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Annotated bibliography of feminism in shakespeare
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Feminism othello william shakespeare
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Was shakespeare a feminist? Shakespeare’s plays are undoubtedly phenomenal, although there’s more than meets the eye in these masterpieces. William Shakespeare has been known for breaking societal norms for women in his plays. Women have been given authority, protagonistic roles, voices, personalities, and cunning intelligence on more than one occasion in an era of the “man’s world”. Although some may argue that shakespeare could not have possibly been a feminist due to feminism not yet being established, the roles and traits shakespeare gave women reflect nothing but women power and feminism. One major concept in Shakespeare’s work is gender fluidity. This concept is represented very thoroughly in Shakespeare’s play “As you like it”. In a quote from the play Rosalind, the female protagonist, says, "Were it not better, Because that am I more than common tall, That I did suit me all points like a man?” (1:3:522-524) which marks the point where Rosalind becomes Ganymede. For a women to play a male was unheard of, this went against societal norms at the time. This shows that Shakespeare did believe in gender fluidity because he gives Rosalind enough courage to even think of attempting to dress as a male. …show more content…
A quote by Rosalind that exemplifies feminism is “I could find in my heart to disgrace my man's apparel, and to cry like a woman...” (2:4:725-726). In the quote, Rosalind says that she would cry like a woman if it weren’t for the manly clothes she was wearing. The sarcasm is obvious due to the excessive gender identifying in “man’s”, and “like a woman”. Shakespeare’s use of sarcasm shows that he is giving Rosalind empowering traits such as wit and personality. These traits were frowned upon for women in Shakespeare's time, which is another sign that he was a
In Shakespeare’s comedies, many – possibly even most - of the female characters are portrayed as being manipulated, if not controlled outright, by the men in their lives: fathers, uncles, suitors, husbands. And yet, there are women inhabiting Shakespeare’s comedic world who seem to enjoy a greater degree of autonomy and personal power than one would expect in a patriarchal society. Superficially, therefore, Shakespeare’s comedies appear to send mixed signals regarding the notion of female empowerment. Some women are strong and independent, others are completely submissive, and the behavior of either seems to be influenced more by theme or plot than by any qualities within the characters themselves.
Before we move to the main argument, there is a question to be answered: what did it mean to be masculine or feminine in the Elizabethan era? Russ McDonald's The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare is an excellent source in making this distinction. According to McDonald, women were expected to concern themselves with marriage and motherhood only, and to submit themselves to their fathers and then their husbands in all ways. Considered "weaker vessels," women were not held to have either "strength or constancy of mind." Subordination, submission, and skill in caregiving were valued in women, and they we...
In today’s society, women have almost achieved equality. However, there was a time when women weren’t really viewed as women, but instead as objects. Around the time of many of Shakespeare’s plays, Queen Elizabeth was ruling England, which was a large step towards the de-objectification of women. While many people attempted to keep women under the heels of men, some people started working towards a change. Shakespeare uses his play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to comment on the objectification of women and feminism.
Women that go against traditional roles of femininity are punished through perfect executions of “an eye for an eye” justice. This is evidenced through the consequences of Lady Macbeth’s, minor female characters’, and Lady Macduff’s actions. What initially seems to be a depiction of Shakespeare’s approval of unconventional gender roles is actually a reinforcement of traditional notions. This is a clear indication that Shakespearian women were beginning to crack stereotypes in favor of feminism- else Shakespeare’s assertions would be unnecessary. Modern attitudes towards gender equality stand as indications of this silent war- still raging within society. All in all, there is hope for women to stand abreast with the very men that have dominated thus far.
Imagine being a woman in sixteenth century Europe. Females were raised to believe that they were subservient and that men knew better on any subject. Basically, women had no rights. They were considered property, first “owned” by their fathers and then control was “transferred” to the husband chosen for them. Marriage was not about love, but in most cases, it was a business deal that was mutually beneficial to both families – an interesting fact is that like young women, most young men had no choice in the selection of their future betrothed. These traditions and the gender roles assumed by men and women at that time had an impact on Shakespeare’s writing and performances and a great example of this is evident in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The play, Twelfth Night, is undoubtedly a phenomenal romance comedy, mocking courtship, love, and gender roles. Although many readers feel that Shakespeare is a feminist based on his bold move to break gender roles throughout his play. However, it can also be debated that he switched roles in the Twelfth Night. By using cross-dressing antics, interactions with characters, and the language of the characters on his main character, Viola, Shakespeare conforms to gender stereotypes and
The general public may also have preferred strength in female characters as a reflection of pride for their beloved monarch who was one of the few highly competent English rulers in spite of her gender and the sexism of the time in which she lived. Regardless of his reasoning for scripting women the way he did, Shakespeare was most certainly an advocate for feminism when he wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream. From the feminist perspective, liberal thinking and open-mindedness like William Shakespeare are welcome to invade our modern literature and lives for the next four hundred years. Works Cited Greene, Lenz, Neely, eds., pp. 113-117
Global feminine icon Ani DiFranco once stated, “Feminism is self-determination, and it's very open-ended: every woman has the right to become herself, and do whatever she needs to do.” Commonly throughout history and in society women are viewed as inferior to their male companions, and individuals frequently say that the world functions as a male- dominated society. Over the years the idea of feminism, or the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of society, has sparked interest in the female population, and women are often found standing up for what they believe in and not falling custom to adhering to the male population. DiFranco’s quote depicts the morals of feminism, as it supports how women have evolved into an ever powerful force that has become custom to influencing society. Author William Shakespeare agreed with DiFranco’s ideals, even when residing during the Elizabethan era where society was male dominated. In his novel, Othello, he uses the courage of the women in his literature to depict how women should be treated, and to contrast from how little respect they once obtained. The society in Shakespeare’s Othello is strongly dominated by men who are the political and military leaders of their homeland during the Elizabethan era. These men are expected to stay loyal to their reputations and to uphold the strong sense of character that earned them their positions in the first place. In contrast, during the Elizabethan period of time women were viewed as weak second-class citizens and inferior to males, with their only job being to serve their men. Shakespeare’s views of these expectations are contrary to the standard view of women’s roles during his play, for he demonstrates his malaise over the way gender relationsh...
