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Masculinity Of Women In The Elizabethan Era

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Initially, Shakespeare explored the theme of power and control by repeatedly highlighting the masculinity of men and the fragility of women of his time period. In the Elizabethan era, men were expected to be masculine, rational, and powerful. This has put a significant amount of pressure on the men during that time and hence is why Egeus’ response to Hermia’s refusal to obey his orders of marrying Demetrius was so extreme - he insists that Hermia’s marriage “shall be either to this gentleman”, Demetrius, “Or to her death”. It is needless to say that Egeus sees Hermia as his possession that he has total control over and “may dispose of her” at any time. The choices Egeus presents to Hermia is utterly unfair, portraying his agency and crushing Hermia’s hope for autonomy even further. …show more content…

Theseus dominantly stated to Hermia that to her, her “father should be as a god”, essentially saying, in demand for filial piety, she must obey her father’s orders as they are always right and are never to be challenged. Though this concept is extremely common during the Elizabethan era, as portrayed throughout the play, it can be perceived as emotional manipulation as it is morally unacceptable to force someone into believing a religion. This not only portrays society’s perception of women being of a weaker sex but also highlights how Egeus defines power. Power to Egeus was ……………… Consequently, Egeus blames Lysander as he has “flinched” his “daughter’s heart Turned her obedience, which is due to” him “To stubborn harshness” and had “stolen the impression of her fantasy” . Shakespeare’s deliberate choice of using the word “stolen” in Egeus’ dialogue conveys a sense of

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According to Jane Resh Thomas, Elizabeth won the personal respect of both enemies and friends, and she led England at the dawn of its influence as a great nation. Despite her gender and the patriarchal society, she established and maintained her power, carved a career and a life on her own, and refused to marry. (Thomas n.p.) Elizabeth was born in Greenwich Palace, near London on September 7, 1533. She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was thirty-two years old.

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Gender roles in the Elizabeth Era. How were the views on women different in the Elizabeth era compared to today? The Elizabethan era was in the 16th century. And it is also known as the golden era because it was a time of great progress, stability and national pride.

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Masculinity is the clay atop a pottery wheel: malleable and pliant, yet unable to morph alone because it perpetually spins at the whim of another man. Although humankind has strode towards gender equality, toxic patriarchal traits from the past linger within the male psyche and sustain a set of acts passed down hereditarily, rather than manufactured internally. This influences what men anticipate of themselves, forcing them to fulfil obsolete performative criteria that create a hallucinatory vision of masculinity. Seemingly, Butler’s trope holds a mirror against the male identity, reflecting the hands which mould gender narratives across contextual and generational boundaries. During the Elizabethan era, gender expectations formed the backbone

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In 1990, Fordham University hosted a conference on gender and medieval society, focusing on the issue of feminist studies as a frame from which medieval ideas of “manhood” are approached. In 1994, Medieval Masculinities: Regarding Men in the Middle Ages was published as a result of that conference. A number of researchers contributed essays on the changes in definitions of masculinity during the medieval period, and looking at masculinity as another lens through which gender is to be approached, rather than a normative state to compare against in relating the lives of women in society. The focus was on demonstrating that the dominance of male oriented history did not just sublimate and ignore women but to a larege extend did the same thing

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Egeus is trying to make his daughter marry who he thinks is worthy. Lysander states,” May I marry thee,[...] sharp athenian law cannot pursue us.”. (16) Lysander and Hermia are in Love. Theseus gave Hermis three options. Hermia doesn’t want to be with Demetrius but with Lysander.

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This may also present to us that the women in this play are quite strong and independent despite the times this play is set in, Hermia's father Egeus treats Hermia as though she is his property and that she has no freedom of choice Egeus threats his daughter by death or to become a nun which shows some state of

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He did this by having two settings: Athens and the woods. Athens represented modern Elizabethan society, and here, all the women are in their stereotypical gender roles; Hermia was the dutiful daughter that had to follow her duke’s and father’s orders, Helena was the girl that was in love Demetrius but was not allowed to go after him, and Hippolyta was the captive who had to marry her captor. Athens was a society not yet prepared for the inclusion of women; essentially, Shakespeare meant that Elizabethan England was not yet ready for women to have the same rights as men. To contrast this setting, William Shakespeare made up the woods. The woods is where the four lovers run off to, and where fairyland presides.

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Hermia’s father, Egeus, being one of the major reasons. According to law, Egeus has complete power over her so what he wants for her is what she receives. Hermia is then expected to respect and obey him. Egeus demonstrates an over-protective parental love that in this scenario demands her another man besides Lysander. Lysander’s Eros love and determination for Hermia ultimately brings the two together which supports true love as being very strong.

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Lysander’s unbridled love for Hermia shows obvious respect towards females, making him out to be one of the few characters admired by the audience. In our scene, Lysander’s subtext is an excited yet mannerly teenager who fears Theseus yet still stands up for himself and Hermia. When he saw that his relationship was being threatened he stopped cowering and pushed Egeus and Demetrius away pleading his case to Theseus. Hermia, who has a similar definition of love, trusts the emotion and thinks of it as a driving force in her life. When given the choice between spending the rest of her life as a nun and being forced into a loveless marriage, she decides that staying perpetually celibate would be the superior choice: “‘So will I grow, so live, so die my lord, ere I will yield my virgin patent up unto his lordship, whose unwishèd yoke my soul consents not to give sovereignty’”

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It also seems as if egeus is referring to Hermia as an object rather than a person who has their own mid and feelings. ¨ Scornful Lysander! True he hath my love,/ and what is mine my love shall render him,/ and she is mine and all my right of her/ I do estate unto demetrius¨ (I.I.lines-95-98). Egeus is referring that hermia is his blood and he gets to have full control of what she gets and what she needs and does not care about how lystander was put in between his daughter and him.

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The Elizabethan Era was a time where men were in charge and women and children were expected to obey. Nowadays, men and women have equal roles in society and one gender is not better or smarter than the other. During the Elizabethan Era, men, women, and children all had specific and defining roles. Men had a dominant role in society during the Elizabethan Era. Men could do many things that women were not allowed to do.

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(He wants his daughter to marry demetrius who he knows better than Lysander). Causing him to be very strict and wants things to go his way. Egeus is then becoming angry with his daughter because of her disobeying actions in wanting to marry Lysander instead of Demetrius; Quote:” As she is mine, I may dispose of her which shall either be to this gentleman or to her death” (Act 1 scene 1 Lines 41-45) But in the end he becomes agreeable and allowed Hermia to love Lysander, But here’s the thing if the Fairies did not get involved Egeus would have went ahead and executed His own daughter for her disobedience.

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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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This piece of literature demonstrates the roles for men as the dominant gender and women as submissive, which are obsolete stereotypes. Shakespeare portrays the roles of the dominant males when Egeus tells, “as she is mine, I may dispose of her, which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death, according to our law immediately provided in that case” (1. 1. 42-45). He states this to let readers know that Hermia will not marry Lysander, and he gets the final decision. He gives her options, which are to marry him or die.

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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.

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