Essay Sample about Gender Roles: Juliet and Britney Spears

Imbalance in gender roles have been existent throughout time and the problem has not changed. From the oldest form of human interaction that we can find, women had a smaller sum of roles and rights. Breaking gender norms and breaking glass are exceedingly difficult steps to take in the pursuit of freedom. Breaking gender roles were even more difficult during Juliet’s time; the gender roles were absurdly weighed towards the empowerment of men and disempowerment of women. 16th century Juliet, and Britney Spears are both people that have done exactly that. Two people that we can see trying to break this age-old gender norm is Juliet, from William Shakespeare's famous act Romeo and Juliet and Britney Spears. 

Controlling fathers. Shakespeare deliberately chose to have Juliet grow up in a high-power household, where it is bestowed open women, that they get married to a rich man arranged by their father, to give their family higher social status. As Lord Capulet says, “To have her matched; and having now provided a gentleman of noble parentage.” (3.5). Capulet believes that there should be no reason to complain about the marriage that had been arranged for Juliet. The fact that Juliet, who was not spoken to, was not ever questioned nor part of the discussion of the marriage that had been arranged, highlights the imbalance of power in between genders. Onlookers of the 16th Century see the treatment of Juliet as behaviour that was the norm at the time. However present-day audiences would believe that treatment similar to Capulet’s treatment is distasteful, toxic and unacceptable. Like Juliet, Britney Spears had a controlling father, he controlled her finances and her personal life from 2008. Patriarchal society laws allow for Britney Spears’s father to control Britney because, women are far lower than men in the hierarchy. These behaviours are inviting the audience to be in a state of disbelief because it is incredible that a sexist gender norm that existed in the 16th century is still evident today. Shakespeare’s writings are still seen and observed in today’s world, and it is shocking how closely represented it is over four hundred years later.

Juliet and Britney Spears haven’t been allowed to make their own decisions throughout their life. Juliet aimed to take control of her decisions and tried to take back her freedom from her father and attempted to take away the privilege of her father making her life decisions. But she was always met with violence and forceful treatment by her father in return to her demands. Lord Capulets response when Juliet pleads him to not marry Paris “Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch! (3.5). Lord Capulet enforces Juliet to do what she has been told or else there will be detrimental results. Later in the scene he goes on to say she will not be his daughter if she attempts to go against her on the decision to marry Paris. The audience in the 16th century is not positioned to respond to these behaviours, for at the time controlling women was normal behaviour at any household. Likewise, Britney Spears was controlled by her fathers through financial and freedom of choice. Britney Spears’s father had complete control of her finances and allegedly stole $6 million from her estate. All though there are very similar rules and enforces by Britney Spears and Juliet’s father, the outcomes were very different, this is where we see the difference in between today’s society and Shakespeare’s time, Juliet’s attempts at having her own say in what she does in her life were always met with failure and violence by her father, however, when Britney Spears sued her father to be freed from her conservatorship that was stopping her from being herself her father dropped the conservatorship in 2021 and succeeded in her pursuit of freedom. Her success was largely due to the fact of how audiences and people at the time reacted to the conservatorship, as people aren’t meant to be treated in such awful manner and audiences immediately acted out and had these circumstances changed for Britney Spears. Elements of Shakespeare's artistry and writings about the 16th century gender norms are still closely related to how people are treated today, and therefore he remains relevant today.

Breaking gender norms and breaking glass are exceedingly difficult steps to take in the pursuit of freedom, however 16th century Juliet and Britney Spears are both people that have done exactly that. The relevancy of these two characters is apparent in today's world because without them we wouldn't have examples of women who strived to achieve what they wanted to do in their life, instead of what their father wanted them to. Furthermore, Shakespeare's writings are obviously still relevant today as he wrote about issues that are observed in today's world. The fact these writings done from Shakespeare back in the 16th century are still closely represented today, is a clear reason as to why is still relevant and a once in a lifetime writer.