In each of his plays the women are the same, with their own little quirks, but overall they all portray a woman that isn't totally fitting to the elizabethan stereotype. Shakespeare was clearly way ahead of his time as a writer. The uncommon characteristics that he gave his women, perfectly describe women today.
Shapiro, for example, goes so far as to claim that Shakespeare was 'the noblest feminist of them all.' Though Shakespeare pays more attention to the roles that men play in society and many of the female characters are constricted in their experiences. They do not have the same ability to be as fully human as the men. They do not learn by their experiences, except Paulina who is eventually chastised and pa... ... middle of paper ... ...
In Shakespeare's plays Twelfth Night and As You Like It both of the lead female characters dress as men. Both plays are comedies and the change in gender is used as a joke, but I think it goes much deeper. A woman can become a man, but only if it is not permanent. The affect of the change cannot be too great because she must change back to female once everything is settled. They are strong female characters, but must become men to protect themselves and ultimately solve the problem of the play. In the book Desire and Anxiety: The Circulation of Sexuality in Shakespearian Drama Valerie Traub calls the characters, "the crossed-dressed heroine who elicits and enjoys multiple erotic investments" (Traub 17). They can only acts this way when they are dressed as men. They return to their passive and nonsexual ways when they change back to women's clothing. In both plays the women are not in their own lands, Viola being shipwrecked on a strange land and Rosalind being banished from the court and wandering in the forest. Both women disguise themselves as men for protection. On the way to the forest Celia says to Rosalind, “Now go we in content/ To liberty and not to banishment” (1.3.137-138). Liberty in this line is the freedom they get overcoming the restrictions of a female role (Erikson 22). Dressing as a man is the way the women protect themselves, but as the plays progress the roles they play as men begin to influencing their actions and attitudes.
Over the course of the semester, we have read some beautiful plays from comedies to tragedies; Shakespeare’s later plays exhibited an extensively wide range of female characters from the weak, obedient to the strong, empowering woman. One of the examples of this would be Ophelia in Hamlet exhibits weak and obedient characteristics whereas Viola in Twelfth Night is a strong female role that breaks the gender roles by disguising herself as a male and proving women are equivalent to men. Even Shakespeare’s weakest female characters seem to break some of the stereotypical role of the period. For example, Ophelia does listen to her father, however, talks back to Hamlet which during the Renaissance breaks the stereotypical role. Shakespeare was an early feminist because of his nontraditional female characters; despite his weak female characters, Shakespeare still provides his female characters with some trait that follows a nontraditional role. I will focus on in this paper are King Lear, Twelfth Night, and Hamlet. I will use Hamlet to show that even the weakest of female characters have gender breaking characteristics.
Although William Shakespeare reflects and at times supports the English Renaissance stereotypes of women and men and their various roles and responsibilities in society, he is also a writer who questions, challenges, and modifies those representations. His stories afford opportunities not only to understand Renaissance culture better but also to confront our own contemporary generalizations about gender, especially what it means to be female. In his own time, Shakespeare seems to have been raising questions about the standard images of males and females, about what the characteristics of each gender are, about what is defined as masculine and feminine, about how each gender possesses both masculine and feminine qualities and behaviors, about the nature and power of a hegemonic patriarchy, and about the roles women and men should play in acting out the stories of their lives. Since feminist criticism today focuses on many of these same issues, we can bring such critical inquiry into the classroom by asking straightforward questions of and about Shakespeare's stories.
As we all know, gender inequality is a social issue that has been addressed over the years and has however, given rise to other issues such as misogyny, feminism, male sovereignty, female oppression and criticism, and the list goes on. Most times, especially during the Elizabethan era, before feminists began to fight for their rights as women, women were viewed as substandard when compared to men and they were classified more as possessions rather than as people. These gender biased opinions were developed under the reign of Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare’s explicit exhibition of this fact in his plays can be traced to the circumstances at which the society was at that time. Shakespeare shared this opinion and had few female characters in his works and even when he did have them, he portrays them as either “deceivers”, for example Cleopatra in “Anthony and Cleopatra” and Cressida in “Troilus and Cressida” or better still, he just cuts off the female role in the plays. Even if it appears as though Shakespeare exhibited a form of short shrift towards women in his works, we are however in no position to judge his beliefs concerning whether or not he had a hatred for women because it might just appear so because of the occurrences in the time at which he made his works, a time where the unsympathetic treatment of women was just a customary trend. We are however, uncertain as to whether Shakespeare’s display of sexism in The Tempest is intentional or not. However, I personally think most times it is unintentional, because sometimes he presents his female characters very outstanding roles, just like Miranda.
All actors in Shakespeare’s time were male; therefore, in the moments women portray men, they are truly men dressed up as women dressed up as men. This would have been comedic for Shakespeare’s audience, undermining the intellectual contributions of the “women” in the scene.