Hippolyta Individualism

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Recommended: Representation of women in Shakespeare

There is a certain sense of modernity in most of Shakespeare's plays, as if he is writing far beyond his time, and perhaps that has to do with what Stone qualifies as the Closed Domesticated Nuclear Family. Although the time period used by Stone to distinguish this family structure from the other ones is technically after Shakespeare would have written this play, there are, once again, quite a few overlapping ideas that seem to further contradict Stone’s “set” time lines. For example, greater autonomy for wives and children is a factor of this family structure and the idea of Titania the queen of fairies as well as Hermia, and perhaps Hippolyta are all examples of women and daughters who demonstrate autonomous thinking and actions. The inclusion …show more content…

Many of the characters portray moments of individualism even when there are heavy consequences. Each of the members of the mechanicals have quite a bit of individualism even though they are categorized together as a cast of fools. Yet readers see each of these men’s characters and personalities shine when they’re performing in Shakespeare’s play as well as the play in the play. Another character representing individualism is Hippolyta’s character because of her extensive history in classical literature. Hippolyta historically comes from an island of women and doesn’t conform to the social identities and roles of early modern English women. Her character is “tamed” by Theseus in Shakespeare’s play, but the choice of Hippolyta specifically directs readers’ attentions to the individualism and freedom inseparable from Hippolyta’s …show more content…

The absence of male characters in this exchange between woman reveals a level of honesty that is present as these women gossip and discuss their personal lives. They are each talking about this previous and/or current relationships in a setting where there are not many obstacles to stop them from sharing their honest experiences with men and with family life. I think that this ballad demonstrates at the level of mass population how incorrect and overgeneralized Stone’s three family theory is because in this ballad, and many of the other ballads we have read, the women do not follow the stereotypical roles of an obedient wife and the men are often cuckolded or challenged. Obviously the husband and wife dynamics do not fit into the very limited boundaries and regulations that Stone has set up with his theory. The relationships between each of the women and their husbands vary so widely that it is impossible to make a general claim about all of their marriages and the marriages of everyone in this time period. There are a few elements that one could mix and match from any of the three family structures, but it is obvious from these discussions between the women that there is not a unanimous standard of what the family structure is. It is also noticeable that the women portrayed in ballads often do not fit into Stone’s theories at all and

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