Romeo and Juliet

Passage and Exam Question: Masculinity

If you would like to prepare for the session, please do take a look at the extract and exam question
below. Read the QUESTION first, then the extract. As you are reading the extract, highlight any key
quotes that strike you. You could plan out what your four/five main paragraphs of your essay answer
would be using the prompts to help you.

Extract
Question (AQA style)

Prompts:

 What is the significance of this scene being at the very beginning of the play?
 What kind of tone is created by the rhetorical questions and double entendre?
 Pick another event in the play which shows aggressive male behaviour. How is it similar or
different to this episode?

In my opinion, I think i somewhat agree due to the fact that i think that other things also played a
great role into killing juliet and romeo. You could firstly link to the idea of fate and reference the
prologue where they are named "star-crossed lovers" and there, you can also see the mentioning of
masculinity through aggression for example "civil blood makes civil hands unclean" and so then you
could go on the idea of fate with the use of celestial imagery. However, you could also argue that the
cause of their death comes from the fact that they lived during the elizabethan era and the fact that
they were born to opposite households reinforces the idea that they would never be able to be
together. You could also blame the patriarchal society for not allowing juliet to be able to make such
decisions for herself with the consent of those she wants support from. Lastly, you could also blame
romeo and juliet themselves as they make irrational decisions due to being so young and being able
to rebel against their parents and make huge decisions without thinking about the long term
consequences.