Final answer:
The Friar's lines from 'Romeo and Juliet' address the theme of gender roles and masculinity, which is a recurrent theme in Shakespeare's works, notably also in 'Macbeth', and in Tagore's portrayal of Madana. These texts explore the societal expectations placed upon men to be unemotional and women to be gentle, while also challenging these norms.
Step-by-step explanation:
The theme addressed in the lines "Hold thy desperate hand. Art thou a man? Thy tears are womanish," from Romeo and Juliet, is the societal expectations of gender roles and masculinity. In Renaissance England, where the play was written, men were expected to be stoic and strong, with any display of emotion considered feminine or weak.
This theme is echoed in various other texts, such as Shakespeare's Macbeth, where Lady Macbeth associates masculinity with cruelty and a lack of remorse, as shown in the lines, "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty." Likewise, in Macbeth, Macbeth fantasizes about having only male children with Lady Macbeth, attributing only males with undaunted mettle.
In contrast, the character Madana from Rabindranath Tagore's work challenges these gender norms by expressing strength and independence typically associated with masculinity in her society, yet still desiring the traditional feminine role of winning over love, as revealed in lines like, "My hands are strong to bend the bow, but I have never learnt Cupid's archery, the play of eyes." These texts collectively explore the concept of gender roles and societal expectations.