The Value of Sex in Romeo and Juliet and Measure for Measure Essay

Renaissance England often treats female turn on and virginity as a commodity. Shakespeare recognizes this belief system in Measure for Measure and Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliets virginity titles as a commodity. However, it is not her commodity rather, it belongs to her father. Capulet uses it as a bartering tool. In act three, scene four, he makes a marriage agreement with Paris. He says, Sir Paris, I will make a desperate in the altogether / Of my childs love. I phone she will be ruled / In all respects by me. Nay, more, I doubt it not (12-14). The first definition in the Oxford incline Dictionary defines tender as to offer or advance (a plea, issue, statement evidence, etc.) in due and formal terms spec. to offer (money, etc.) in fountain of debt or liability (def. 1). The OED cites Littletons Tenures in 1544 as an example of this definition The Lorde maye tender a conuenient mariage wythout deperagyng of such an heir female. Subsequent definit ions also define tender as to make (physically) tender, soft, or weak (def. 2d). These definitions prove the ecconomic value of Juliets body. Capulet weakens Juliet physically in 3.5 by ordering her to marry Paris or beg, starve, run down in the streets (192). In many productions, Capulet strikes Juliet, emphasizing her tender state. He has effective control over Juliets life and consequently, her body. Her virginity is a bartering tool, something he can take on a whim to the highest bidder. Within this system of arranged marriages, sex functions as a commodity. Measure for Measure also speaks to the commodification of sex by highlighting female virginity, those who are and those who arent. In this play, female virginity functions as a... ...odity, urgently sought after by men. Their commodity places them in a mental image bind To be sexually diligent is to be suspect, to be a virgin is to be desirable and therefore potentially sexually active and potentially susp ect. Either way women lose. Either way they are sexualised (Macfarlane 78). kit and caboodle Cited Carlson, Susan. Fond Fathers and Sweet Sisters Alternative Sexualities in Measure for Measure. Essays in Literature 161 (1989) 13-31. MacFarlane, Linda. Heads You Win Tails I Lose. Critical Survey 51 (1993) 77-82. Riefer, Marcia. Instruments of Some More Mightier Member The Construction of Female Power in Measure for Measure. Shakespeare Quarterly 352 (1984) 157-169. Shakespeare, William. Measure for Measure. Greenblatt 2021-2090. ---. Romeo and Juliet. Greenblatt 865-941.