Romeo and Juliet Group

Question:


chloemink
Student

Is Juliet too young to marry?

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Posted by chloemink on Friday January 26, 2007 at 1:42 PM and tagged with age, juliet, marry, romeo and juliet.

Answers:


  1. gbeatty Teacher
    College - Freshman

    eNotes Editor

    I'd say so, but the real question is, who is asking, and who is answering? She's 13, and by modern standards, that's very young. It also seems young to Juliet's father. However, as Paris points out in Act I, girls younger than 13 are already mothers (and according to him, happy about it). And Paris is right, at least historically; people married much younger in that period.

    But look at her emotional ups and downs! She's so young!

    Greg

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/romeo/34519

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    Posted by gbeatty on Sunday February 25, 2007 at 9:39 AM

  2. luvthekingofsc
    luvthekingofsc Student
    High School - 9th Grade

    Back then, (when they lived short-lives) she was considered old. Paris points out that women who were younger than her were already mothers. Nowadays, though, yes. Far too young.

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    Posted by luvthekingofsc on Sunday February 25, 2007 at 8:41 PM

  3. youthinkilikeyou
    youthinkilikeyou Student
    High School - 12th Grade

    In my opinion? Yes. In the opinion of the Elizabethian audience it would have been a different matter. In the time of this play, every father would find a good suitor whom was rich and willing to marry his daughter as soon as she became a teenager.

    Why? Because the parents of a daughter were worried about their daughters' hormones running wild and urging her to go about the town and trying different things out; thus becoming pregnant without being married. This was frowned upon and would bring shame to any household.

    Thus, the daughters were to marry at an early age so as if they became pregnant, they had a good man who would look after her and the baby.

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    Posted by youthinkilikeyou on Tuesday July 3, 2007 at 6:28 AM

  4. beccasmith
    beccasmith Student
    High School - 10th Grade

    No she's not, in modern day terms its similar to someone who has only just turned 16 getting married, it is very close to being unacceptableand there would still be some stigma in society about it. Whether she is mature enough to get married is another matter which is more personal. She is shown as very young in her submissions to her father; however it could be argued that this is just another historical trait of the play, so I guess you'll just have to make up your own mind about that!

    PS I'm from England so i don't know if my year at school's right but i don't suppose that matters really :)

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    Posted by beccasmith on Wednesday January 14, 2009 at 12:16 PM

  5. revolution
    revolution Teacher
    Doctorate

    Yes. Thirteen years old is way too young to go into marriage according to our modern standards, in the late twenties would be more acceptable.

    The fact was also greatly supported by the Elizabethan England period, when women typically wed in their late teens or early twenties. But, in Pari's point of view, she felt that 13-year olds are already mothers in that age, which contradict to the traditions that everybody follows.

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    Posted by revolution on Thursday July 16, 2009 at 5:51 AM