failure to plan it correctly, it lead to the tragedy of the two lovers. However, after the Montague’s and Capulet’s find their dead bodies, they then realize that the feud must end.
When the names “Romeo and Juliet” appear in ones ear, the first thought that comes to mind is that it is the most flawless and alluring love poem of the English race and particularly, of the world (Smith 60). Robert Metcalf Smith states, “According to this interpretation, the play is not a tragedy of the lovers, Romeo and Juliet, but a social tragedy portraying the fatal consequences of hate between the Capulets and the Montague’s.” (61) These two individuals were the only ones who payed for the families sins of hate and they became the victims of the evil in which this society of Verona inflicted (Bonnard 326). Their love got diminished and destroyed by hate and everyone, even Prince Escalus, was powerless to this idea. Then, eventually hate conquered all resulting in the death of Romeo and Juliet. In Act V Scene III, Prince Escalus says out of anger, “Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague! See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love. And I for winking at your discords too have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punish’d.” He is explaining to both families that evil has resulted from their hate and that he has lost some of his devoted kinsmen and friends because of them. Prince Escalus’s inability to contain the violence destroyed his sense of authority and even when this was finally concluded, he did not seem to be satisfied. People died for reasons that he attempted to finalize and that was extremely unsettling for him, and the rest of the community.
The reason behind why I wanted to write about this overlooked notion of Romeo and Juliet is because even though our society is not a patriarchal one, some of the attributes come about today. In our society, individuals still feel the need to fit in and conform to the normalcy so they don’t get taunted and labeled as things that are out of the ordinary. The theme of masculinity and feeling the need to be a strong and powerful man is still huge today. People tend to get judged when they are different and that’s how Verona was. Because Romeo was more feminine, he would get taunted and seen as less of a man because he loved very hard. In the economic aspect of our society, people tend to not get married just based off of money. However, money still has a huge impact on relationships because not a lot of people want to spend their lives with someone who has no ambition or security. Also, when parents come into play with economic situations, they also want what’s best for their child. I believe that our society has taken some aspects of theirs, even if it is not as extreme. I also wanted to write about this because I feel as though everyone believes this story to just be about love and nothing else. This could not be anymore false. Just by researching all the different articles and journals I see how so many other things come into play in a society that is this one. I think it is important for people to see how much goes into a relationship and trying to make it work based on the person you love. In today’s world, I have also seen many people cut off relationships with their family members because they did not agree with the person they were with. No one took the suicidal measures that Romeo and Juliet did but it still happens a lot today. I don’t think anyone realizes how much of this story ties into our society and how common this situation actually is to the people around us and how much damage is causes families. Just like Romeo and Juliet, people start to realize what they have done after they lost the people they love. When relating the women’s role from the patriarchal society to ours now, it is very different but also alike. We adopted some of the social norms from their society. Now, women are much more superior than what they were and not always are they stay at home moms. Women have jobs and sometimes their careers are much higher than the man of the family. This however, is different among families and sometimes the mother does stay at home and cook and watch the children while the husband is working all day. I really wanted to research and write about this because of the comparisons and differences in our societies. There is much more alike than I would have thought there there would be.
As you can see, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the incredible notion of love got destroyed by the patriarchal societies idea of what was acceptable and what was not. Their family, friends, economics, political authority and religion all played roles in the final destruction of Romeo and Juliet. Each of these members failed in their duty to do to the correct thing by these two star-crossed lovers. The individuals who were supposed to love, nurture and care for them instead worried more about their patriarchal duties and the feud that started this entire mess. However, they were all individual human beings that were molded to what they thought was the right thing in their society. This play is not just about the incredible notion of love, it’s more about the hate that drove these two people to commit the final act of suicide. The underlying causes of this destruction were all due to the upper class community and the economic elite. The norms of this specific society that they lived through were too strong for Romeo and Juliet to fight. Their forbidden love will love on forever and the people who destroyed it will as well.