Gender Roles In The Tempest

Changing the original character’s gender holds a big significance because of the way it will change the way the character will act. The Tempest is one example that proves this argument. A character’s gender is very influential; if one interprets a gender in a different way, then it changes the outcome of the play because it changes everything that the original character acted. It does not mean that the story changes because of the gender change but it changes because of the relationships that the character once had in the original play. In the original play by Shakespeare, it shows mostly male characters and only a handful of women, who even then aren’t shown in the play. In Taymor’s rendition of the play, she changes the genders from Shakespeare’s

She does this by changing the main character’s gender, by changing the character’s gender it indicates that the change will affect the attitude and behaviour that the character originally had. The film’s renditions of the play displays Prospero as Prospera due to the gender change. As a result of this change, the relationship Prospero originally had with Miranda and Caliban changes. The film version shows that Prospera ends up being more maternal towards Caliban, and that she develops a mother-daughter relationship with Miranda. The reason for Taymor’s gender changes for the play’s characters is because when she made this film it was during a different time period compared to Shakespeare. Therefore, she ends up interpreting it in a way that demonstrates that time has changed, and women are no longer deemed useless. Women can now do the same things as a man can do. To put it differently, women and men are somewhat equal now. For example, before women were not given the rights to vote or own any property, however, as time progressed women were given those rights through the Women's Suffrage Movement and the Married Women’s Property Act