Homosexuality In Romeo And Juliet And Othello

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.

Feminist critical lens examines certain texts with a primary focus on both gender’s relationship with each other and how such relationships demonstrate effects towards beliefs, behaviors, and values. This critical lens also examines a patriarchal-centered society and how such society define and interact with women with an emphasis on stereotypes of both genders that are present and evident in the text being analyzed. William Shakespeare’s Othello can be scrutinized through the feminist critical lens. A deep analysis focused on feminism of the play Othello paves way for the judgement of different societal status of women in the period when the play took place, the Elizabethan society. Othello is a best fit that demonstrates how men were

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet discusses the many challenges the ‘star crossed lovers’ face. It is their own deceptive actions that ultimately lead them to their untimely end. However Romeo and Juliet are forced to be deceptive due to their fate and misfortune, the ongoing feud in Verona, and the misleading guidance they receive from others; which also contribute to their deaths. Romeo and Juliet focuses on the theme of love and hate, this theme is interweaved throughout the play.

One of William Shakespeare’s most renown plays, set in Verona where two young star-crossed lovers; Romeo and Juliet met in tragedy as their family feud bound their love within solemn hatred. The Montagues and the Capulets are two families of equal powers who’s prolonged bitter quarrel leads to the tragic death of these two lovers, and by their love reconciled the family’s hatred. Love is a predominant theme within this novel portrayed through the eyes of Romeo and Juliet, however, the maternal endearment between Juliet and her nurse can not be denied.

Shakespeare 's complex play Othello holds numerous pressing issues within its intricate layers that seem to leap out to modern society. One such issue seen by many is the representation of women. Women within the play can be characterized as submissive possessions and temptresses. This ideology, though commonplace in this time period, appears controversial to the modern eye as we deconstruct the characters of this play. This dominate patriarchal society present within the setting merely conditions this belief further as it is prevalent within the characters dialogue.

   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.

   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.

This article's thesis contends that the whore is expressed towards the derogation of females in Othello and the multiple ways the word is expressed. Stanton shows the purity of Desdemona when she is, "beseeching his help and swearing her innocence, finally says the word whore" (96). Desdemona's innocence is demolished by the harsh term, whore. Whore is a term that Stanton describes as, "the denigration of female sexuality" (81).  Stanton shifts the focus on females onto men, by giving the example how using the word whore, "Shakespeare considered men's failures to accommodate themselves to the idea of female sexual choice and integrity" (98). Females actions can be considered as men's failure because of their jealousy and rage as seen in Othello's

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.

According to Comensoli and Russell, the early modern stage “also inverted [conventional paradigms of gender] structures” (1). These “inverted structures” appear as Othello’s Italian masculinity contrasting the Elizabethan stereotypes on his race and being cuckolded; while Desdemona’s “foul disproportion[ed] thoughts [and actions] [are] unnatural” (3.3.237) for a “maiden never bold” (1.3.95). Alternatively, a boy actor playing Desdemona empowers her femininity that is realised and acknowledged within with the theatre’s walls” (Stephen Orgel, 106). Similarly, Othello’s valiant character as a black protagonist is realised and acknowledged too but within blackface. Moreover, Othello and Desdemona break away from their Elizabethan stereotypes “[where] such subversive views could not only be advanced or tested but also…contained” (Michael Shapiro, 41) on the early modern

Homosexuality and Homoeroticism in the Elizabethan Era and Shakespearean Theatre In light of recent human rights movements, homosexuality is a topic that has moved to the forefront of social justice movements. Men and women alike are attempting to have their voices heard and being accepted into the current culture. However, hundreds of years ago, this was not an acceptable movement. When looking at homosexuality and the homosexual, it is important to look at how Elizabethan society categorized the homosexual man and how it applied to the theatre. These labels blurred the line between nonsexual and sexual relationships between the men of the time.

Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good morningJuliet) uses intertextuality to unveil the complete Shakespearean characters of Juliet and Desdemona to reveal the feminist narrative lurking between lines of Shakespeare’s plays. Only through the intertextual re-examination of the Shakespearean text itself via the interjection of genre and the reassigning of dialogue, within the metatheatre, is the true feminist representation of the female Shakespearian characters unveiled from behind the patriarchal preconceptions. From this understanding we may read Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) to be true feminist reworking of Shakespeare. Therefore the metatheatre’s intertextuality reinforces and supports the traits of the feminine.

Love and Morality finally weigh in. “Here’s to my love! (drinks the poison) O true apothecary, Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.”

Iago has a homosexual desire that is motivated by his jealousy of Othello’s love for Desdemona. You can tell that Iago has a clear homosexual undertone with his implied relationship with cassio. Iago’s supposed gay attraction to both Othello and Cassio has given additional weight by the indifference and contempt which he regards his wife Emilia and indeed women in general. Iago is a women hater and his hardcore misogyny becomes a jumpstart for assumptions of a latent homosexuality. Eventually Iago’s homosocial desire turns into homosexual desire for Othello

With every great story line comes a theme. William Shakespeare created an art of intertwining often unrecognizable themes within his plays. In Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, one hidden theme is the idea of homosexuality. This theme might not have even been noticed until modern Shakespeare fans discovered them. According to Alan Bray’s book, Homosexuality in Renaissance England, “the modern image of ‘the homosexual’ cannot be applied to the early modern period, when homosexual behavior was viewed in terms of the sexual act and not an individual's broader identity.” (Columbia University Press). This difference between homosexuality as a “sexual act” and an