This challenges Macbeth emotionally causing him to reconsider his manhood, ‘’Prithee, peace: I dare do all that may become a man’’. Lady Macbeth would have startled the audience considering that women in the Elizabethan society were seen as sub servant. Women were expected to have good manners and obey their husbands, since Lady Macbeth does have a high social status, she would be expected to be gentle and dignified. Whereas the Lady in The Laboratory has another approach to manipulating the person making her poison sexually, ‘’You may kiss me old man’’. This suggest she is using physical sexual attraction to manipulate the person because a ‘’kiss’’ is
Miller takes the “woman scorned” approach to his character of Abigail. Abigail’s assertiveness is observed early when she tells her uncle “the rumour of witchcraft is all about; I think you'd best go down and deny it yourself,". This remark, within the confines of a deeply hierarchical and patriarchal society, shows her to have knowledge of social situations and also that she does not conform to the Puritan society, which has already been evidenced by her affair with John Proctor. She is spiteful which helps to build the classic “woman scorned” role which Miller moulds her into: “Oh, I marvel how such
King Creon’s attitude on gender ultimately leads to his downfall and his ruin. Antigone’s rebellion against King Creon’s decree challenges both gender influences at the time as well as a sense of hierarchy. The fact that Antigone is woman plays a profound role in the story. Creon admits that he needs to defeat her because of her gender. Antigone’s refusal to lay down and follow the king’s command shows an aggressive side of Antigone.
Edwards marriage to Woodville was said to show favouritism as he subsequently gave the Woodville family titles and arranged the best marriages possible for Elizabeth’s sister, meaning that Warwick’s daughters did not get the desired marriages. This alienated Warwick and made him resent the King. The lack of land an titles given to the kings brother, George duke of Clarence also alienated him, making him and Warwick join together to become over mighty and eventually end in 3 rebellions lead by Clarence and Warwick. These rebellions prove that Edward did not deal effectively with his over might subjects or nobles as the eventually ended up deposes him and putting Henry IV back on the throne. Overall, I think that although Edward had some successes, for example showing Warwick at the
One can get that idea, being that in both pieces the woman are having an affair with another man, although Sir Gawain and the Green knight was just a joke, it was mostly trying to “teach a lesson” or make a point to men, why one should not trust a women, because of the trickery and games they hold up their sleeves. And in contrast with that, Beowulf author shows the idea of women are less in control, by the two main women who had to serve their king, but also every other person at the
‘Men were deceivers ever.’ To what extent can it be argued that Shakespeare’s presentation of men’s attitudes to women in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ allows for comedy? In Much Ado about Nothing, it can be equally argued that men’s attitudes towards women are actually used for comedy purposes, and it can be argued that their attitudes aren’t. For this argument, the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick at the start of the play can be seen as comical to the audience, as they both claim to dislike each other and take pleasure in making rude remarks to one another. On the other hand, the relationship between Hero and Claudio could be seen as quite dark to the audience, as there are accusations and trust issues between the two. The quote ‘men were deceivers ever’ comes from Act 2 Scene 3 of the play, from the song that Balthasar sings.
Ophelia exists at his beck and call, even ending her relationship with hamlet at his whim. Such was the lot for women in renaissance England. Heather brown touches on this in her work Gender and Identity in Hamlet: A Modern Interpretation of Ophelia; “the woman's position in history-- seen only in relation to men--is problematic because of the hierarchy implicit in the relationship.” (Brown, paragraph 3) In a like manner, the King who, like Polonius, holds influence over Ophelia (being her king) uses her to surmise the intentions of Hamlet, and gauge his mental state. In league with Polonius, he set up Ophelia to meet with young Hamlet. In this situation, Ophelia is verbally abused by Hamlet, much to the indifference of the king and her father.
Ibsen however takes a more moralistic approach to portraying Victorian society; by doing this he makes the characters more realistic.Both writers position the argument that marriage was being undermined as increasingly society seemed to show a lack of trust and respect within marriage. Wilde uses the character of Mrs Allonby as a vehicle to satirize this lack of respect. In conversation with the other ladies, Mrs Allonby openly admits to being bored by her husband "my husband s a sort of promissory note; I am tired of meeting him" and that as a result she thinks that it is
However one could also argue that Larkin seems to justify violence against women by suggesting that access to women is something men have been unfairly deprived of. This becomes evident in the first stanza where Larkin presents the girl in ‘white satin’ suggesting her purity and virginity. One could disagree with this statement and interpret the de-feminizing of women differently. It could be suggested that Larkin combines masculinity and femininity together, ‘moustached lips’, to show his view that men and women should be viewed more equally in society. However I disagree with this alternative interpretation as I feel Larkin tries to portray the attacks ‘snaggle-toothed’ and boss-eyed’ are sadistic and grotesque but he does not disagree with
A patriarchy is defined as a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it. Such systems currently exist in several forms and areas around the world; however, the most common place for these patriarchies is in our literature. Men are distorted by patriarchy both in being socially labeled as aggressive but, also shamed as they look into the mirror and see themselves. Shakespeare uses polarizing examples of feminism in Hamlet. He depicts women as completely sexual creatures and also devalues women in the eyes of men.