The Lead characters in plays are often thrown into conflict while pursuing that which they desire. A common way of setting up a character’s conflict is to make their unorthodox desires the focus of the narrative. In both Edward II and ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore we come into contact with characters whose desires end up their downfall, whose downfalls are invariably caused by their own desires coming into conflict. While these desires are generally considered taboo in their narratives, there are various reactions concerning the controversial subjects brought up in these plays. The characters all meet tragic ends; however, both plays demonstrate that there is more focus on the regulation of their desire by the authorities, rather than the prosecution of the taboo they committed.
The setting is very important when considering the situation of the play. Italy, as well as countries other than England featured an important role when discussing the use of the taboo in Renaissance plays. Italy was often regarded as a romantic and exotic place. England often viewed Italy as, “A country of other, constructed through a lens of voyeuristic curiosity through which writers and their audiences explored what was forbidden in their own culture” (Barker, Hinds 251). Italy served as a type of fantasy setting that play writers used in order to conduct their ploys, often producing controversial topics. In Edward II, Gaveston was a French man who wore Italian clothing and had Italian manners. His French origins and Italian mannerisms helped indicate his politics as well as his homosexuality and made him a mistrusted member of the court. England, particularly Elizabethans, viewed Italy as a place of sexual deviance, thus his association with Edward took...
... middle of paper ...
...plaud/ Thy government, behaviour, learning, speech/ Sweetness, and all that make up a man” (Barker, Hinds 425). Yet, despite these abilities or positions of power they still fell prey to their desires and ignored their reasoning. Both plays suggest that desire should be regulated. Edward’s relationship would have probably been tolerated if not for his apparent lack of concern for his country. Giovani also was warned about his desire and was advised to repent for it. His lack of control however is what led to his confession to his sister and ultimately to their consummating their relationship. In both cases the men showed a lack of self-control over their desires. Rather than the plays condemning the men for the relationships that society would generally consider a taboo they were instead condemned for their lack of control and their inability to contain themselves.
In the plays female sexuality is not expressed variously through courtship, pregnancy, childbearing, and remarriage, as it is in the period. Instead it is narrowly defined and contained by the conventions of Petrarchan love and cuckoldry. The first idealizes women as a catalyst to male virtue, insisting on their absolute purity. The second fears and mistrusts them for their (usually fantasized) infidelity, an infidelity that requires their actual or temporary elimination from the world of men, which then re-forms [sic] itself around the certainty of men’s shared victimization (Neely 127).
Pitt, Angela. "Women in Shakespeare's Tragedies." Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint of Shakespeare's Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.
Characters Embodying Features of the Antithesis of the Renaissance Concept of the Masculine Ideal in Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona
In Malory’s famous account of the King Arthur legend, the most notable example of woman as destructive sexual temptation is, of course, Queen Guinevere. Sir Lancelot’s affair wi...
One of the most emotional and moving scenes in William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet is in Act III, Scene I lines 90-155 in which the title character becomes somewhat abusive toward his once loved girlfriend Ophelia. It is interesting to examine the possible motives behind Hamlet's blatant harshness in this "Get the to a nunnery" scene toward the easily manipulated and mild mannered girl. While watching Kenneth Branagh and Mel Gibson's film adaptations of the play, the audience may recognize two possibilities of the many that may exist which may explain the Prince's contemptible behavior; Kenneth Branaugh seems to suggest that this display of animosity will help the troubled man convince his enemies that he is in fact demented, whereas the Mel Gibson work may infer that Hamlet's repressed anger toward his mother causes him to "vent" his frustrations upon Ophelia, the other female of importance in his life.
The term melodrama has come to be applied to any play with romantic plot in which an author manipulates events to act on the emotions of the audience without regard for character development or logic (Microsoft Encarta). In order to classify as a Victorian melodrama, several key techniques must be used, including proximity and familiarity to the audience, deceit rather than vindictive malice, lack of character development and especially the role of social status.
In the time of William Shakespeare where courtship and romance were often overshadowed by the need to marry for social betterment and to ensure inheritance, emerges a couple from Much Ado About Nothing, Hero and Claudio, who must not only grow as a couple, who faces deception and slander, but as individuals. Out of the couple, Claudio, a brave soldier respected by some of the highest ranked men during his time, Prince Don Pedro and the Governor of Messina, Leonato, has the most growing to do. Throughout the play, Claudio’s transformation from an immature, love-struck boy who believes gossip and allows himself to easily be manipulated is seen when he blossoms into a mature young man who admits to his mistakes and actually has the capacity to love the girl he has longed for.
