This note contains information for Romeo and Juliet context, discussing love and marriage, and gender roles for both men and women in Elizabethan England. It then concludes explaining how this contextual information can be used when answering GCSE exam questions.

What year exactly Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet is not known, but we can be sure it was during the 16th century in Elizabethan England. Understanding cultural values during this era can give us insight into Shakespeare’s ideas and themes.

Love and Marriage

• Courtly love = a medieval conception of love that emphasised noble acts of devotion. Also used to describe romance occurring in the Elizabethan court.

  • Intense, melodramatic and often fleeting.

  • Romeo’s obsessive, impulsive attitude towards romance and love for Rosaline is criticised by Shakespeare, described as a “fatal flaw.”

  • Romeo’s attitudes and descriptions of love can be analysed using the concept of courtly love as context.

• ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is focused on the forbidden and secret love between the two title characters.

  • Within the culture of courtly love, secret affairs were common, as in Elizabethan era the majority of marriages were arranged.

  • This led to secret affairs being held outside of often loveless marriages.

  • A lack of freedom to marry freely also meant that unrequited love was common and would have been a familiar and entertaining topic for Elizabethan audiences watching the play.

• Younger marriage age of around 13 for women

  • A much shorter life expectancy of around 40 meant that adult life began much earlier in the Elizabethan era.

  • Wealthy fathers would arrange their daughter’s marriage once their daughter could biologically have children.

  • EX/ Lord Capulet tells Paris to wait two more years until Juliet is “ripe to be a bride” → this links to the view of women’s role as mothers who must ‘bear fruit’ (have children).

• Aristocratic views on marriage

  • Aristocrat = the highest class in society, people of noble birth and great wealth.

  • Marriages in aristocratic families were arranged by the father to improve the family’s social status.

  • For women like Juliet, marriage was a duty instead of a decision, and considered a diplomatic exchange.

  • Juliet’s arranged marriage to Paris, a count, would have helped the Capulets become more important in Verona as Paris was a kinsman of the prince.

• Family and social pressure for arranged marriages.

  • Shakespeare shows Juliet disobeying her parents’ orders for her arranged marriage, and this is shown to be instrumental in leading to her death.

  • The final scene would have prompted Elizabethan audiences to consider how social pressure and norms had contributed to the tragedy.

• Challenging Renaissance views on marriage

  • Romeo and Juliet challenge the idea that marriage should be a transaction, not for love.

  • For example, Juliet says she would rather die than marry Paris.

  • The tragic ending where the couple choose to die together symbolises everlasting love.

Gender Roles

Expectations of women

• Patriarchy = a system of society or government where men hold the power, and women are largely excluded from having any influence or control.

In the patriarchal system of Elizabethan England, women were completely dependent on their fathers and husbands.

• They had no right to own property or wealth.

• Single women and relationships outside of marriage were harshly judged and ostracized.

• Elizabethan audiences would view Juliet’s refusal to marry Paris as her denying the safe and honourable option of the arranged marriage with a wealthy man because of her love for Romeo - making her sacrifice all the more impactful.

• Juliet’s autonomy

  • Autonomy = ability to make free, independent decisions about oneself, actions and futures, instead of being coerced or forced by others.

  • Shakespeare shows Juliet’s limited autonomy when she claims death is her only option.

  • However, Juliet’s strength of will and autonomous actions oppose traditional gender roles.

  • She acts dominant in the relationship with Romeo - she proposes to him, and insists he take the marriage seriously.

  • Juliet acts rationally and sensibly as opposed to the men in the play - she questions discrimination inherent in the feud.

  • She also defies patriarchal attitudes by refusing to do her duty as a daughter and refusing her arranged marriage.

• Women were expected to always be obedient to their husbands or fathers.

  • Lady Capulet’s obedience to her husband is shown to hurt Juliet.

  • Juliet defies her father, and this leads to aggression and rejection from her family.

• Women were viewed as emotionally and mentally frail, and their opinions were seen as invalid.

  • Act 1 Scene 1, the servants discuss women as “weaker vessels”, showing their low status in Elizabethan society.

Expectations of men

• Elizabethan men were expected to be strong, aggressive, and loyal to their family.

• Act 1 Scene 1 - The opening conflict

  • This scene shows male servants of the two families starting a fight unprovoked, showing the prevalence of male conflict in Elizabethan life.

  • Lord Montague and Lord Capulet are both eager to fight despite their age and without understanding why they’re even fighting.

  • Benvolio, who tries to break up the fight, is attacked, showing how pacifism or placation were not considered acceptable approaches for men.

• Masculine aggression through the character of Tybalt

  • Tybalt is portrayed as violent and passionately loyal to his family.

  • He starts numerous fights unprovoked, has a quick temper and upholds the feud with his behaviour.

  • Tybalt’s instigation of fights leads to his death after he kills an innocent man (Mercutio is not a Montague and thus should be exempt from the fighting).

  • The character of Tybalt is used by Shakespeare to show what can result from harmful ideas of how men should behave.

• Romeo’s nonconformity to male stereotypes

  • Mercutio criticises Romeo’s pacifying behaviour as dishonourable and submissive = Romeo does not act how the ‘honourable Elizabethan male’ should.

  • Romeo describes his love for Juliet as making him “weak” and act more traditionally feminine.

  • However, Romeo’s later more reckless and vengeful behaviour is what leads to his downfall and death, as well as Juliet’s.

• Shakespeare shows the tragic consequences of young men caught in the feud to challenge social norms about honour. While men in the Elizabethan era were expected to avenge their family’s honour, Shakespeare shows how the feud leads to several innocent people dying, and how after these deaths the feud is resolved through love, not violence.

How can this context be used in the exam?

Context should be included in your analysis in order to strengthen your claims.

For the Shakespeare question in the AQA English literature exam, one of the assessment objectives, AO3, is:

Use contextual ideas and perspectives to support your argument and to provide further insight into Shakespeare’s choices.

This means you are required to include context in your answer in order to meet all three assessment objectives. Context information like provided above should therefore be used to supplement and support your argument.

AO3 is worth a total of 6 marks and requires you to show an understanding of the relationship between the text and the contexts in which it was written. You should aim to:

• Comment on the writer’s intention - what does Shakespeare want the audience to think about?

• Show awareness of how context has impacted the plot, characters and themes.

• What information can help the reader understand the play better?

Information on love, marriage and gender roles may be useful for questions on the following topics:

(Please note this is not an exhaustive list and is instead here to show examples of application!)

• How Shakespeare presents attitudes towards marriage

• How Shakespeare presents the relationship between Romeo and Juliet

• How Shakespeare presents the character of:

  • Juliet

  • Romeo

  • Tybalt

• How Shakespeare presents attitudes towards love

• How Shakespeare presents Capulet’s attitudes towards his daughter Juliet

• How Shakespeare presents familial relationships

Example of application

If answering a question of how Shakespeare presents the character of Juliet, you could bring in context regarding the traditional roles of women in Elizabethan society.

Juliet’s behaviour:

• Juliet’s autonomous behaviour and defiance of her father’s wishes.

• Her dominant behaviour in her relationship with Romeo.

• Her choice of death rather than submit to an arranged marriage.

Links to context:

• Expectations of women to be obedient to their fathers and husbands, and their lack of autonomy due to being female.

• The tradition of arranged marriages and extensively planned and strategic proposals (vs. Juliet asking Romeo to marry her without their parents’ consent)

• The relative security that would come for a woman by being married (and judgment of not being married) - and thus what Juliet risks by not submitting to her arranged marriage to Paris.