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More handpicked essays just for you.
Female roles in early British literature
Womens role is more important than mens in British literature
The role of women in Shakespeare's plays
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Recommended: Female roles in early British literature
Feminist Criticism is a theory that points out the way gender, races, etc. are looked at in a piece of literature. It’s a comparison of how society views them and how they are written about. Feminist critics care about how females are written in a piece. They also like to look at the different stereotypes people have about women, and how they can change them.
“King Lear” by William Shakespeare is a tragic play. There are so many theories that could be applied to this play, but the Feminism theory is the best way to describe all the conflict happening. Overt time, we realize that the women are the cause of everything that happens. The way Shakespeare writes about women is opposite from societies view on them. The women he writes about are considered the stronger sex, but at the time, men were the ones who ruled the kingdoms. Everything in a kingdom is run by men, but in this play, women slowly take over it.
In Act 1, Lear has all this land that he needs to get rid of, and he chooses to divide it between his daughters. Cordelia is the youngest daughter, and she is very independent. Regan and Goneril are the older daughters, and they abuse their power in many ways. The daughters have to show their love for him in order to get land. Regan and Goneril suck up to him and tell him that they love him. In reality, they don’t love him at all. They just want more power. Cordelia is very straight forward with him. She tells him that she loves him but not as much as her sisters. Lear gets mad by her response, which shows that the daughters have enough power to make him feel whatever emotion they want. They can easily get under his skin, and strip him of his power. His power was at an all-time high, but over time it gets taken over.
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...d Shakespeare wrote about it.
Women only experienced being housewives. They were never able to be in a male’s position because society didn’t think they were strong enough. Female authors wrote from their own perspective. I would imagine them writing about the power they wished to have. They wished to have characteristics that are similar to a man. They didn’t want to be stereotyped by society. Female Critics attempted to change these stereotypes by writing about them. Male authors also wrote from their perspective. I think they would write about how much power they have. Some didn’t think women needed more power. Then, Shakespeare came along and wrote the complete opposite of what society thought. He changed the way society thought about them.
He wrote through more of a female point of view. He over looked both points of views, and included societies views.
With Cordelia declared as banished, Lear states, “With my two daughters’ dowers digest the third...Only we shall retain The name and all th’ addition to a king. The sway, revenue, execution of the rest, Beloved sons, be yours” (Shakespeare 17). Lear’s fault here is that he believes that he can divide up his kingdom to his daughters and still retain the title as king; he wants to retire his position and responsibilities as a king but still remain respected and treated as one. His flaw in wanting to be superior leads to his downfall, as he is so blinded by his greed that he decides to divide up his kingdom to his two daughters who are as hungry for power as he is. They only want to strip him of his position and respect to gain more influence. Lear, not realizing the impact of such an impulsive decision, descends into madness when his daughters force him out of his home. After being locked out of his only shelter by his daughters, he states, “Filial ingratitude!...In such a night To shut me out?...O Regan, Goneril, Your old kind father whose frank heart gave all! O that way madness lies. Let me shun that; No more of that” (Shakespeare 137). Lear becomes fully aware of the consequences of his actions. He realizes how ungrateful his daughters are and how they have treated him unfairly even though he has given them everything; much to his dismay, he is left with
For years, gender equality has been a major issue in the world. Women considered to be weaker and less significant than men were as they did not have the same right and women were supposed to stay home and watch the children. Shakespeare is one of the few people of his time to support gender equality, as the role of women has been a theme in several of his famous plays such as Macbeth and Hamlet. In Hamlet, Shakespeare promotes support for gender equality by creating empathy by displaying the downfall of the women as a result of their obedience, dependence on men, and mistreatment by men.
In the middle ages, men and women had completely different roles in society. Romeo and Juliet is set in the city of Verona, in a time when what gender you were dictated your entire existence. If you were a women then you were nothing more than someone’s property, first your father’s then your husband’s. Women had no say in their lives and were seen as weak. Men ,by contrast, were seen as always strong, mentally and physically, and dominant. In Romeo and Juliet, gender expectations play a huge part in the action of the play. Shakespeare uses imagery, hyperbole, and metaphors to highlight the theme of gender roles and the meaning of gender in Romeo and Juliet.
This story had many plot twist and might have caused a bit of confusion at times but Shakespeare was just trying to get his point across through the story. With that being said after reading this story King Lear and writing about this theory I think that Shakespeare does get his point across and it shows drastically throughout the story. This makes my thesis understood more clearly and my point is proven, “not all women are liars and hurtful, but the ones who are given power… not all of them can be trusted.”
Shakespeare’s perceptive point of view about social order and gender role are significantly introduced within King Lear through many characters, as they are indicative of the discrepancy of standardized gender role prevalent in his period of time. In King Lear, the readers can progressively perceive the alterations within the daughters, as they yearn to surpass their limitations that are imposed based on their gender to achieve equality and power. Shakespeare intelligently implements the feebleness of both males and females within his play as a way to indicate humanity’s fragility and frailness. Additionally, he switches the gender roles of the characters at the end, creating a notorious conflict among the relationships of those characters.
