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Women's roles in shakespeare's works
Assay about feminism in shakespeare
Feminism in shakespeare
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Women's roles in shakespeare's works
Assay about feminism in shakespeare
Feminism in shakespeare
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Everyday people struggle with an illness. Imagine being in an unsanitary environment in the Elizabethan era not getting the help from doctors that people get today. In the Elizabethan era the people didn’t have the right medicines to be able to cure their illnesses. In today people have way better medicines and doctors to be able to help cure illnesses. The plague was a disease that spread throughout Europe.
“Oh, my mother works,’ I told Jeanette when she suggested we go over to my house instead of hers.’ ‘She doesn’t like me having company when she’s not home.’ But she was at home, practicing her series of curious domestic habits” Only being a preteen, Dolores is starting to tell lies. She tells her friend Jeanette this lie to cover up the shame her mom has brought to their family. This is just one of the very many lies she uses to hide her humiliation throughout her life.
The Elizabethan era set many social standards and expectations controlling how society lived. In Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing made in 1598, this idea is reflected, controlling how characters are perceived in the play. Although some characters oppose these stereotypes, challenging the social norms of society within this period. Elizabeth I was one of the most idealised feminist queens of this era, setting a new framework for the stereotypes of women. Consequently, Shakespeare based the main role of Beatrice, niece of Leonato, on that powerful figure from that era.
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).
As one of the famous comedies of Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing sets up at Messina, where brings the romantic atmosphere of Italy to the play. Through contrasting two types of love stories in the play, Shakespeare indirectly criticizes the men society and the confinement of human nature at the Elizabethan times, which can arouse students’ ponderation of unequal treatment and low social status of women. In addition, he indicates the importance of trust and respect in the relationship between people by way of depicting reputation, slander, deception. As one of the four main characters, Hero is submissive and gentle. Her dutiful image effectively represents the typical Elizabethan women, who were absolutely controlled by the family
In Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, women are portrayed as either pure angelic beings and jewels, or as whores who are impure. They are objectified and shown as something to be used. The only women in this play are Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca compared to the main 6 male characters, not to mention the minor characters, who are also all male. Their depicted purpose is to belong to a man; Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca’s lives revolve around being wives to Othello, Iago and Cassio. This fits into the idea of a perfect Elizabethan woman, who’s lives are subject to their husband’s rule across all aspects, to be disposed of as men wish.
Within the play, Much Ado About Nothing, there is a central theme of deceitfulness, as a way to solve a problem or an issue amongst the characters. Though this deception may be evil, it can often lead to positive endings after several conflicts. In the creation of this theme, Shakespeare uses both negative and positive examples to contribute to his lesson on ruses. Within this particular scene, all of the cons the various characters have put on are officially revealed to each other. This scene highlights that deception is not always evil, nor is it always moral, but is always solved.
Equal treatment of the sexes is a cause many have been fighting for, for decades, and in this case, centuries. Slight rebellious acts of women bending gender norms can be seen as far back as Shakespearean plays, in particular, Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing. Olivia from Twelfth Night, and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing showcase characteristics of being opinionated, assertive, and strong-willed; qualities that were rarely seen during that time period. Much Ado About Nothing was written around 1598 and Twelfth Night was written around 1601, which was the Elizabethan era. During the Elizabethan era, women were raised to think that they were inferior to men.
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.
“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.
Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado About Nothing, is a play about multiple relationships. Hero and Claudio are the first relationship, and Beatrice and Benedick are the other relationship. The play talks about the ideal traits of a couple in the Shakespearian time period. Times have changed, as couples have evolved and have generally become less “traditional”. Back in the day, the female would submit to the male.
During the Elizabethan period, the role of women in society was very different from what it is today. According to the system of patriarchal society that dictated that women were inferior to men, they had to obey the male figures in their lives. The woman was seen as the weaker sex either physically or emotionally which meant that it was entirely dependent on her husband if married and members of his family if single. Moreover, in the Elizabethan theater, women were not allowed to play because of this hierarchy. Therefore, they were replaced by men disguised as women.
In Shakespeare’s Othello and in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles women play an important role in the development of the plot. Shakespeare and Glaspell develop these women differently to enhance their message. In Othello, Emilia, Desdemona, and Bianca are all treated very poorly by their male counterparts.
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
While Desdemona is a remarkably strong character, Emilia also displays independence unmatched by any other female in Othello, and there are multiple details of Shakespeare and his time that may have prompted such a portrayal. In Elizabethan England, many women worked behind the scenes of productions, like Shakespeare’s, as uncredited authors and editors (Crowley). Due to their anonymity, nobody can be sure that women were involved in Shakespeare’s plays nor Othello in particular, but there is a genuine possibility that female writers did have leverage. This may have had to do with how Emilia was portrayed as resilient from the time of Desdemona’s death all the way until her own, standing up for herself regardless of the ridicule it caused her (Iyasere). In fact, it even killed her in the end.