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

 â â â Renaissance England regularly regards female sex and virginity as an item. Shakespeare perceives this conviction framework in Measure for Measure and Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet's virginity goes about as an item. In any case, it isn't her item; rather, it has a place with her dad. Capulet utilizes it as a dealing apparatus. In act three, scene four, he settles on a marriage concurrence with Paris. He says, Sir Paris, I will make an edgy delicate/Of my kid's affection. I figure she will be administered/In all regards by me. Nay, more, I question it not (12-14). The principal definition in the Oxford English Dictionary characterizes delicate as to offer or advance (a request, issue, averment; proof, and so forth.) in due and formal terms; spec. to offer (cash, and so on.) in release of obligation or risk (def. 1). The OED refers to Littleton's Tenures in 1544 for instance of this definition: The Lorde maye delicate a conuenient mariage wythout deperagyng of such a beneficiary female. Subsequent definitions likewise characterize delicate as to make (genuinely) delicate, delicate, or feeble (def. 2d). These definitions demonstrate the ecconomic estimation of Juliet's body. Capulet debilitates Juliet truly in 3.5 by requesting her to wed Paris or ask, starve, pass on in the lanes (192). In numerous creations, Capulet strikes Juliet, underlining her delicate state. He has full power over Juliet's life and thusly, her body. Her virginity is a dealing instrument, something he can sell spontaneously to the most elevated bidder. Inside this arrangement of masterminded relationships, sex works as a product.  Measure for Measure additionally addresses the commodification of sex by featuring female virginity, the individuals who are and the individuals who aren't. In this play, female virginity works as a... ...odity, frantically looked for after by men. Their product places them stuck a twofold sticky situation: To be explicitly dynamic is to be suspect, to be a virgin is to be alluring and in this way possibly explicitly dynamic and conceivably suspect. Whichever way ladies lose. Whichever way they are sexualised (Macfarlane 78).   Works Cited:  Carlson, Susan. 'Affectionate Fathers' and Sweet Sisters: Alternative Sexualities in Measure for Measure. Essays in Literature 16:1 (1989): 13-31.  MacFarlane, Linda. Heads You Win Tails I Lose. Critical Survey 5:1 (1993): 77-82.  Riefer, Marcia. 'Instruments of Some More Mightier Member': The Construction of Female Power in Measure for Measure. Shakespeare Quarterly 35:2 (1984): 157-169.  Shakespeare, William. Measure for Measure. Greenblatt 2021-2090. - . Romeo and Juliet. Greenblatt 865-941.