Thursday, October 14, 2010

What inference can be made from Friar's view of men and women?

It appears to me that the Friar sees men and women in
their traditional perspectives. Two places in the text particularly lead me to believe
this. In Act II, scene iii, the friar notes about
Romeo:



young
men's love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their
eyes.



This is so typical of
young teen boys. They are all about looks and physical attraction. So, the friar seems
to have a strong handle on the reality of how men act in reference to
women.


Later, the friar criticizes Romeo for crying like a
girl. Girls could take this as a slam, and so
should Romeo:


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Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou
art:
Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote
The unreasonable
fury of a beast:
Unseemly woman in a seeming
man!



This occured in Act III,
scene iii. Three times here, the friar has called Romeo a girl. This means that one can
infer that the friar takes the stereotypical approach to male/female roles just like
everyone else.

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