William Shakespeare captivates the audience in the comedic play The Taming Of the Shrew by raising awareness of gender inequality and the significance of money during the Elizabethan context. Themes of sexism and money are still relevant in today's society. The Taming of the shrew deeply explores the relationships of men and women creating opportunities for Shakespeare to confront the responder with questioning thoughts of the power of money and the view of sexism in the Elizabethan era. The beliefs of women and men in the Elizabethan times where very patriarchy, regarding the women as the weaker sex.…
King No Longer 1. Kent has returned to England because his loyalty towards King Lear surpasses his banishment. Kent has King Lear’s best interests in mind and does not trust Lear’s decision of allotting his kingdom to Goneril and Regan. Kent’s goal is to provide counsel to Lear and ensure Lear does not make any rash decisions. Kent’s devotion to Lear is evidenced when Kent states, Lear accepts the stranger for his flattering comments, talents, and honesty.…
Treatment of Women in “Othello” and “Trifles” Throughout history the handling of women has evolved. From the Victorian Era to the latter half of the nineteenth century many authors have championed the unfair treatment of women in books, poetry, short stories, and plays; however two authors have penned works worthy of comparison. In “Othello,” a maiden marries for love; however she is ultimately the fatal victim of her love. On the other hand, in the play “Trifles,” the downtrodden Minnie murders her abusive husband. Both Shakespeare’s “Othello” and Glaspell’s “Trifles” present the theme of patriarchal dominance through female characters who exemplify submission, victimization, and veiled strengths.…
In the time period that John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi was written, women had absolutely no sexual agency. Divided into categories of Madonna or Whore, women had impossible expectations to live up to. While marriage is the one institution in which it is socially acceptable for a woman to be sexual, the play subverts this. That Webster has the Duchess’ brothers the Cardinal and Antonio’s critique her for remarrying makes the categories of Madonna and Whore indistinct, thus demonstrating policing woman’s sexuality is useless.…
It is really hard to tell whether someone is in a good marriage or a bad marriage. Married couples in the street may look happy and appealing, but behind closed doors, it is really hard to tell. Sure we can listen to what they are going through in their household, but we just ignore it because it is their business. There are not many of stories about what men go through in their marriage; however, there are many of popular stories of what women go through. " Trifles" by Susan Glaspell and "A Doll House" by Henrik Ibsen were plays that helped shed light on what women go through in marriage.…
Sexism is something most women have dealt with in their lifetime, but in the 16th Century, they were treated as slaves. In Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado About Nothing multiple social commentaries are brought to light. In order to help show injustice on woman, a musical will show how women were not allowed to make choices, they were abused, and they were treated as objects. Women’s lives were in the hands of men. As people grow older, they are allowed freedom of choice, and a larger range of responsibilities, but women did not get that.…
In literature, the role and function of women varies depending on the author. Particularly in the past, there were playwrights who portrayed women as frail, passive figures to be only used as pawns for mistreatment from men. We can see this portrayal in William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, as well as Arthur Miller’s, Death of a Salesman. The female characters in these two plays are to be considered as two-dimensional characters that only serve to help develop their male counterparts character. However, a closer study reveals that the true roles these female characters took on had purpose; for some, they were the most prominent characters of the play.…
Feminism in Fifth Business and Hamlet The current society has various perspectives of women both negative and positive. Moreover, literature exemplifies the different role of women comparing the roles of ancient and modern women. These comparisons have one thing in common, and that is the multifaceted roles of women in the ancient and modern society. This comparison is evident in two works of literature centuries apart; Fifth Business by Robert Davies and Hamlet by William Shakespeare.…
Imagine a society where the only purpose of women is to be wives and bear progenies. That’s primeval Athens, where females are seen as the property of men. However, the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, projects the opposite notion, which is uncommon because the play was written in the 16th century. In the play, a young Athenian woman, Hermia, disagrees to marry Demetrius, the man of her father’s choice. Hermia is depicted as having dominance through her bold actions that go against her father’s authority.…
Twelfth Night was written near the end of Queen Elizabeth 's reign in England. The notion of a strong female, such as Elizabeth, choosing to lead a country without the help of a man began to provoke people to consider what truly a woman’s role was (Callaghan, 86). For the most part, up until this time literature strongly focused on powerful male leads that expressed dominance and intelligence greatly surpassing the minor female characters in literature (Callaghan, 32). Shakespeare 's Twelfth Night strongly questions whether men are superior to women or society has simply forced women into the background, ignoring women 's ability to rival men 's talents and rationale. Feminism in Twelfth Night detects negative attitudes towards women of the…
At the time of Shakespeare’s plays, the role of women was seen as obsolete or unencouraged. Women were not to be educated, they were to obey their father’s wishes then their husbands, and they were grouped into the social class of their husbands. Women also rarely left the comfort of their homes; except to attend church then return straight home thereafter. The female roles in plays were played by younger boys. In medieval times, it was considered to be disgraceful or embarrassing for women to be on stage.…
Comparing the way women were treated in the Shakespeare and Bowker’s adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it is very different from…
Cupid is emblematic of the constancy of the sonneteer’s love as induced by the female object. As the sonnets progress, he becomes the object of her attention and her criticism, before she finally moves away from both Venus (Wroth, Crown Sonnet 9) wherein she rejects him for her “sunne”, and Cupid (Sonnet 103) (who seems to become a sort of surrogate for her love interest, as well as the representative of her own desire) to a higher form of love that transcends both passion and longing . Shift seems to reject female sexuality, and the lesbian exploration that comes with it, in favor of marital (or at least heterosexual) constancy, and the higher love that comes with it. This is further reflected in the corresponding plot of Urania, wherein…
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM’S FEMALE CHARACTERS In William Shakespeare 's play ‘A Midsummer Night 's Dream, ' women in the society are depicted to possess some limitations that limit their being while others are depicted to possess strengths that make them achieve in life. The world around which women live is full of limiting factors, factors that hinder the full expression of women’s interests. Examples of these situations are when Hermia’s father wanted to marry her to a person she did not love and when Titania gets to disagree with Oberon concerning the young Indian prince. However, women are strong enough to fight through the challenges and succeed.…
The early 1900’s were dramatically different from the current time period. World War I was held on a large scale at the time, but there was a more domestic issue at hand--the role of a woman. In her play Trifles, Susan Glaspell writes in relation to the current issue around her own everyday life. The role of a woman is told through a captivating story and a profound setting that is used to draw in her audience from the start. Glaspell focuses on the setting to reveal her story by applying character work, theme, and symbolism.…