Cold Relationships: A Lack of Marital Felicity in The Winter’s Tale
The patriarchal and patrilineal society of Shakespeare’s era often made it difficult for women to be on the same level as men in terms of property, money, and rights. What is not often mentioned is the way in which even male-male relationships were glorified as well. In a society which thought males to be the best gender, it is not surprising that male friendships would be put above that of even the marriage of a man and wife. William Shakespeare and Mario DiGangi explore this concept in Shakespeare’s play, The Winter’s Tale and ensuing critical essays, respectively. Shakespeare sets up this concept through the glorification of the friendship (or, possibly more than a friendship) between Polixenes and Leontes as well as inferiorizing all feminized characters in the play. Through these marital fissures, Shakespeare’s play—along with DiGangi’s secondary essays—shows that conjugal happiness is nearly impossible in his society for Hermione and Leontes, furthering the divide between men and women.
The problem of conjugal fault lines in The Winter’s Tale first appears in the glorification of male-male relationships in the play. Most notably is the way in which King Leontes’ and King Polixenes’ relationship with each other is not only idealized but a veil is also put over it, one in which allows them to have a semi-homosexual relationship while being idealized for their strong bond. The first act brings mention of
While many will agree that Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is critically acclaimed to be one of the most entertaining and well-liked pieces that he has written, there tends to be a discrepancy over how the characters in the play are portrayed when it comes to the importance of gender roles. After reading James C Bulman’s article over the Globe’s more recent performance of Twelfth Night and Shakespeare’s original written version, I realized that there are many ways that this famous piece has been portrayed and each has its own pros and cons.
In a patriarchal society, women are expected to conform to social restrictions by demonstrating reverence and obedience to the males in their lives. Shakespeare's tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, explores the effects of patriarchal authority exerted over women and how the patriarchal structure left no escape from it, save death. Through Juliet, Lady Capulet, and the Nurse, Shakespeare establishes a common understanding of this type of society, but illuminates three different reactions to the social oppression by portraying the responses of a passionate lover, an idyllic housewife, and an attendant.
Throughout Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, there is an overlaying presence of the typical roles that men and women were supposed to play. During Elizabethan times there was a major difference between the way men and women were supposed to act. Men typically were supposed to be masculine and powerful, and defend the honor. Women, on the other hand, were supposed to be subservient to their men in their lives and do as ever they wished. In Romeo and Juliet the typical gender roles that men and women were supposed to play had an influence on the fate of their lives.
Throughout ‘Othello’, Shakespeare uses the manipulation of the protagonist, by the antagonist, Iago, to present a play controlled by men. In such a male dominated society, Shakespeare presents the women in the play as tragic victims at the hands of their husbands, in particular Desdemona and Emilia. Throughout this essay I will relate to the Aristotelian and Senecan descriptions of tragedy to come to a conclusion of how in ‘Othello’ Shakespeare presents women as tragic victims of men.
Gender stereotypes are not a modern notion and as such expectations and limitations have always existed for both men and women. Fortunately women, who have formerly beared great burdens of discrimination, now have very liberated roles in society as a result of slowly shifting attitudes and values. Shakespeare was integral in challenging the subservient role expected of women in the 16th century. Throughout the play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’, women are expressed as powerful characters who behave, speak and live in a way that breaks away from the conformist role of females during the 16th century. Therefore, the submissive stereotype expected of women in Shakespearean time is confronted and defied through
The theme for honour and fidelity apply for both men and women in Shakespeare’s play ‘much ado about nothing’. Honour and fidelity is represented very differently for men and women as it would have been for the people in Elizabethan times. In this first section of the essay, I will be exploring double standards and Shakespeare’s awareness of the double standards between sexes and his feminist approach, the differences of honour and fidelity for men and women and upper class and lower class comparisons.
Throughout the length of Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello there is a steady undercurrent of sexism. It is originating from not one, but rather various male characters in the play, who manifest prejudicial, discriminatory attitudes toward women.
Othello represents a prime example of Shakespeare's ability to develop relationships between the sexes so as to demonstrate those relationships' weaknesses. In Othello, the sexes are divided by misconceptions and ego- centric views of the opposite gender. The men of the play, in particular Othello, maintain a patriarchal, chivalric notion of the sexes, while the women of the play yearn for more involvement in their husbands' affairs. So it is that the thrust of the play emerges from "the opposition of attitudes, viewpoints, and sexes." (Neely 214)
Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello features sexism as regular fare – initially from Brabantio and Iago, and finally from Othello. Let us in this essay explore the occurrences and severity of sexism in the drama.
In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello there are numerous instances of obvious sexism aimed at the three women in the drama -- Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca – and aimed at womankind generally. Let us delve into this subject in this paper.
Marriage is the legally recognized union of two people, whereas a relationship is merely defined as a connection between two things, or in this case, between two people (OED). In the Elizabethan age, marriage was mainly arranged for political alliances and the merging of wealth in noble families (Vasuki). While relationships refer to the meaningful connections between people, marriage was more of a tool for advancement. Shakespeare’s plays demonstrate these societal conventions by organizing marriage plots fueled by political or financial gain. Likewise, the absence of romantic relationships in these plays reflects the period’s cultural norm in which romantic relationships were mainly nonexistent and marriages were pursued for protection rather than love. The treatment of marriage and relationships in Hamlet is side railed by the Hamlet’s revenge and bias, whereas relationships in the form of premarital sex are the primary focus of Measure for Measure. Nonetheless, this essay will analyze both of Gertrude’s marriages in Hamlet to prove that they are predominantly loveless tools for kings to pursue their personal agendas. This analysis will provide a frame of reference or lens, through which this paper will outline the problematic nature of Measure for Measure’s sexual relationships.
Men rule the world, but women rule the men. This has become glaringly obvious when deciding how to analyse critically, patriarchy in Shakespeare’s play The Winter’s Tale. There is little doubt that this play represents English patriarchal society in the Jacobean Era, and how the men in power, or authority, treated the ‘fairer sex’: their wives, daughters, and women in general. In this essay, elements examined will surround King Leontes and his relationships, such as with his old friend King Polixenes of Bohemia, his young son Mamillius, and finally with the women in his life, Queen Hermione, and Lady Paulina. Leontes is not only head of his household; he is also King of Sicilia, thus head of all households in the country, an incredibly pressurised
Perhaps the theme that is most recurrent in William Shakespeare's plays is that of filial relationships, specifically the relationship between daughter and father. This particular dynamic has allowed Shakespeare to create complex female characters that come into conflict with their fathers over issues ranging from marriage to independence. At the same time, the dramatist exposes his audience to the struggles women face when attempting to assert themselves in a misogynistic world. Through the daughter-father dyads portrayed in The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare highlights the effects that gender constraints have on female characters while simultaneously drawing attention to the sharp contrast between both relationships.
The characters Hermia,Helena and Titania were effected most by the superiority role of the men in the play. This is because the men in the play, reach high circumstances to get what they what and to tell the woman what to do. Therefore, women's’ inferiority in the play makes it impossible for them to achieve true happiness attributable to the superiority the men in the play believe they
King Leontes verbalizes what he perceives is Hermione raising her head, as if to receive a kiss, in a manner resembling that of a husband and wife. Although King Leontes does not know that his wife has sustained loyalty to him, the audience is well aware of the king’s traducement of the situation, thus his premature judgement. Here we can see Shakespeare’s attention to the themes of observation and situational misperception. These themes are two-fold as they mimic society by