This is a grade 8/9 essay on AQA question: Starting with this moment in the play, explore how Shakespeare presents relationships between adults and young people in Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo and Juliet: Act 3 Scene by Scene Summary (DETAILED BUT CONCISE) 2024
Romeo and Juliet: Acts 4-5 Summary Scene by Scene (DETAILED BUT CONCISE) 2024
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Starting with this moment in the play, explore how Shakespeare presents relationships between
adults and young people in Romeo and Juliet.
Write about:
how Shakespeare presents relationships between adults and young people at this moment in the
play
how Shakespeare presents relationships between adults and young people in the play as a whole.
William Shakespeare presents relationships between adults and young people as a fragmented
relationship. In the Elizabethan era, children were subservient to the adults in the family this means
they were raised to respect and obey their parents. This highlights the idea that Shakespeare is
trying to show how relationships in that era was formal and quite distant.
In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare presents the relationships between adults and young people as
controlling and very subservient through the theme of masculinity and domination. This can be
shown in Act 3 Scene 5, when Lord Capulet tells Juliet she has to marry Paris. He says, “I will drag
thee on a hurdle thither” and “your baggage”. The aggressive tone Lord Capulet uses highlights how
he threatens Juliet to marry Paris, revealing the uncaring and demanding nature of their
relationship. This exposes the unrealistic and anti-feminist expectations that Lord Capulet imposes
on Juliet, showing the selfish nature of his masculinity which replaces his paternal attitudes. The use
of the verb ‘drag’, emphasises force and violence revealing Lord Capulet’s controlling attitude
toward Juliet and emphasising that she doesn’t have a say in the marriage. In the Elizabethan era,
daughters were subservient to their fathers, as in the great chain of being women were below their
fathers and husbands. The Elizabethan audience would completely agree with Lord Capulet as they
believed that men had the power to do anything to women. This shows that Shakespeare is
challenging the conventions of society through Juliette’s contrast with her father and the aggression
that he portrays, and the juxtaposition between appreciation and pride which characterises their
relationship. The quote “your baggage”, conveys how he is objectifying Juliet as he doesn’t see her
as a human but rather as an object which shows his relationship between him and his daughter is
quite abusive. It may also suggest how he finds her disgusting and don’t really see her as her
daughter anymore and instead a pawn. The use of the verb ‘baggage’ emphasises how she is a heavy
load that he doesn’t want to carry. Rather than seeing her as something which troubles him and
brings him down, rather than something that he can be proud of and protect. Shakespeare is
highlighting a hierarchy in the relationship. Rather than looking at love and equality, he looks at how
one person can control another. In this time period, children were obedient to their parents and
didn’t have say in anything and instead was supposed to listen. The Elizabethan audience would
totally accept this as they would view Lord Capulet as a good father as he is protecting her by doing
an arranged marriage. Also, Shakespeare continues to show this through the use of the quote “not
proud? “, suggests how his confusion and disbelief about Juliet’s refusal to marry Paris. The use of
the question mark emphasises how he is shocked by how she is refusing getting married but may
imply how he is angry due to the aggression tone. In the Elizabethan Era, they were devoutly
Christians and one of the ten commandments was “thou shall obey your mother and father”, which
means that whatever their parents say would go or you would be going against the ten
commandments. The Elizabethan audience would support Lord Capulet and think Juliet is spoiled
and being disobedient and would see their relationship as caring and protective. But modern
audience would disagree with this and argue that his patriarchal attitudes and foul treatment
towards Juliet would be viewed with outrage as gender equality has become increasingly important
in most parts of the world and that their relationship is seen as submissive.
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