The meaning of gender

One of the lesser known overarching themes presented in Romeo and Juliet is the importance of gender. The play is particularly clever in the way that it offers a variety of viewpoints on the topic of masculinity. One of the fine examples of this is Mercutio. Mercutio is a young and very showy male who enjoys quarrelling, fencing, and harmless yet insensitive joking. Mercutio has very definitive ideals of what masculinity should look like and to a greater extent what it means to be a man. Mercutio believes that anything deeper than lust is weakening for a man, as it reveals too many sensitive emotions. Romeo’s masculinity is also questioned many times during the play, though usually in his own introspective monologues. In the wake of Mercutio’s death, Romeo fears that his love for Juliet has “made me effeminate and in my temper soften’d valour’s steel” so that his reputation as a man is “stain’d.” In addition to this, Friar Lawrence also questions Romeo’s masculinity, describing his tears over Juliet as “womanish.”