Superiority and overconfidence always seem to be closely associated with dominance and gender; and is amongst the dominant perspectives expressed by Shakespeare in the play, “Richard the Third”. The conflicting viewpoints of both sexes over superiority, is developed in Richard the third in the male point of view whereby Shakespeare reveals us to a male dominated world. “Why, I can smile...And murder while I smile!” It can be interpreted from the play that the: manipulative, malicious, power-hungry, Richard the third, did not have much regards for the life of women. Richard finds women inferior to men, has no respect for their emotions, and views them as tools. As far as the two major female characters of the play are concerned, Richard's attitude towards women becomes quite evident, and furthermore reflects his attitude towards life in a whole.
Athenian men thought women were both morally and physically weak to an extent. Laws related to Athenian women suggest women were morally and physically weak. In Athenian Courts, women are debarred from participating in any political or legal processes and if they were involved in any situation of that sort, their identity would go unnamed, if they of respectful/honourable kind. Women were also seen as an asset to the oikos and always need to be under a guardianship of the kurios, which is usually either their fathers and later, after marriage, their husbands. And if a woman succumbs to acts adultery, this is seen as a great threat for the Oikos as the women can no longer be seen as honourable or chase, casting doubt on children’s legitimacy.
William Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet, offers detailed and often callous insights into the role of women, and men, in the Renaissance period in which the playwright lived in. Throughout this time, traditional women were often constantly criticised and treated as inferior to male counterparts. As such, Shakespeare has constructed his female characters to fulfil these traditional roles; however by taking a feminist approach these female characters appear marginalised and degraded. Ultimately, through the playwright’s representation of women, they can be see as worthless, sexual objects , both weak and inconsiderate in nature. Through a modern perception on the playwright’s female characters, women can be seen as worthless, sexually corrupt indiviudals.
Bradstreet also shows her insecurity when she says, “Nor can I, like that fluent sweet tongued Greek” (129). Lee Oser believes that she lingered over the Greek’s traditions on natural beauty (194). Although Bradstreet has great dreams, she knows her limits as a woman and is left only to dream. Bradstreet soon becomes depressed and grows angry at her state in society, because of envy and her continuous dreaming. John Winthrop says, “God Almighty hath so disposed of the condition of mankind” (107).
Women are mentioned relatively few times in Iliad in comparison with the books devoted solely to the men. Women treated as an object: The Iliad began with an argument between Achilles and Agamemnon over Briseis, who was considered a war prize. Agamemnon's prize was Chryseis, the daughter of a priest of the god Apollo. Achilles' reward was a maiden named Briseis. Both women were taken against their will.
“Antigone” by Sophocles is set in the fall where gender inequality was at its zenith. The concept of feminism was not extant in the antiquated city of Thebes, a city in Greece.In this milieu, a woman named “Antigone” emblazoned the fire of rebellion and defiance, heralding a revolutionary vision: the vision of justice and equality.She set out to defy the high and mighty and decided to fight the zealous male dominated society. The Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles is one of the first dramatic plays that demonstrated the multifarious roles women play in society. The two sisters Ismene and Antigone portray major female characteristics. While Antigone displays steadfastness, rationality and maturity as a woman, Ismene portrays the typical meek and mild role.
Wilde criticizes the society he lives in during the time he wrote the play and uses characters to emphasize the inequalities of double standards mainly between the gender roles and how London High Society during that particular era was hard to get in to but easy to become an outcast. The characters of Mrs Erlynne and Cecil Graham oppose each other and differentiate a great deal in London High Society. How other people treat them varies massively due to a numerous amount of things; gender, past, reputation, social status and wealth/inheritance. All of these items are key to a, what the upper class would call a ‘perfect life’, but in reality are emphasizing the flaws of society. Wilde establishes how the characters in his play have a great obsession to climb the social ladder and Cecil Graham and Mrs Erlynne are perfect examples of characters that are determined to keep ascending up the hierarchy ranking.
However when passion gets in-between justice to voice of reason is muted. To begin, sympathy is given to Medea when first introduced that her husband, who she has sacrificed literally everything for, has left her for another woman. Medea changed herself to fit the standards for a Greek wife that society had molded, but had no success. She could not understand why he would do this adulterous crime that breaks the logical code of general conduct in ancient Greece. This conflict raises the value of passion over justice because Medea takes whatever steps necessary to achieve what she believes is equal
Unsex Me Here In her essay Shakespeare’s Sister, Virginia Woolf analyzes the reasons behind the lack of female authors in Elizabethan England despite it being such a prominent time for literature. She discovers that, according to the history books, women at the time had very little rights and were tragically mistreated members of society. On the contrary, the women pictured in the works of art at the time were smart and cunning, or at the very least had strong, influential personalities. One of these women being Lady Macbeth from The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Woolf interprets the contrast between the women in fiction and the real women of the period as evidence that the famous characters are nothing but impossibilities imagined upon by men.
Woe to the man who describes women as frail, naïve, and out of touch in today's world. In the early 1900s, however, females were still cast in inferior roles to men, and unfortunately, Conrad, although progressive in his critique of imperialism, reflected the traditional treatment of women in Heart of Darkness. His five women characters were kept unnamed and their speech limited, highlighting the belittlement of women in the male-dominated society. Thus, Conrad offered no advancement to the cause of women by following convention and minimizing the agency of females through the creation of two separate, engendered spheres. Depicting women as unnatural entities, voiceless and agent less, to their male counterparts destroys any shot of redemption for the fairer sex, so Conrad aligns all the women in the narrative with unreality to evolve the importance of separate realms.