The roles of women in Much Ado About Nothing and the Odyssey are quite similar in many regards. The gender theme in Much Ado About Nothing like many of the works of that can be seen as a loaded concept. The female characters portrayed by Shakespeare in the majority of his work are often seen as submissive and easy to control. The daughters and nieces submit to the patriarchal society and repression of the time with no obvious complaint. Characters are subject to limitations and expectations because of their gender.
First of all, Hermia and Lysander are one of the above mentioned couples that give anything up for their love for one another. In the beginning of the play, Hermia disobeys Egeus by refusing to marry Demetrius because she is in love with Lysander. This shows that Hermia loves Lysander enough to disobey her father’s wishes for her to marry Demetrius. Next point, Egeus and Demetrius do not allow Hermia to be with Lysander. As well, Egeus states that Hermia is his sole property and so she must marry Demetrius.
How has Lord Capulet’s attitude changed from the beginning of the play? What type of father does he seem to be? Juliet reaction was that she refused to marry Paris, but her father’s reaction was very shock and sudden. He said to Juliet if she refused to the marriage, Juliet wouldn’t be recognized as the Lord Capulet’s daughter. Lord Capulet’s attitude just suddenly changed because he would rather have a great family reputation instead of his only daughter marrying her love.
Emilia is Desdemona’s maid and she has a mind of her own. Through discussions she has with Desdemona the reader can concur that she will do anything necessary to get to the top even if that is sleeping around. She also says in one of her and Desdemona’s conversations that women only cheat because men have taught them to do so by neglecting them and fraternizing with other women. Emilia is a woman who although different from Desdemona is not all bad. She is as duped by her husband, Iago, as much as the rest of the cast and she tries to amend her wrongdoings in the end by telling the truth to Othello although she is too late to save her mistress, Desdemona.
The female counterparts or Latin queens are initially viewed as a subservient faction of the nation, breeders and en masse event planners, however this could not be more wrong, this is the majority for many female members but there are some outstanding Queens that transcend these roles and involve themselves in expected “male” behaviors such as violent acts, outstanding verbal leadership and over the top representation of the group or “repping”. These sisters are endearingly treated in the same light as brothers and are respected and in many ways protected, as ironic as it may sound “behaving like a bro” entitles most to be embraced and defended. These few are however the minority and most queens
The challenges of love are being portrayed when Hermia’s father, Egeus’s, refuses her to marry Lysander but Demetrius (Carter, 2). Hermia is given the ultimatum of choosing Lysander or execution. She then chooses the latter, resulting in her and Lysander fleeing to Athens to escape Athenian law. c. The trials and tribulations of love are summarized in Lysander’s statement: “The course of true love never did run smooth. /But either it was different in blood” (I.i.
Her mother was Catherine of Aragon of Spain, a religious catholic. Mary, too, was brought up as a catholic. However, when it seemed unlikely that Catherine would be able to produce a male heir for Henry, he wanted a divorce. He knew that only the Pope would be able to get him a divorce from Catherine, and, when he sent Thomas Wolsey, his minister, to ask the Pope, the Pope found himself in a tricky position. He did not want to upset Henry but he did not want to anger Catherine’s nephew, Charles V, who was against the divorce.
Although loyal and determined, Desdemona’s naïve nature has caused many to believe that she is also of a passive nature. When Desdemona asks Emilia if she would ever cheat on her husband for the “whole world”, Desdemona seems surprised to find that Emilia responds with a simple “yes”. “But for the whole world? Why, who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for ’t (Emilia, IV.iii.
The Wife of Bath It was customary in the medieval times for women to obey anything and everything their husbands or any other man requested. The Wife of Bath was very rebellious when it came to this custom. She was a very strong willed, open minded and outspoken woman. As we saw later in the story, she wasn’t afraid of anyone or what they though of her. The Wife of Bath believed differently than other women, and men for that matter, of this time period.
Many people in the court was surprised that Henry had sustained his relationship with Anne for so long as he was well known for keeping short relations with his female companions. This suggests that his feeling for her were of true love. Others however say that there was no male heir in succession. Henry had few options he could let Mary take the throne which could lead to a civil war as it had done with the last queen to inherited the throne, he could have married Mary off and hoped she produced a heir before his death, or his illegitimate son ‘Duke of Richmond’ could take the throne, however this would be have been unpopular with nobility and could result in someone else with illegitimate claim to the throne. England was an unstable country in this period in history and a civil war would have left it valuable to attacks and invasions.