Gender Stereotypes

            Many things stand out about Romeo & Juliet. One of the things you could focus on is the way the women are portrayed. There are many gender based stereotypes in Romeo & Juliet and most of them are against women. Let`s get into more depth now shall we. Act 1 Scene 1 (in the book) when Sampson says " draw, if you be men" to Abram. Sampson is trying to say that if you are a man come at me. In the Shakespearean days men were the stronger gender while the women were the weaker ones. Sampson is trying to say if you don't fight me you are weak like a women. He is portraying a stereotype saying that women or weak and cant do anything. Yet on the flip side women are shown that they can be stronger then men to. Also in Act 1 Scene 1 Lord Capulet and Lord Montague appear at the scence where Sampson and Abram are fighting. They were both about to step in and join the fight, but there wives stepped in and stopped them from fighting. This shows that the women in Romeo & Juliet have some power. Many people think that women have no power in Romeo & Juliet but the women do have power. The power they have is small and goes unnoticed quite often. So yes there is gender stereotypes against women in Romeo & Juliet but some things make it even.