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Year 11
AQA

'Romeo and Juliet': exploring Juliet's character and conceptualising agency

I can explain how Juliet’s characterisation in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ relates to ideas of the patriarchy and female agency.

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Year 11
AQA

'Romeo and Juliet': exploring Juliet's character and conceptualising agency

I can explain how Juliet’s characterisation in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ relates to ideas of the patriarchy and female agency.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. In a patriarchal society, women’s choices were restricted and they were expected to marry and bear children.
  2. Arguably, Shakespeare’s structuring of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ conforms to the notion that men had precedence over women.
  3. Furthermore, Juliet’s interactions with her surroundings could represent the restricted nature of women’s lives.
  4. Our first and last impression of Juliet is around her marriage which could imply that women were defined by marriage.
  5. Considering agency is important because it allows us to consider the power dynamics in society.

Keywords

  • Patriarchal - relating to or denoting a system of society or government controlled by men

  • Agency - the capacity of an individual to act independently from others and to make their own free choices

  • Precedence - the condition of being considered more important than someone or something else

  • Subservient - less important; subordinate

Common misconception

Women were completely powerless in patriarchal societies.

While women's lives were restricted, they were not completely powerless.


To help you plan your year 11 english lesson on: 'Romeo and Juliet': exploring Juliet's character and conceptualising agency, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

To add challenge, you might want to extend the thinking in Task C to also consider the theme of fate in 'Romeo and Juliet' - does it undermine any potential agency that Juliet might have?
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Equipment

You may wish to have a copy of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' for this lesson.

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Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of mental health issues
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Supervision

Adult supervision required

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Starting with the first, put these events from Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' in chronological order.
1 - Juliet’s parents hope that she will marry Count Paris.
2 - Juliet falls in love with Romeo and they marry in secret.
3 - Romeo kills Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, and is banished from Verona.
4 - Juliet’s father informs her that she must marry Count Paris.
5 - Juliet fakes her own death.
Q2.
Match the characters from Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' with their relation to Juliet.
Correct Answer:Romeo,her husband
tick

her husband

Correct Answer:Lord Capulet,her father
tick

her father

Correct Answer:Count Paris,her proposed husband
tick

her proposed husband

Q3.
Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' was published in which era?
Correct answer: Elizabethan era
Jacobean era
Victorian era
Q4.
'Relating to or denoting a system of society or government controlled by men' is the definition of which word beginning with 'p'?
Correct Answer: patriarchal, patriarchy
Q5.
Which of the following is the definition of 'restricted'?
Correct answer: limited
unlimited
expansive
boundless
Q6.
Which of the following is the definition of 'subservient'?
the most important
Correct answer: less important
more important

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
When Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' was written and performed, England was a __________ society.
matriarchal
Correct answer: patriarchal
non-hierarchical
Q2.
In Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', which of the following characters is introduced to the audience last?
Romeo
Lord Capulet
Count Paris
Correct answer: Juliet
Q3.
Which of the following is the definition of 'precedence'?
Correct answer: the condition of being considered more important than someone
the condition of being considered less important than someone
the condition of being considered as important as someone
Q4.
'The capacity of an individual to act independently from others and to make their own free choices' is the definition of which word beginning with 'a'?
Correct Answer: agency
Q5.
What does the concept of 'female agency' refer to?
the ability of female characters to overpower men
when female characters show a lack of action
Correct answer: the ability of the female characters to take action
Q6.
In Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', where do we encounter Juliet's character?
outside in the streets of Verona
Correct answer: inside controlled spaces
constantly moving inside and outside