Before I started reading Romeo and Juliet, I looked at a few articles of literary criticism on it. One of the ones which interested me most was an article The taming of Romeo in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet discussing Juliet taking charge and “simulating maleness” to sort of tame Romeo and use him as a way of escaping from her own trapped social position. It was a very gendered reading and it rather annoyed me. I was rather annoyed at the author saying that Juliet was acting male because she was realistic and to the point.
He says that he believes that Juliet “demonstrates her independence and masculine mindset” and that “[Shakespeare] inverts the gender roles, making Juliet engage in behavior usually exclusive to men.” He backs this up with the falcon imagery. Juliet is likened to the falconer, and Romeo to the falcon, though normally falconers are male, and the falcons used were female. I kind of see this, since I do see the passages he points out—the clear references such as “O for a falconer’s voice / to lure this tassel-gentle back again”(II. 2. 158-159) and also the references to Romeo being in the dark (like a hooded falcon)—so I do see the falcon imagery that Mansour is talking about here. Mostly I just don’t like him saying that this means that Juliet is “simulating maleness” as he says or even that “Juliet demonstrates her skill at mastering Romeo.” Also, Mansour talked about Juliet being the falconer related to the earthbound and limited state of women at the time, and that this relates to her being rational and less flighty and speaking in “Juliet does not take wing in her words as Romeo does.” Perhaps, in this scene this is true, but during other parts of the play Juliet certainly has long and beautiful speeches and is just as melodramatic as Romeo is.
It was an interesting article.
