When it comes to reading Shakespeare’s play King Lear there are many ways that readers could interpret it and react to it. The way that they interpret the text has to do with the way that Shakespeare chose to distribute the power among female and male characters as well as the background of the reader. One of the main features of King Lear that has the biggest influence on how people read it is that the main man, Lear, and the main women, Regan and Cornwall, are that the gender characteristics in these people are atypical. The play opens with King Lear making the decision to split his kingdom among his three daughters. Lear’s wife is assumed to have passed away when the three girls were young.
This can be shown in the ‘Proof of Marriage’ source as the phratry must accept that a child is legitimate, otherwise property will not be given to the son. However it can also be said that it is in fact wives who fear their husbands and not the other way round. In the Eurastophenes’ murder case, Euphilites laughed at his wife when she suggested he ‘mauled the maid which could indicate women were in fear of how sexually controlling their husbands could be and how they could still get away with it. In the Naerea source is also shows men can be abusive to women with little to no consequence as Phrynion gets away with his abuse towards Naerea. You could also view the violence as a cry of fear and other controlling behaviour could emphasise that.
Paris's persistence shows us that he sees himself as a "conqueror" and Juliet as one to be "vanquished," again portraying the theme of men's treatment of women, just like the stanza suggests. We also see that the second and third stanzas portray exactly how Romeo treats and views Juliet. In the second stanza, the woman tells her lover not to worship her, like "one from heaven sent,"
A War Must Be Won through an Aggregate of Small Victories In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Hurston describes the struggle that Janie Crawford undergoes to find a voice of her own in a largely patriarchal society. She must resist the tendency that men have in her society to treat her as a status symbol to be achieved or "goods" to be traded. Because she possesses extremely desirable female characteristics, she is well sought after by men who wish to "own" her. This is similar to the dilemma that Gayle Rubin addresses in her essay "The Traffic in Women: Notes on the 'Political Economy’ of Sex." Rubin maintains that in order to change the mentality of such a society, its character must be modified.
But I will wed thee in another key, With pomp, with triumph, and with reveling. (Act I, scene i, lines 16-19) With Theseus's impatient for his wedding, he demonstrates how a wife must listen to her husband and how she is his right. Theseus may win over a fight with Hippolyta, but for her love, he will do the same thing to gain that love of her. As the law in late 16th century, everything belongs to a wife, also belongs to the husband, however, they not yet marriage, but Theseus shows a strong male domination over Hippolyta. Patriarchy not only shows in commitment relationship like marriage, but also takes place in family relationship like father and daughter.
The repression of women and the suspicions of a patriarchal society lead to rebellion and hysteria. Suppression prevents female character developing. Miller portrays women as weak, it seems that he uses his own view of women and presents it in the crucible. Hale shows authority over Abigail: ‘You can not evade me Abigail’ here he expresses his control and power, Hale puts pressure onto Abigail to tell the truth; is she lies he knows that she will be believe over him because of his male dominance. The use of ‘evade’ tells Abigail that he cannot be overcome and therefore she cannot overcome god like she has taken control of the Girls.
However Shakespeare also shows attitudes towards relationships between men and woman weren’t straight forward in Elizabethan England. He opens the play with references to fighting and arguing this introduces us to young men who see women as an inferior sex. Larkin also writes about relationships between men and women, but in contrast to Shakespeare the mood of his poems are negative, disillusioned, regretful, disappointed and very bleak and lonely. Context The play is set in Verona in northern Italy in the Elizabethan era. In the Elizabethan society women were expected to be under the control of men-their fathers or other male members of the family.
This essay will outline and assess each approach in turn. Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that focuses on the hypothesis of patriarchy as a system of power that organises society into a complex of relationships based on the assertion that male supremacy oppresses women. With regards to religion, they see religion as serving the interests of men. The French feminist, Simone de Beauvoir provides an explanation about why gender inequality in religion exists. According to de Beauvoir, religion acts very similar to women as Marxists see it acting on oppressed classes.
Isabelle Tan, HA09 (2nd draft) Men’s identity depended on how women were viewed. Explore the ways in Much Ado About Nothing and Othello in which men viewed women and how that affected their identity. The Elizabethan era was the period during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I from 1558-1603. During this time, anxiety about female sexuality was high. Manhood was then defined as the ability of a man to command his wife’s faithfulness.
ENGL 1111 October 30th 2011 ANALYSIS OF ACT 3, SCENE 1, LINES 48-59 – THE TEMPEST The speakers in this passage are Miranda and Ferdinand and here we see Miranda telling Ferdinand of her innocence. The play has to make an effort to overcome the implausibility of this courtship to make Miranda look like something more than Prospero’s puppet and a fool for the first man she sees. Shakespeare accomplishes this by showing Ferdinand in one kind of servitude in which he must literally and physically humble himself as he talks earnestly about another kind of servitude, in which he gives himself wholly to Miranda. The fact that Miranda speaks of a similar servitude of her own accord, that she remembers her father’s “precepts” and then disregards them, and that Prospero remains in the background without interfering helps the audience to trust this meeting between the lovers more than their first meeting in Act I, scene ii. This further enhances the theme of Masters and Servants which is visible throughout the play.