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The Influence Of Queen Elizabeth's Courtship In Literature

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The influence of Queen Elizabeth’s reign and court politics shows in the literature of her time, much beyond Marlowe’s distaste for her courtship practices. The Renaissance archetype of the cunning, learned, and often dangerous female character is often modelled after, or at the very least inspired by the monarch herself. In Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare even presents another female monarch, one strikingly similar to Elizabeth in the way she takes control of her own courtship. Breitenberg argues that The Princess’ position, while empowered, is still that of an idealised Petrarchan mistress, an idealized, virginal figure who simultaneously confers and disturbs masculine identity’. The difference, however, is in the way she possessed and utilizes this image. With a clear awareness of male desire and sexual politics, the Princess and her companions plot and play with their admirers, turning every situation to their own advantage. While still subject to a patriarchal structure that pushes them to take part in courtship and eventually get married, the women of Love’s Labour’s …show more content…

The men in the play, however, do end up presenting women not as authors of literary works, but as sources of knowledge themselves; thus Berowne affirms: ‘From women's eyes this doctrine I derive: / They are the ground, the books, the academes, / From whence doth spring the true Promethean fire’ (III.iii.299-301). In Birenbaum’s words, women then appear as ‘both goal and guide’, giving meaning to the men’s life beyond that of learning from books and leading them to a truer wisdom. In the span of four acts, the women go from being seen as obstacles to learning, to the origin of all truth and knowledge, the ‘ultimate reality before whom all books are

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The author symbolized that growth in Elizabeth’s character with the striking image of a “shining steel knife with a polished cutting edge.” Before she had made the three day journey, with her daughter Sylvie, Elizabeth had been a woman with “paralytic fear” of her husband; she was unable to stand up to him when he treated her with disrespect, saying things such as, “Shut yer mouth, woman, and git my supper.” It was clear that the husband treated her with little dignity, as if she was of a lower class then him, merely because she was a woman and he was a man. Elizabeth realized, after reading the book, The Feminine Mystique, that she was not alone in questioning if that was the proper way for a husband to treat his wife. Returning from the trip, her daughter was able to sense the “new dogged strength “that Elizabeth had created in herself and saw her new “courage” first hand when her mother had asserted her worth as an individual by demanding respect from her husband, in the form of him calling her by her name.

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In doing so, examine the feminist lens’s interpretation of the text. How are gender roles defined? Where to women fit into the text’s plot line. What do you notice about the women in this text? Is this congruent (similar) to society’s view of women, by today’s standards?

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Women’s Rights In Romeo and Juliet Juliet being forced into marriage, showed how little input women had during the Renaissance period. Renaissance is a period in which the ancient writing of Greece and Rome, “Rebirthed”, or came back into practice. During the Renaissance period, women had limited, to no rights. They were required to follow orders made by their husband’s or superior male figure. This is presented in the play Romeo and Juliet made by William Shakespeare.

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Women are depicted as “trophy” to men and nothing more. Throughout the epic a sense of bravado and machoism is played out, giving off a man’s world feeling which women and little or no real reason to be wanted. To understand the epic and the roles in which women played, one may not have to look further than how the book has been put together. First and foremost, the book is being told through the eyes of a man (good luck ladies).

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This study will focus on the way in which Shakespeare crafts his play and uses dramatic devices in his portrayal of Lady Macbeth in order to confront the gender stereotypes of the time, femininity and the natural order of society. During the early 17th century there was a substantial fear that if women were liberated from their domestic, maternal roles, the historically patriarchal society would unravel. With prevailing challenges of gender such as “When you durst do it, then you were a man” Shakespeare uses the character of Lady Macbeth to transgress the natural limits concomitant with her sex. In order to be able to answer the research question, it is vital to concretely establish the contemporary gender roles and the context of the play.

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Although the perspective of women in the Elizabethan era was much different from the perspective of manhood, it was also similar in a sense that manhood and womanhood both played an essential role during their era. The thought of men being the ones to do things such as commit murder and be ambitious is still prevalent today. In our society we view women as people who are soft and not quite as ambitious as the opposite sex. The notion that women are incapable of committing murder is obscure as they are physically capable of doing harm to any human body as well as being able to have ambition such as

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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.

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