Fromal


 * Jason Fromal **

//Paste the appropriate portion of your essay in the spaces below. Note: we may not have enough time to post every part of your essay even though there are sections for each.//

__ Masculinity __ Through Romeo’s lack of masculinity Shakespeare displays how not to be a man through gender roles, perception, and his death. Masculinity, being the qualities that tend to define men such as strength, bravery, and boldness, are the things that Romeo is lacking. Overall there are three main things that Shakespeare displays, Romeo’s gender role as a woman, the perception of Romeo by others, and how he kills himself. Gender role of a woman is what a woman typically did or what men did not do because it was “women work.” The perception of others is just how other people thought of Romeo as being un-masculine or feminine. Romeo’s death was the last main way that showed feminism and this was because he killed himself with a form of suicide typically for women. All of these topics display femininity and show how Romeo is the perfect example of how not to be masculine. Romeo is portrayed in many examples as a woman, and a lot of time he follows the gender role of a woman. Gender role being how a women acts and what a women traditionally does in life or relationships. The first major thing about a woman’s gender role is that in a relationship a woman is generally the one to change her name. “’Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized; / Henceforth I never will be Romeo’” (2, 2, 50-51). In this quote Romeo is offering to change his name and it was a gender role of a woman to change their name. In relationships even today most of the time the woman gives up her last name and takes on the name of her new husband. This is one of the numerous ways that Romeo is portrayed as a woman. “’Hist, Romeo, hist! O for a falc’ners voice, / to lure this tassel-gentle back again: / Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud’” (Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 158-160). In this quote Juliet is symbolizing the falconer and Romeo is being portrayed as a falcon. This is a symbol for power in the sense that Juliet is the master and Romeo is the servant, in this scene Juliet is calling Romeo back. During this time period men were the masters of the house, and the woman did not have much control over important things. The important things were left to the men and the women took care of household issues. Overall, Romeo displays numerous examples of gender roles and is a great representation of how not to be a man. The general impression that Romeo has left on a lot of people is that he is a feminine man. He makes that impression on a lot of people but the two that best represent what people thought of Romeo are the Nurse and Friar Lawrence quotes. “’O he is even in my mistress’ case, / Just in her case. O woeful sympathy! / Piteous predicament! Even so lies she / Blubb’ring and weeping, weeping and Blubb’ring. / Stand up, stand up, stand, and you be a man’” (Act 3, Scene 3, Lines 84-88). When the Nurse says that he is even in my mistress’ case she is saying that he is acting like a thirteen year old girl, when he should be acting like a man. Also, she says stand, and you be a man showing that Romeo is once more not being masculine. This next quote is Friar Lawrence talking about how he is acting like a woman. “’Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art; / Thy tears are womanish, thy wild acts denote / The unreasonable fury of a beast’” (Act 3, Scene 3, Lines 109-111). Here Friar Lawrence is saying that Romeo looks like a man but that he is acting like a woman. Once again showing how he is an extremely feminine man, but also saying he is a man with no masculinity whatsoever. Both of these people, the Nurse and Friar Lawrence, have the impression and perception that Romeo acts a lot like a girl. The last main thing about Romeo that shows that Shakespeare portrayed him as non-masculine is how Romeo and Juliet committed suicide. Traditionally men tend to kill themselves in much more violent means such as guns or swords or hanging themselves. In the same thought, women tend to kill themselves using potions and less violent means. “’A dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear / As will disperse itself through all the veins, / That the life-weary taker may fall dead’” (Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 60-62). Romeo is the one speaking in this quote and he is talking about what he needs from an apothecary. Talking about how quick he wishes his death to be once again displaying a more feminine approach of a non-violent means of suicide. Also, Juliet has been portrayed as the master in the falconer quote and as a man in their relationship (the master) and Romeo as the servant or the more feminine side. “’Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger, / This is thy sheath; there rust and let me die’” (Act 5, Scene 3, Lines 169-170). Here Juliet is being portrayed as masculine once more by killing herself in more violent means which is traditionally what men normally do. Since this is reversed of what it normally is, this shows that Romeo is an example of feminism. This shows that Shakespeare is showing Romeo as the feminine side of the relationship, and once more setting an excellent example of how not to be a masculine man. Overall Shakespeare has done an excellent job of showing how not to be masculine. Through numerous examples of gender role of a woman, how others perceive him, and how he commits suicide. All of these show that Shakespeare thought through this aspect of the play a lot just like he did with the rest of the play. Romeo is the perfect example of how not to be a masculine man, and it was very clear that Shakespeare intended it to be this way.

The quotes all had very good points and they focused in on your topic very well. Make sure that you don't talk about how Romeo is acting like a "girl" because I think your are thinking of how a average girl acts, but girls can also be very masculine so don't say that Romeo acts like a girl. Instead you should say that he is acting very feminine and use that word instead of acting like a girl. Good paper and I like the quotes and how you explained them. (Harrison Butker)

The quotes were good, and the essay is plently long. I agree with Harrison's point above, but overall this is really good. Hopefully there is some formatting in your actual paper that isn't just 2 paragraphs, though. -Dean The title is kind of vague and a bit strange, you should change it to something more specific. (zander) Good quotes that match thesis-jack Good balance in explanation of quotes between describing the setting and explaining the meaning-jack Good introduction-jack Good essay but maybe try to shorten it a little-zack Nice job conecting the arguments back to the thesis. Also good quotes, I've used a couple for my paper. I also agree with Harrison and Dean. Overall it was a good paper with good points. -CB Lots of good arguments in your paper. You back up your thesis very well. good job. Niels Period 2 Home Page

Period 2 EssayPage