From the bitter Emilia to the pious Isabella, Shakespeare was a champion of crafting women. With a wide range of personalities, professions, and situations, Shakespeare mastered early in his illustrious career the art of creating diverse, dynamic, and multidimensional female characters. When stepping outside the traditional roles for female characters in theater, Shakespeare pushed boundaries by giving his women intelligent wit, innate humor, motives and goals which the Elizabethan and Jacobean audiences could relate directly to their own experiences. More than anything else, Shakespeare created a race of theatrical females who were first and foremost described as complete human women with virtues and vices which were believable and realistic. With these attributes, Shakespeare’s women were able to perceive unequal distributions of power in their worlds, particularly the distribution of power in the romantic relationships which in many cases were chosen for them. Comprehending with a bitter distaste the lack of control they held over their future lives, the women of Shakespeare took matters into their own hands more often than not, utilizing revolutionary or unconventional means to gain dominance in the power dynamics of their relationships. William Shakespeare offered his female characters the abilities and opportunities to recognize their subordinate positions concerning romantic relationships as well as the initiative to attempt a shift in these power dynamics.
In order to analyse Shakespeare’s women, one must be aware of the female situation in both the playwright's own time period, and in the period in which his play was written. The ladies in Othello suggest that they have “internalised society's’ expectations of them, and apart from in moment of private conversation, behave as men expect, believing this to be ‘natural’” (. Emilia’s (and Desdemona’s) behaviour towards men for the most part of the play is an example of this behavior considered normal at the time. This conformity to social norms can be perceived as weaknes...
"O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint, with saints dost bait thy hook." A disturbing tale of suspense, dark comedy and corruption, Shakespeare's Measure for Measure explores sexuality, morality and the law, exposing the abuse of authority in high places amid the seething underworld of Vienna. This essay will explore Isabella’s moral dilemma.
Giese, Loreen L. "Malvolio's Yellow Stockings: Coding Illicit Sexuality in Early Modern London." Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England: An Annual Gathering of Research, Criticism and Reviews 19 (2006): 235-246. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 6 Nov. 2009.
Shakespeare's play "Much Ado About Nothing" takes place in Messina, a city-state of Renaissance Italy. The Renaissance was a period in European history believed to have been between AD 1300 and AD 1600 with a feudal society of agricultural economy and church dominated culture. It was during the Renaissance that Europe was transformed into a society dominated by central political institutions with education, arts and music heavily influenced by the Christian religion. In Italy, cities such as Florence, Ferrara, Milan, and Venice flourished. These cities were able to finance cultural achievements. Medieval Italian merchants developed commercial and financial techniques such as bookkeeping and bills of exchange. Italian city-states were transformed from communes into territorial states, each of which wanted to expand at the expense of others. Diplomacy was established when the Italian city-states began embassies in foreign courts. In general, the Italian Renaissance was a time of flourishing ideas and prosperity.
A major concern in both the film and the original text is the ‘status of women’. This is represented through the differing roles of women and their denigration within the Elizabethan society. For instance, Hero is accused of committing infidelity; consequently her image in society is tarnished, In addition to this, Claudio insults Hero publicly without even considering confirming the accusation of her being unchaste. This is illustrated through Claudio slandering Hero through the use of usage of Greek Mythological allusions “You seem to as Dian in her orb, but you are more intemperate than Venus in y...
The title page offers an immediate insight into the patriarchal constraints placed on women in early modern England. Although The Tragedy of Mariam is the first known English play to be authored by a woman, the fact that Cary is unable to give her full name is indicative of the limitations on women writers of the period. This semi-anonymous authorship...
Throughout time, there have been many books, plays, songs, pamphlets, sermons, lectures, etc. written. These writings were all written with some kind of purpose to either inform, persuade, entertain, or teach their audience. One such form of literature not too widely known about is that of the medieval morality plays. These plays were not aimed to entertain, but to teach morals and religion to the uneducated lower classes of people in medieval Europe. The morality plays were also quite necessary to teach and inform the underclass people, through the thoughtful persuasion of play entertainment.