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Gender Roles In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

538 Words3 Pages

I think a person’s gender shouldn't matter too much in the role they play in their day to day life. Gender roles have been around forever. They have gotten a lot better, but women and men are still labeled to certain things and jobs. The traditional way of life would be for the man to do all of the hard work and have a job. On the other hand, the woman should stay at home so she can watch the kids and have time for cleaning and cooking. The man was always supposed to be in charge and the woman just go along with it. These gender roles used to be pretty strict and there was no other way to life, but we have come along way. Today, we even have a woman running for president. Overall, I think a person’s gender shouldn’t affect they go about their day to day life, but unfortunately, even though it has gotten better, people are still labeled and have expectations because of it. For example, in the play, Orsino was expected to be very manly and to be the duke of Illyria. He needed to be in charge and take control since he was the man and in charge. Since he was so in love with Lady Olivia, he needed to make the first move and he should be the one to do all of the work. Orsino showed that he needed to be manly and needs to be in control because of his gender. In act two scene four, he was talking about how the man should be …show more content…

I think he resembled the typical male character very well being very full of himself. He was a prankster and always trying to cause trouble. His gender roles showed him being above everyone and being very carefree. He made a complete fool of himself because he was so in love with Lady Olivia. In act two scene five when Maria forged a letter confessing love to Malvolio from Olivia he was willing to go above and beyond for the woman he loved by dressing strangely with yellow tights and acting insane. It showed how far he would go for the woman he liked being very bold and taking charge like the gender roles of a

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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).

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As soon as he leaves Venice, Othello can no longer rely on the Venetian senators to provide order and reason. Instead he assumes all roles, becoming judge, jury, prosecutor, and executioner. Though Othello tries to remain a Venetian, his character prevents him from doing so. To put it in Machiavellian terms, true Venetians, like the senators and Iago, are foxes while Othello is a lion. Acting as a lion, Othello is impulsive and obsessive and acts with force rather than careful reason.

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“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.

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Why does he hate Othello so much? He first believes that Othello passed him over for a higher position as lieutenant and gave the promotion to Cassio. Second, he thinks that Othello may have slept with his wife. He cannot prove the latter but has such a deep hatred for Othello that he does anything to cause destruction to Othello as well as the rest of the characters.

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Othello with focusing on trying to please other characters but his cultural beliefs and understanding prevented him from being successful and lead him down a destructive path. Othello tried his best to make everyone like him but with him trying to marry the Senator 's daughter which nobody liked. With him being new and already having a bad first impression people aren 't going to want him here for long. This being Cultural criticism he 's just trying to please everyone as much as he can. People start to call him racist names and making fun of his

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Ever wonder about gender roles in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew? In Taming of the Shrew, the gender roles affect the characters in a rather negative way, and when they surface in the play, it’s rather shocking. This essay will discuss how gender roles affect the characters in what I believe is a negative way, and how they surface in the play. In this play, the men appear to have a particular idea on how all women should behave.

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William Shakespeare’s works, written primarily from the late eighteen hundreds to the very early sixteen hundreds, have long been the subject of academic debates and analysis. Potent with double entendres, metaphors, and social commentary, it is easy to apply queer theory to Shakespeare’s plays, notably Twelfth Night, written in 1601. Though Twelfth Night’s ending pushes its characters into traditional heterosexual romances and binary gender roles to satisfy the genre and placate conservative Elizabethan audiences, the characters in the comedy defy tradition by exploring homosexual love and expression of gender. The most apparent homosexual themes are present in the relationship between Antonio and Sebastian.

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The Reversed Gender Roles in Twelfth Night During the time of Shakespeare, women’s roles in the society were very limited, they had few rights, and many of their talents were likely to be ignored by men. However, in the play Twelfth Night, Shakespeare created female characters who are very intelligent, and they are the leading roles in the play. Because of the unexpected shipwreck, Viola is trapped in the foreign land of Illyria, and she has to become something she is not, a man, in order to get the position she wants.

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The characteristics of Othello includes passion, obligation, courage, jealousy and intelligence. These are great characteristics to have, but proves to eventually lead to Othello’s demise. Othello was a foreigner from Africa who was sort of accepted into the Venetian society, only because of his excellent track record of winning wars, but he was an outsider and never fully accepted. Othello enjoyed the status and luxuries of being a General and leading the defense of Venice. He also understood that he

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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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In today’s world, gender expectations and roles of men and women are a highly debated topic. However, the reconsidering of these expectations is not a new phenomenon. Set in Verona, Italy, the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare explores the reversal and fluidity of characteristics usually assigned to a specific gender. In this play, two young people fall in love and end up tragically taking their lives as a result of their forbidden love. Shakespeare suggests that men are not necessarily masculine, women are not necessarily feminine, and that when people are forced by society to act the way their gender is “supposed” to, problems will arise.

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The thesis of this article argues the demands for both males and females uncover gender expectations and roles, mainly in Othello. These ideas are present when Pechter states how the, "play is preoccupied with questions of gender difference, the expectations of men and women for themselves and about each other" (2). Pechter points out how in Othello the beliefs and assumptions are not easily encoded. One example that Pechter uses describes how, "too much womanly presence interferes with the appropriate effects (laughter instead of tears, pathos instead of fear); it demands restriction , if not elimination." (114).

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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.

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She is bounded to him emotionally and inwardly, thus she invariably believes the best of him. Her utmost loyalty to him is a result of her naive, obedient and passive nature. Her love for him is unconditional, and her senses are dimmed due to her absolute devotion to Othello. Consequently, she approaches and analyzes his anger, and their arguments emotionally rather than logically. She was loyal to Othello even after he committed murder to her, which is utterly against the moral values .

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