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Femininity In The Jacobean Era

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William Shakespeare explores the recurring theme of femininity and the stereotypical roles of women in the Jacobean era, through his use of contrasting language. The theme of femininity is directly linked the Jacobean context. At that time women had very light rights, due to the fact that the financial sustainment fell upon the men, which therefore reduced women’s social positions in society to being mothers. In Jacobean and Medieval literacy, women were conventionally depicted as weak and submissive to their husbands. Altogether, they were seen as a weaker gender, who was emotionally unstable, and constantly portrayed as inferior.Shakespeare uses the ideology of feminism in order to educate his audience on traditional roles of women; this is because the play “Macbeth” was initial written as political propaganda. It was written in 1606, after the Gunpowder plot to …show more content…

In the play “Macbeth”, William Shakespeare uses demonic elements such as the witches, to set the paranormal atmosphere of the play, due to their mysterious encounter in the desolated heath, in which the play is first introduced. He characterises the “Three Witches” as bestial and monstrous.The witches foreshadow supernatural events, due to the fact that Medieval and Jacobean audiences believed witchcraft was associated with satan himself; therefore, a direct threat to Christian citizens. Shakespeare knew that by involving the “Three Witches” his audience would feel a mixture of fear and slight fascinations for these creatures, and would be captivated by the play itself. This is evident in the first appearances of the witches, in Act 1 Scene 1; “ Fair is foul, and foul is fair, Hover through the fog and filthy air.” The use of fricatives mirrors a harsh sounding sound which emphasises for a 21st century reader how witches were symbolically portrayed as evil and demoniac. This reinforces the ghostly atmosphere established by

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A reader is subconsciously using gender criticisms throughout the play to determine the influences of gender over how Shakespeare’s literature pieces are read and written. Traditional women during the 11th century in Scotland, women were not seen as powerful figures in society and were not allowed to hold any power. Women were expected to be a mother and/or a mother like figure as well as be polite, fair, and noble hostesses of guests incoming into the home. Men were expected to be courageous. For example, Old Siward was very concerned with how Young Siward died in battle.

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Shakespeare’s Macbeth is set in 11th century Scotland and first written and performed in the 17th century for a Jacobean audience. In the Jacobean era there was a patriarchal society which is a society governed and controlled by men. There were clearly defined roles for men and women.

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For centuries , witches have been stoned to death and burned alive simply for being able to create magic . The notion of witches have been a taboo subject that most people would try to avoid but William Shakespeare did not make their reputation any better by depicting them as malicious and demonic in his famous play ‘ Macbeth’ which a lot of people tried making movies of . Despite bearing some similarities between the three videos in which the witches were in , the differences are profound . To start with , there are quite some similarities between the witches in the three movies . In George Wright’s , Rupert Goold’s , and Kurzel’s movies , all of the witches seemed to say the same lines , despite them being from different timelines .

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“Fillet of a fenny snake,in the cauldron boil and bake. Eye of newt and toe of frog,wool of bat and tongue of dog”(4.1.11-15). The Weird Sisters influenced Macbeth to bring trouble all through Scotland and murder numerous guiltless lives. The three witches love controlling others in the play. They wanted to botch up the lives of others.

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It’s no surprise, that Shakespeare’s Macbeth was clearly constructed as a rebellion against femininity roles of the time. During the Elizabethan era, women were raised to believe they were inferior to men since men obtained desired masculine qualities such as strength, and loyalty, whereas women were viewed as figures of hospitality (1; 6; 28-31). Obviously, not being tempted by the luxury of subservient women, William Shakespeare rebuked this twisted belief, applying that women deserve more respect than their kitchen tables.

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The Elizabethan era was not an uprising point for women in history. The women were expected to fit into a roll, a roll of women who were obedient and never wayward. The Elizabethan era was a time where Shakespeare wrote his plays, because of that era, Shakespeare’s play’s would tend to emulate characters of the type of woman at that time. Women were not allowed extra schooling and they had to be completely dependent on a male, whether it being her father or her husband. It is no shock that Shakespeare’s depiction of women was the way they were.

