Twelfth Night And Queen Elizabeth Lends

William Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew, and Gil Junger’s film, Ten Things I Hate About You, contain many elements that reflect the time period and society in which they were composed. The Taming of The Shrew strongly reflects on the idea of marriage being an economic agreement as well as the structured roles played by men and women that were prevalent in the 16th century and how gender affected the way a person can be viewed and courted in the same time period. This is contrasted by Gil Junger’s 1999 appropriation, Ten Things I Hate About You, in which modern teenage life and relationships are explored, touching on these same issues in relation to gender roles in a modern context. In this essay I will compare the roles of men and women in each text, as well as considering the difference in the two societies in terms of money, relationships and social status.

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.

“Lanval” by Marie de France and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer are both medieval romances that put a knight on trial by a queen’s court for his treatment of a lady. Throughout the course of this paper, readers will get the opportunity to travel back in time to the Middle Ages and that during the twelfth-century women were superior to men, specifically in their relationships and marriages; however, today men dominant individuals, especially in working world.

In the sixteenth century the role of women in society was very limited. Women were generally stereotyped as housewives and mothers. They were to be married, living their life providing for her husband and children. The patriarchal values of the Elizabethan times regarded women as the weaker sex.’ Men were considered the dominant gender and were treated with the utmost respect by females. Women were mainly restricted within the confines of their homes and were not allowed to go school or to university, but they could be educated at home by private tutors. Men were said to be the ones to provide for their families financially. Women were often seen as not intelligent. Property could not be titled in the name of a female within the family. Legally everything the female had belonged to her husband. Poor and middle class wives were kept very busy but rich women were not idle either. In a big house they had to organize and supervise the servants.

     The date of the composition of Twelfth Night is fixed around 1600 “during a period before a woman’s place was imagined as separate sphere, since, for the Renaissance, a woman was considered to be analogous to other social inferiors in a hierarchical society” (Malcolmson 161). During this time, England was enjoying a period of socio-political security and respect for the arts. Unfortunately, Elizabethan society was a masculine society in which women had little part. The female in Elizabethan society was not only subordinate to the male because of her unpredictability but also because of her nature as the "gentler sex." A woman was considered to be fit for homemaking and child-bearing; she was considered to have no

It is said that Queen Elizabeth I’s controversial reign at the time informed the play’s content. She, in fact, used to like to invite theater companies to her palaces[2] and saw a performance of the play at Christmastime while on a campaign in Ireland[3]. In her medieval England, people met the idea of a female monarch with hostility[4], because there had never been one until[5] . The challenge to tradition that was Queen Elizabeth I’s reign most likely to lead the discussion of gender roles in Twelfth Night.

Obstacles are found in many situations, especially true love when disguise is involved. The mistaken identity of one has a powerful effect on the rest of the characters in Shakespeare’s twelfth night as it creates problems for true love. Aside from Shakespeare’s others, the play focuses on mistaken identity/disguise and unrequited love. Disguise truly is an obstacle for true love to prevail in twelfth night. The obstacle of disguise that occurs in the play will be analyzed by exploring situations, character’s thoughts, and the result of poor decisions made.

Elizabeth must have taken account of the prevailing custom by asserting her strength and authority as inherent in her position as monarch, rather than in her person as a woman. Her refusal to marry was a politic way to avoid questions of women’s subservience to man as well as to avoid the force of marital conventions herself. As the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth exemplified the importance attached to chastity, even if it was often more observed in the breach than in the practice (“Society and Culture in Shakespeare's Day”).

With England coming out of the Middle Ages, the early Modern Age was presented as a revival for the country. With a woman now on the throne the ability to play on the idea of gender was a necessity, and it created an influence on society as a whole. Like many aspects of the period, the presentation of gender and sexuality began to change with the rest of England’s Early Modern era. Conversely, gender play, and even cross-dressing, in this time period was presented as an alternative was looked upon as a disruption society and must be contained. Therefore, the structure for gender roles was concrete and strict, for its intention was used to keep the social order to remain in balanced and keep the general public to function as they should have.

Women’s roles in the Elizabethan Era times were hard and brutal as they serve men all their lives. The etiquette of women was as a proper lady should be. This quote states, “ nature hath made to keep home… and not to meddle with matters abroad, nor to bear office in a city or commonwealth no more than children or infants.” (The Life in Elizabethan London.) The roles of women are deeply outlined in everything. They were always viewed as the weaker sex. Women could not work in any politics, medical, and/or laws. Some single women were accused as witches. Men always holding the upper hand may chastise their wives, if needed. However; the men may not inflict bodily harm or cruelty.

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 Twelfth Night written by William Shakespeare, Viola and Olivia are the central characters to the play’s plot. Both are young women that take approaches to dealing with the people around them, which are mainly men. There is much trickery that goes on in Twelfth Night, but the ending is for the most part happy. Viola marries Orsino and Olivia marries Sebastian, but the events leading up to this are more or less chaotic. Ultimately, I argue that while Olivia uses her higher social status in order to maintain control of herself and others, Viola resorts to trickery in order to bring about her desires.

In 17th century England there was a major status quo that went by the name of patriarchy. Patriarchy is the idea of men controlling everything, from the household all the way up to the monarchy. In this idea of patriarchy women were thought as to needing a man in their life, whether that was a husband or father. The relationship between men and women was characterized as a woman should be a loyal servant to the man for taking care of her. With the idea of patriarchy in mind Thomas Middleton wrote the play, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside. Patriarchy is a major theme of the play and tackles the issue. However, Middleton doesn’t place himself on a side for or against patriarchy. Instead Middleton uses many interesting, complex, and different

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a play with themes that parallel the folly of the festival it is named after. The main storyline of the plot plays on this a lot by mixing up the stereotypes around gender that were very present at the time. However, a sub-plot involving secondary characters defines this theme even more. It takes the idea even further by relating servants’ attempts to blur the lines between social classes. Twelfth Night’s Maria and Malvolio both have great aspirations to rise above their social class. However, Maria succeeds where Malvolio fails because of her capability to make use of the satiric ambiance of her mistress’s household to achieve her goals.