Shakespeare Worldly Standards Essay

William Shakespeare is considered the greatest playwright of all time. His gift for developing characters is one major exposure that accounts for this dignified acknowledgement. Shakespeare have written on several characters and the conversion of their ideas and personalities from foolish to generals and leaders. The characters were represented with such realism that spectators can judge their personalities and views with their personalities for better or poorer. When we hear or think of the word “feminine” the things come in our mind are quiet, modest, restrained, pretty and maternal. We can’t generally associate

Centuries ago in Elizabethan England there were many traditions about marriage and the treatment of women. One strong tradition of these times was the practice of marriage between races. Interracial marriages were considered extremely taboo. (High Beam). In this era marriages were arranged by the parents with strong help from the local church. The individuals had little choice as to who they would marry. (Elizabethan England Life). Yet another example of these traditions was the respectable treatment of women. While the husband was in charge of his wife, as was the father, the husband were expected to treat the women right (Elizbethi). In spurning all of these traditions, Shakespeare demonstrates a view of marriage far different from that

Throughout time, women were always viewed as pure, frail, and obeying belongings of men. They were symbolically a possession of their fathers until a man came along to marry them to start a new life and raise a family. As a wife, a woman was expected to hold her purity for her husband and tend to his every need. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, women were viewed as powerless beings and were seen to be only good for reproduction and holding an appealing appearance upon wondering eyes. In the play, Hamlet’s view on all women is dark because he believes they are untrustworthy.

Shakespeare uses the dialogue of Hamlet and King Claudius to reveal their misogynistic, views as typical of males within his society, as well demonstrating the generalization of women in society. In an aside, King Claudius states how he feels like a hypocrite and deceitful for his actions and compares this to a woman’s makeup covering up her ugliness. In this quote, Claudius compares his articulate speeches that rationalize his marriage to the queen after murdering his brother to the make-up beautifying the ugly cheek of a whore. Shakespeare generalizes all prostitutes as ugly and sinful, as well as deceptive in their appearance due to the use of make-up to cover their faces. This concept of a cover-up is similar to the speeches Claudius’ gives to justify his murderous deed of killing his brother and the immoral, hasty marriage to Gertrude, his sister-in-law, thereby usurping the throne from Hamlet. This analogy reinforces the misogyny of women and generalization of prostitutes. When soldiers wore helmets masking their faces in battle, they were viewed honourably not as full of deception. Shakespeare uses the literary device of an analogy between the deception of a sinful, ugly woman made beautiful with make-up and King Claudius’ beautiful speeches that mask the despicableness of his

"I say, a devil. Thinkest thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell?" (1.1) With this, William Shakespeare acknowledges the fact that there is a double standard between men and women far beyond his time. Through his many plays he sends the message that there is more to a woman than to cook and clean. A woman can be strong and powerful over a man such as Lady Macbeth. A woman can be angry and fearsome such as Katherine Minola. A woman can make decisions, have an opinion, and sacrifice her own life such as Juliet Capulet. The fact that women were not allowed to play this strong and independent role handed to them by William Shakespeare onstage forms a kind of oxymoron. Society applauded Shakespeare for the mastermind of writing that he was but they did not acknowledge how he saw women in the highest standard and how important they were to men everywhere. He saw strong women, though they were chained down by the rules and expectations of society, in everyday roles.

Shakespeare's time is considered a more conservative time era than what it is today. During Shakespeare's era women were greatly respected for being chaste which is considered honorable to their families. Not like today world that being honorable is barely even noticed especially for a pure hearted woman. If honor wasn't brought

An Elizabethan woman can be characterized as one that is submissive and subservient to men. William Shakespeare utilizes this type of woman when he wishes to show his audience the cruel nature of men. In both of his tragedies, Othello and Hamlet, Shakespeare presents cruelty in the form of male domination, where most of the time, the women are undeserving of ramifications such as death. When a woman in a Shakespearian play breaks the stereotype of the Elizabethan woman, as Olivia does in Twelfth Night and Gertrude does in Hamlet, she is deemed cruel, when in actuality, she has done nothing to deserve that title. This shows that regardless of whether or not a woman is submissive, she suffers the consequences of being victimized by the cruelty of her male counterpart, simply because of a mans “ego”. By the “ego”, I mean the culture and upbringing of Elizabethan men that causes them to act in the irrational ways that Shakespeare suggests. These men are afraid to lose control of their women and their power, so they lash out and the women closest to them suffer. By examining Hamlet, Othello and Twelfth Night, we can see that the cruelty bestowed on to women yields a more dire consequence than deserved.