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In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses the subversion of gender roles to reinforce Elizabethan notions of female and male behavior through the characters of Lady Macbeth, the three witches, and Macbeth. The ideal woman in Shakespearean times was submissive and docile. She is expected to be a mother and hostess, and little else. However, Lady Macbeth is the exact opposite of this notion. She constantly challenges and manipulates her husband to feed her ever-growing ambition.

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It can be hypothesised that Shakespeare was testing the waters to break gender norms and perceiving women as independent, dominant and powerful beings through his

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Today, in the 21st century, most women are fairly respected and have the freedom to make their own choices; but when reading Romeo and Juliet, from the Shakespearean age, I have learned that women were viewed very differently. Using clues provided by this book, it is clear that whether women were housewives, royalty, nurses, or children, they didn’t have equal rights to men. Men were very masculine; they ordered their wives around and expected women to obey. Whereas women were very obedient and unfortunately were often taken advantage of. In this paper, will be examining the stereotypical role of a woman in the Shakespearean age.

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Feminist point of view means the analysis of any literary works based on the feminist perception. Feminism has gradually become broad and noticeable in its attacks on male-dominated society. The Shakespearian era of the 16th century was a time when women were very inferior in the society. If we compare with other writers, Shakespeare was always careful of women and tried to give them respect in his different writings. If we look at his famous play named Othello we need to judge the equality of women in terms of political, social and economic perspective.

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Shakespeare is often referred to as a man before his time, or even called a feminist. He revered amongst many audience members for his use of the woman in his plays. Others disagree, saying Ole Willy Shakes is a misogynist who hated women. Neither of the extremes is completely accurate, and neither have claims that could be taken very far. Shakespeare lives somewhere between being a feminist and being a misogynist, he uses female character radically; for his time at least.

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Their tough archetypes were always present in many plays and reinforced the idea of male superiority. This fact held true, especially for a certain tragic classic by William Shakespeare. There was a misogynistic mentality towards women in Romeo and Juliet, evident through the way women were shown as objects, portrayed as weak, and made to seem unable to dictate their own lives. Men in Romeo and Juliet could be seen acting like owners towards women. Women were seen as nothing more than possessions, as illustrated when Romeo first described Juliet as, “My lady…/my love” (II.ii.10).

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For Shakespeare’s plays to contain enduring ideas, it must illustrate concepts that still remain relevant today, in modern society. Shakespeare utilises his tragic play Othello, to make an important social commentary on the common gender stereotypes. During early modern England, Shakespeare had to comply to the strict social expectations where women were viewed as tools, platonic and mellow, and where men were displayed as masculine, powerful, tempered, violent and manipulative. As distinct as this context is to the 21st century, the play exposes how women were victimised by the men who hold primary power in the community in which they compelled women to conform to the ideal world of a perfect wife or confront an appalling destiny for challenging the system. Moreover, Shakespeare utilises the main antagonist, Iago, to portray how men are desperate to achieve what they want and to indirectly fulfil the stereotype of masculinity and power through manipulation.

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1360 Words | 6 Pages

A Modern View of Feminist Criticism William Shakespeare 's "Othello” can be analyzed from a feminist perspective. This criticism focuses on relationships between genders, like the patterns of thoughts, behavior, values, enfranchisement, and power in relations between and within sexes. A feminist examination of the play enables us to judge the distinctive social esteems and status of women and proposes that the male-female power connections that become an integral factor in scenes of Othello impact its comprehension. I believe that the critical lens that provides modern society with the most compelling view of literature is Feminist Criticism because it analyzes distrust and disloyalty among relationships, women being treated as possessions

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An example of feminism in the play is evident through Sarah 's comment after Monica enden up a love affair with a married man: SARAH: „We don 't pity you, Monica. I just think it 's sad that thirty years after the birth of the women 's movement we are still allowing ourselves to believe that happiness requires us to have a man. “ (1,p 9 ). On the contrary, it is important to mention a dialogue between Angela and Shakespeare about issues of 'victim feminism ' and patriarchy: ANGELA: „ Ok, it 's a little more complicated than I though, but don 't try and tell me patriarchal power is a myth!

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