Masculinity In Romeo And Juliet

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Sometimes a Sword is only a Sword:

What the fight scene at the beginning of Romeo and Juliet tells us about youthful masculinity.

At first glance , the beginning of Romeo and Juliet can be, and is often marked off as something to catch your attention. A bit of violence never fails to be a crowd pleaser, especially when exposition can be quite dull. Shakespeare however, being the excellent poet that he was, was able to slip in some clever commentary on how people perceived youthful masculinity in the 16th century, mainly in the form of very crude and perverse jokes. These jokes tell us that sex and violence were what the male youth of this time thought was what made a man, and mocks it to portray that having a cool and calm mind is what …show more content…
Samson and Gregory see them and draw their swords, the language of which implies another, suggestively phallic meaning, for example when Samson says "My naked weapon is out."(1.2.27) it has the denotation of saying that he has drawn his sword, but the conotation of "I have my manhood out". Samson, after talking with Gregory about fighting them decided to instigate a fight by biting his thumb at Abraham and the other servant. It is here that you get another sense of what it means to be a man in this time period, when Samson says when he is tries to instigate the fight "I serve a good as good a man as you, and Abraham replies with"No better".(1.1.43-44) This exchange of words show that young males also fought for, and tried to honor their masters. This is further driven home by Gregory challenging two Montague servant's masculinity by saying "Draw, if you be men."(1.1.49) which, again, has a hidden, perverse meaning.

It is here that we reach the climax of the fight scene. The fight breaks out between the servants. In comes Benvolio, who tries to quell the fighting, and Tybalt, who does the opposite, and encourages the behavior. This is important because Tybalt is being cast as the foil to Benvolio. This juxtaposition is illustrated when he says "What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word" When Benvolio tells him to put it up or use it to stop the fight. (1.1.54-56) and hints that what Benvolio is what a real man is supposed to be, in that he knows when to use violence, and prefers not to resort to
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