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Women's rights in the renaissance era
Gender roles in shakespeare
What are the traditional gender roles in the twelfth night
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Similar to Hamlet, Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus is very male-dominated with only two prominent women: Tamora and Lavinia. These two leading ladies are complete opposites in this play, however Shakespeare structures them both to meet society’s destructive patriarchal roles. Tamora, the object of male desire and Lavinia a strong woman victimized by a male-controlled society. Lavinia and Tamora’s conflicting traits are demonstrated in Act II, Scene III when Tamora’s sons prepare to sexually assault Lavinia and Tamora refuses to acknowledge Lavinia’s pleas for her feminine compassion. Lavinia curses at Tamora, “No grace, no womanhood?
Throughout history, men have always dominated. They never let a woman rise to power or have the same rights. This sexism has been ingrained in society for thousands of years, so much so that it has defined some of the most famous works of literature, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This play was written during the Elizabethan Era, an era in which a woman had all the power imaginable (Queen Elizabeth), and yet, women were still severely discriminated against. Women had no say whatsoever in their society; they were not allowed to vote and they had very few legal rights (Papp, Joseph, Kirkland).
Ancient plays throughout different cultures in history contained all male cast, failing to even cast women as they were deemed inferior. Tradition held that the culture in western societies restricted women’s roles. Even as female characters were indeed written in certain plays, the role were portrayed by a male. They regarded women being able to portray these roles as dangerous and that having men play them “neutralized” the danger it possessed. The Greek’s and the Roman’s both held these views making it impossible for women to be on stage.
In this passage the word “music” stood out the most. “If music be the food of love play on”. Twelfth Night, act one scene one (p4). Orsino company the music because he feel that the music expressing his feeling to Olvia. He used the words “excess” to explain his love’s suffering, and food as the love’s nutrition.
The “lady” Cesario suggests is Viola, which is herself. Viola truly loves Duke Orsino, but the fact that Duke Orsino brushes Cesario with the remark shows that Duke Orsino is narrow-minded. Duke Orsino emotionally hurts Viola’s unrequited love towards him. It is only until Duke Orsino realizes that Cesario is a female that he actually considers her a partner. Duke Orsino expresses: Cesario, come ‒ For you shall be while you are a man,
“And though she be but little, she is fierce” -William Shakespeare. In today’s day and age, one of the greatest topics of debate is gender roles. It is evident everywhere, from cyberspace to the streets of home, from online petitions to marches across the country such as the Women’s March. Shakespeare lived in the Elizabethan Era of England, where Queen Elizabeth I, the virgin queen ruled.
Viola, Cesario, Olivia, and Duke Orsino together form a comedy with consistently homoerotic undertones that explores the fluidity of gender. Though queer theory is rarely explicit in works such as Shakespeare, it is critical to analyze older texts to gain a clearer picture of queer identity before modern
In Elizabethan theatre all the characters were played by men, also the female ones, so the fact that two male actors woo each other as women, make the situation comical and allows the author to introduce the question of homosexuality. Despite same sex love was not acceptable in Shakespeare’s time, the male character of Cesario work as a shield to protect the characters in the play and the audience from a direct deal with this taboo topic. Olivia is in love with Cesario but it seems that she attracted by feminine characteristics: “Oh what a deal of scorn looks beautiful in the contempt and anger of lips!”
This love triangle, and Viola’s disguise, explores gender interiority and emotional intimacy, while thereby allowing the play to overturn the gender conventions and “expectations” established at the time of it’s conception. In the early Renaissance period, relationships were strictly men and women. People did not go around that, and nobody tried to change it, because that is just the way it was. Women were objectified by society and were not seen as being dominant.
Throughout Hamlet, the thoughts, intentions, and actions of all of the characters can be explained through predisposed gender roles in the play. Hamlet is a tragedy in which the main character, Hamlet, attempts to seek vengeance for his father’s murder, while the relationships with him and around him begin to strain. In the play, gender plays a huge role in assuming the capability and worth of people. Women are most commonly depicted as being weak, powerless, and confused, while men are commonly shown as being strong, analytical, and intuitive. Hamlet features Ophelia and Gertrude as the only two female roles, and even then they show little independence from the males.
The first instance which supports the notion that a lapse of communication is responsible for the unsuccessful nature of heterosexual relationships is the case of Duke Orsino and Countess Olivia’s relationship. Both start the play preoccupied with their own concerns, Orsino is worried about finding love, specifically with Olivia, meanwhile she is busy mourning the death of her brother by refusing to marry anyone for seven years. However, it is Orsino’s obsession with seeking love and how he goes about pursuing Olivia that best exemplifies the problematic nature of a male and female’s relationship. Orsino opened the play by saying of love, “Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die” (1.1.1-3), essentially saying that he so badly craves the feeling being in love gives him, that he would like in so great a quantity that it would end his life.
Shakespeare’s Views on Gender Roles Gender roles in Shakespeare’s time played a crucial role in all of his plays, sonnets, and writings in general. Even though during his time, the views on gender roles were much different than today, Shakespeare still found a way to make his views of the various roles of men and women very clear. Through the art of language and poetry, Shakespeare’s views of men and women in society were well known and portrayed to his audiences, whether it was in 1597 or 2016. When Shakespeare began writing, he was writing during the Elizabethan age.
In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the female characters' desire to question the law of Athens and select their own husbands drives most of the conflict in the play. In a way, Hermia, Helena, and Titania are the protagonists of the play because each of their desires are being thwarted by the patriarchal structure of the society in which they live. The way the women try to overcome such hurdles does not sit well with the men. Accordingly, the men get on edge when their patriarchy is disrupted, so they make strict laws to try and keep the women under their control.
In the play Twelfth Night, through the depiction of Orsino’s and Viola’s desires for romantic love, Shakespeare portrays how adjustable and self-delusional human romantic attraction can be, especially when blinded by wants and needs. Viola, who puts on the appearance of a man, makes everybody think she is a male. Her disguise becomes a sexual confusion throughout the play for several characters, creating an odd love triangle where Viola loves Duke Orsino, who loves Oliva, which then on the other hand loves Viola, in disguise as Cesario. On the other hand, Malvolio dreams of marrying his beloved Olivia, and gaining authority over his superiors, like Sir Toby. Shakespeare uses disguise in the play to show several confusions and internal conflicts between the characters, proving how malleable and deluded some human attractions can be.
Numerous events and conflicts from Twelfth Night are dependant on Viola’s disguise, as she is caught in between Olivia and Orsino’s affection due to her disguise. In the beginning of the play, she dresses up as a male in order to conceal her identity and to get a job at Orsino’s court. In doing so, she is able to gain more of his trust than she would have if she was a female. By disguising herself as a man Viola is able attract his attention and appreciation to ultimately prove her worth to him as a woman. Moreover, Viola's disguise also allows Orsino to respect her intelligence which causes her to win his love.
