Shanequa dislikes Orsino highly at the beginning of the play, as he does not have the same style or interest as her. During visiting time Maria comes to tell Orsino that Olivia has rejected his proposal again, but also Shanequa has a visitor called Dominique, who starts fighting with Maria as they insult each other about their personalities. After meeting once more, they all resolve their differences and become good friends. We compared our play to “Twelfth Night” as it had the same themes of; love, comedy, tragedy, and confusion. In our play we wanted to show the difference in society, just like it was in “Twelfth Night,” and how in modern day times, the divide is a lot less, but people have divided into different “clicks.” We kept two of the characters the same; Maria and Orsino, to show how we still have similar people to them in our society today, even though these characters were created hundreds of years ago.
This shows the context where marriage would be used to enhance a families place in society rather than for love. Being in the first scene, structurally, this suggests to the audience that the play is going to have a running theme of disruption because straight away we are introduced to the fact that there are contrasts in the characters desires. This is enhanced by the fact that Egeus disrupts Theseus and Hippolyta to tell them of his daughter’s disobedience, which provides a visual display to the audience that the upcoming events are not going to run smoothly. The theme of disruption extends to include the supernatural world in act 2: scene 1 which suggests a lack of hope for the human world because those with powers are unable to live in equilibrium. In the argument between Titania and Oberon, Titania says ‘but with thy brawls, thou hast disturbed our sport.’ This shows the disruption in their relationship; the phrase ‘our sport’ showing how close they used to be, behaving in a lively, energetic way which suggests childish behaviour brought about by being in love.
Word Count: 1493 How far do you agree that Shakespeare’s portrayal of gender relations is more sinister than comic? Shakespeare’s depiction of gender relations in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ distinguishes the female and male stereotypes during the Elizabethan era in 1599. Shakespeare accomplishes this through the contrasting couples of Benedick and Beatrice and Hero and Claudio. The relationship within father and daughter is likewise used to demonstrate the sinister and slightly comedic relations between men and women. To a great extent, modern audiences would find the portrayal objectification of women very much ominous, especially in the case of Hero.
The following literary essay will argue in favour of the idea that Gertrude played a role in turning Hamlet into a somewhat misogynistic man with a rather shallow opinion and view on women by drawing on examples and quotes from the actual play. The main act that we will be referring to is the hasty marriage of Gertrude to Claudius, following immediately after the death of King Hamlet. To make matters worse, Claudius so happens to be King Hamlet’s brother. It is said that they married so quick that: “…The funerals baked meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.” Wow. That’s pretty fast.
This feud brought problems along with it, such as the killing of Tybalt by Romeo. Juliet had said: “What’s in a name?” which explains her ill fate of being a Capulet and Romeo being a Montague. When Romeo tells his servant, “Ay, mine own fortune in my misery.” This sentence tells us he does not care for what Juliet’s name, nor his is. Bad luck plays a major role in the story of two-star-crossed lovers. There is an example of this when Romeo attends the Capulet’s party, and this is where he is first exposed to Juliet and where the misfortune begins.
How does Shakespeare present the idea of marriage in The Taming Of The Shrew? The play ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, written by William Shakespeare is a comedic play about the economic aspects of marriage and in some forms, profitable love. It speaks of love as a transaction rather than the passion it should hold. The play explores relationships from a social perspective; as relationship choices affects whole extended families and their households and a big part of the selection of a couple is dependent on the family’s social status. Taming of the Shrew also presents male dominance in marriage.
Macduff abandons Lady Macduff eventually leading to her death portraying a weak image of marriage that looks as a foil to the strong marriage of the Macbeth. However, both marriages end up failing; yet separation from the wives, respectively, could save/ saves the husbands. Listening and staying with Lady Macbeth started the inevitable downfall of Macbeth, but separation could have led to a prosperous, powerful life for Macbeth. Immediate separation from Lady Macduff allows Macduff to kill Macbeth. Therefore, I would argue that in Macbeth, William Shakespeare’s denouncement of marriage suggests women hinder the true, righteous nature of men; consequently, showing the inferior nature of women.
He speaks of how only the deaths of two star crossed lovers will break the violence, although it is said in a way that will not be noticed by those viewing the play for the first time. Plays in Shakespeare’s time were viewed many times, as it was the only available source of entertainment. Romeo and Juliet, sometimes referred to as the most tragic love story of all, is a story of young love between two people in families engaged in a deadly feud. The families fight in public at the start of the play, resulting in a death penalty from prince Escales if the peace of Verona is disturbed again. Meanwhile, Romeo, the son of Lord Montague, gatecrashes a masquerade ball hosted by Lord Capulet in honour for a potential marriage between his daughter Juliet and a wealthy man named ‘Paris’.
Furthermore, he feared facing the despiteful changes in the moods of Venice Senators against him. We observe a similar trend in Romeo and Juliet when Romeo killed himself possibly fearing to be arrested for killing Paris. Although typically love does not cause tragedies, as in these plays, regret and sorrow can be the ending of any relationship that is not based on logic, and parental blessings. Love is the dangerous cause of all the tragedies in both of the plays. The effect of love is very profound in Othello in the sense that Desdemona escaped her father’s house to marry a back Moor called Othello in the beginning of the play.
Hamlet is caged in the fear of being exposed for who he truly is. Critics misdiagnose the protagonist as a victim of sexual desire. A portrait of 17th century society would illustrate the dejected women hiding behind the male figure. Writers have longed believed that Shakespeare was just another male writer writing about male issues, but instead he depicts the corruption women faced in such a scrutinizing society. Through “Hamlet”, Shakespeare is able to share his views of heterosexual relationships and express his feminist side.