  "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" is not your typical sweet love poem. As he uses figure of speech to compare his lover to objects of what different typical women back his time would consider to be beautiful and perfection. Shakespeare chooses many different types of figure speech such as; similes and metaphor. Shakespeare clearly explains how even though his mistress wouldn’t gain a second glance from the average man but to him her beauty is rare to him and that’s what he likes. She's nothing like the average women he`s seen before but never the least that’s what pulls him towards

In the satirical sonnet My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun, English poet William Shakespeare pokes fun at the unrealistic standards of beauty that, unfortunately, many still use to judge women. Through most of the poem, Shakespeare uses metaphors and comparisons to illustrate his mistress. The poem begins with Shakespeare comparing his mistress’ eyes to the sun. "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun," he says, suggesting they are not bright or unique, contrary to what society would consider ideal (Shakespeare, 1). Then, Shakespeare claims that coral is “far more red than her lips”, again, opposite to the beautiful red plump lips that one would imagine (Shakespeare, 2).

It is true that the majority of women in the 17th century were housewives (Lambert). However, in Shakespeare’s eyes, this did not translate to inferiority of women. Instead, he believed that society’s flawed thinking was both unjust and dangerous. He saw women for what they were worth: humans capable of performing and becoming something everyone else could. Regardless of their genders, woman could be just as assiduous, shrewd, and vindictive as their male

In Shakespeare’s time, the role of women were if they were property to their husbands. They were only to be at their house doing everything a wife should do, like clean, cook, any duties that had to be done, they were usually married early 20’s. They were to do whatever to please their husbands, which was mostly in sexual ways. In twelfth night, Orsino says “For women are as roses, whose fair flow’r, being once displayed, doth fall that very hour.” (page 41) With this quote, it was saying that women were just seen for their beauty at a young age, but once aging, they would lose it all. Viola states “Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we, for such as we are made of, such we be.” (page 30) Which was explaining how the women are emotionally and

William Shakespeare, the playwright, had a life of virtual mystery, intrigue and relative sadness. Shakespeare grew up in a modest upbringing and was known to have only completed elementary school. Though he did not attend college, he would end up as one of histories greatest literary success stories. The mysteries surrounding the life of William Shakespeare are perpetuated with the reference to the ‘lost years'; two distinct periods of time from 1578-1582 and 1585-1592, where Shakespeare seemed to have fallen off the face of the plant. I will discuss the town where Shakespeare hales from, excerpts from his works and not commonly discussed information. Followed by a summary of my research.

Shakespeare's most popular depicted women are characters that are filled with negative qualities and are walking explosives. This stipulates that Shakespeare was not unhampered of misogynistic tendencies favored in his era. In the texts of the plays, licentious acts are often braced against young women and women absorb a setting of power are periodically portrayed as temperamental and exceptionally unethical. Furthermore, not indicating that Shakespeare was a complete woman hater, but it’s fair to believe that he didn’t understand women or didn’t care to comprehend their lifestyle so he created one of his

William Shakespeare often examines the personal transformation of characters in his works. His frequent illustrations of changing players most likely suggests that he is a true believer in the idea of people being able to emotionally grow. Moreso, the author essentially endorses the thought of developing humanity as a living being. Parallel to King Richard in Richard II, he illustrates many characters throughout his works whom undergo similar personal growth. Oftentimes these personal changes occur when a character suffers great loss in life. In this particular play these changes give the readers a chance to develop a bit of fondness in the once ignorant king. Most readers would normally accept positive changes within the mind and

During Shakespeare’s era, war, Kings and Queens, and dynasties influenced the important events that happened around the world from 1558 through 1603. Many new Kings and Queens of countries were elected to run their countries. Through out the era diseases such as the black plague affected many peoples lives. A lot of countries had to go through war to declare their own countries and how much land will be under their names. Without certain people and important events that happened during the Shakespeare’s era the history back in the day would be totally different.