Although Lear proposes to his daughters that if they tell him how much they love him, he will in return divide parts of the kingdom for them, he has in fact already allocated them each a portion. He indicates this in the opening dialogue between the earls of Gloucester and Kent (1.1.1 -- 6). What prompts him to engage his children in this sham contest is evidently nothing more than vanity. Perhaps all three daughters recognize the contest for what it truly ism but Gone rill and Regan go along with the game anyway, professing in hyperbolic terms what they say they feel for their father. Cordelia refuses. In her asides to the audience she indicates her dilemma: “What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent” (1.1 57). When Lear turns to her and asks what she can say to win “A third more opulent than your sisters,” she replies simply, nothing, my lord” (1.1.82). Asked again, she reiterates her answer, to which Lear responds in a rage.
King Lear had come so accustomed to his praise, that it is the sole thing he lived for, he needed it to survive, his treatment as a king was his Achilles heel in this play. He wanted to step down as king and divide his kingdom into 3 sections, giving them to his daughters to rule. Goneril and Regan were more than willing to accommodate his request to demonstrate their love for their father and king by professing their love to him in dramatic fashion combined with a good bit of exaggeration. While Cordelia on the other hand, found it a struggle to profess what she thought to be known by her father and king, she states, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave / My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty / According to my bond; nor more nor less (Scene 1.1, Lines 91-93).
Feminist criticism is a form of literary criticism, which studies and advocates for the needed rights of women. It is specifically concerned with"...the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson). "Feminist criticism is a political act whose aim is not simply to interpret the world but to change it by changing the consciousness of those who read and their relation to what they read." (Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader, 293) In order to use Fem...
We delve straight into Lear's relationship with his daughters in Act One. Lear, in order to decide which portion to allocate to which daughter, he asks them to profess their love for him. here we see the first sign of Lear's inability to communicate with his daughters. As a father, Lear should know how much his children love him and when he asks them to declare their love he is asking as a king and not a father. The answers he is seeking are those which would be expected from a subject not a child. Even so, Goneril and Regan are wise to this and answer accordingly:
The portrayal of gender roles in William Shakespeare’s play Othello, demonstrates the inferior treatment of women and the certain stereotypes of men placed on them by society. Both the male and female characters in the play have these certain gender expectations placed on them. In a society dominated by men, it is understood that the women are to be seen rather than heard. The women are referred to and treated much like property. If indeed they do speak up, they are quickly silenced. One woman’s attempt to be the perfect wife is what ultimately led to her demise. The expectations of men are equally stereotypical. Men are to be leaders and to be in control and dominant especially over the women. The male characters compete for position and use the female characters in the play as leverage to manipulate each other. Shakespeare provides insight in understanding the outcomes of the men and women who are faced with the pressures of trying to live up to society’s expectations, not only in the workplace, but also in the home. The pressure creates jealousy issues amongst the men and they become blind to the voice of reason and are overtaken by jealous rage, leads to the death of many of the characters.
In modern society women have equal respect from men. Women do not need to be compliant to men and are free to express themselves. Although some pockets of discrimination exist in present-day society, it was not the same in Elizabethan England The disrespect that women received was unparalleled. Different levels of society bolstered this dramatic inequality of people, especially women to new heights. William Shakespeare writes influential books on the life of people living in Europe in the Elizabethan time period. William Shakespeare's Othello shows the identity of women to portray the injustice of unequal status of women expecting them to be blindly obedient to men.
During the Elizabethan Era, women were oppressed to men and had no authority and power to make their own decisions. This idealistic view of gender is defied in William Shakespeare’s well-known tragedy, King Lear, for female empowerment is central to the play. Firstly, the bold characteristics of the women contribute greatly in enhancing the plot. Furthermore, women play a major role in developing the theme of power. Moreover, when power is given to the female characters, they reveal their true nature, thus aiding with their character development.
Feminist theory helps to analyze gender inequality and its themes which are discrimination, sexual objectification, oppression, stereotyping and so on.
Lear's vision is marred by lack of direction in life, poor foresight and his inability to predict the consequences of his actions. He cannot look far enough into the future to see the consequences of his actions. This, in addition to his lack of insight into other people, condemns his relationship with his most beloved daughter, Cordelia. When Lear asks his daughters, who loves him most, he already thinks that Cordelia has the most love for him. However, when Cordelia says: "I love your Majesty according to my bond, no more nor less." (I, i, 94-95) Lear cannot see what these words really mean. Goneril and Regan are only putting on an act. They do not truly love Lear as much as they should. When Cordelia says these words, she has seen her sister's facade, and she does not want to associate her true love with their false love. Lear, however, is fooled by Goneril and Regan into thinking that they love him, while Cordelia does not. This is when Lear first shows a sign of becoming blind to those around him. He snaps and disowns her:
Emily Brontë’s novel, Wuthering Heights, demonstrates a social criticism on women’s power to control their own fate and the ideal women in the nineteenth century. Specifically in Lyn Pykett’s, Changing the Names: The Two Catherines, a strong feminist perspective is explored. In her criticism she goes through many different analyses of Catherine Earnshaw-Linton and her daughter Cathy and what they represent in regard to a women’s power and social expectations in the nineteenth century. Pykett says that the two Catherines represent women’s true nature according to Brontë. Catherine Earnshaw-Linton is faced with the choice between two men but chooses based on what is accepted in her society, the man that can provide her economically, not the man whom she loves. This marriage to Edgar instead of Heathcliff is the source of Catherine’s problems and ultimately her demise. It causes one to question whether it is right to marry for the social aspect or for true love. Young Cathy seems to face the problem her mother has as well but she finds a way to be true to her nature and fight the tyrann...