Further to this, it would also depend on at which point in the play we are making our judgement. For example, Katherina may be offending against her society’s expectations about women at the start of Taming of the Shrew, but does not necessarily do this towards the end of the play. It could be argued that in Much Ado about Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare presents Beatrice and Katherina as offending against their society’s expectations of women – the expectation that women should be submissive and act somewhat inferior to the male members of society; this also includes the view that women should not be outspoken. One of the only female characters who speak in the first scene of Much Ado is Beatrice, which portrays her to the audience as an outspoken character, and in this way she would be offending against her society’s expectations of women. Beatrice is a woman who openly defies both the courtly and bourgeois traditions of this time, ‘No, uncle, I’ll none: Adam’s sons are my brethren; and, truly, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred’, (II i, 431-55) in this speech to Leonato, Beatrice explains why
This essay will analyse and compare the presentation of Lady Macbeth and Curley's wife through the structure, themes, what is said about them, their actions and what they themselves say. Presentation of character can be explored by observing what Lady Macbeth says. Lady Macbeth is illustrated as a cruel character because she requests the evil spirits to “unsex” her. The use of the word “unsex” shows that Lady Macbeth does not possess the masculine qualities required to perform such an evil
During the time period in which Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, women were uneducated, they were forced to act submissively and never express their opinions. Shakespeare, by using several female characters, particularly the Three Witches with powerful roles, made a complete turnaround from the norm as he went against expectations for the time period. One of the first examples of this is in Act 1 Scene 3 when one of the witches reveals that she has been ‘killing swine’ this contradicts the way women should have behaved during the 1600s as they were perceived to be kind, caring creatures. This is one of the commonest charges brought against supposed witches in Shakespeare's day was that they maliciously killed by pestilence, or the evil eye, the domestic animals of those they had a grudge against. The fact that this is some of the first activity from the witches gives us an insight into the masculinity that the witches hold.
What is the dramatic purpose of Vittoria’s trail scene and how does Webster achieve his intended impact on the stage. During Jacobean times women are often constructed through absence and silence. Women are seen as insufficient beings in not being men and therefore are often represented through silence and absence. In the Jacobean society, the position of women was irregular, their rights often varied with marital status but, even within the confines of the domestic space, the position of women was still unclear. Throughout The White Devil, Webster presents his leading female character Vittoria as elusive, Vittoria’s absence from the stage for much of the play and often present on stage only due to the fact that she is continuously accused of being a ‘whore’.
Compare and contrast the presentation of women in contemporary society in Wilde’s ‘A Woman of No Importance’ and Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’. Consider alternate viewpoints of both presentations in your answer. Both Wilde and Ibsen present Woman in contemporary society to be of lower importance to men. In both plays the main female characters are shown to be weak and rely solely on a man to look after them. However as both plays progress we begin to see that Nora and Mrs Arbuthnot are not like the stereotypical woman of this society when they begin to show courage and independence.
To prove this point, there are many examples that prove wisdom does not necessarily come with age through the tragedy Romeo and Juliet, YouTube videos, my personal experiences, and books that I have read. In the tragedy Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare portrays many characters throughout the story being oblivious to what Romeo and Juliet truly want. When Juliet bluntly declares that she will not marry Count Paris, Lord Capulet her father shouts, “Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! / […] My fingers itch.—Wife, we scarce thought us/ blessed” (Shakespeare III.v.166,170) Lord Capulet cries out in anger that Juliet is a disobedient girl and has no choice but to marry Paris, and then even threatens her with physical punishment. Because wisdom is often built off of decisional experiences, Old Capulet cannot grow any wiser because he is used to always getting his way.
There are many similarities to be drawn between the relationships of the protagonists and their spouses, but there also many differences. The traditional roles are reversed and ignored in the start of the play; opposed to Ibsen's A Doll's House (which is the reverse). It's hard to draw comparisons between Torvald and Macbeth, as they are very different characters. Though they are both ambitious, their roles and personalities differ greatly; where Torvald controls in his relationship, Macbeth submits. Shakespeare subverts gender roles like this throughout the play, such as when Lady Macbeth decides her husband is unable to commit the atrocities to sit on the throne and taunts him, insinuating things about his manhood and claiming he has "th' milk of human kindness" (Act 1, 5.15) implying that he isn't strong enough to kill King Duncan.
One of Woolf’s supports for her essay was that she discusses the everyday life of a woman so far as she has been to piece it together from the few reports she has been able to recover of that time; complaining that there is not nearly enough information on the period only supports her claims. Comparing that research to the life of a woman in Shakespeare’s plays, it is easy to see that Shakespeare exaggerated just a little about the importance, intelligence and treatment of women. She observes that “Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant.” (Woolf, 23) “For genius like Shakespeare’s is not born among laboring, uneducated, servile people.” (Woolf, 24) Generally Woolf prefers to reference those classics like Poe and of course Shakespeare, but her primary source for her essay was Professor Trevelyan’s History of England. She really enforces that this is an expert evaluation by using Professor Trevelyan’s book and others opinions, like the anonymous bishop, as evidence or at least clarity. She evaluates all corners of the woman’s life, (education, parenting, travelling etc.)
“No, you two infinitely stupid male creatures: the problem of what is to be done with her afterwards.” (Shaw, 65) Mrs. Higgins shows she doesn’t see the girl as some experiment un like the men in the play who do not seem to view women as the same value. Having a women who respects and has morals for other women is very important for this play. “Do without, I’m afraid, Henry. The girl has a perfect right to leave is she chooses.” (Shaw, 84) This is Mrs. Higgins explaining to her son that he can’t control the young women that she has some rights of her own, and he is to blind to see this on his own. Making the role of women important to see that the young Liza Doolittle has some rights of her own.
This resulted in the surging frustration in Elsa, as she highlighted the fact that there is nothing set in the foundations of a marriage that takes away a woman’s liberty to express herself. Both in the main plot and subplots, the play portrays different forms of conflict that draw our attention and the author uses these conflicts to give a representation of women’s rights to express themselves freely. One of the conflicts the author uses is the woman versus husband conflict. Katrina’s situation typifies the oppressed married woman. Through Elsa’s comments, one can see the women’s rejection of such treatment.