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The changing role of women in literature pdf
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During the time of Shakespeare a powerful woman ruled over England and all of its empire and yet the average woman in society was often brushed aside and disregarded. These conflicting images of woman where depicted throughout Shakespeare's plays from stichomythia we see between King Richard and his mother and the disregard we see for Ophelia in Hamlet but these contrasts are best encapsulated in his comedies Much Ado About Nothing and Measure For Measure Woman. Woman of the time where considered weak and weak willed and yet Beatrice and Isabella each brave their societies views when they are faced with the persecuted of someone they love. This love causes them to fight against their oppressors without sacrificing their beliefs and eventually be a martyr to save those that they love. In this paper I will discuss the parallels of Beatrice and Isabella and the love, loss, and battles they face and how despite their actions they still end up losing but for a purpose they believe in. These woman each have their own view and struggles yet in the end they will fall back into the societal obligations that fall upon them but not without saving their loved one.
In Much Ado About Nothing we are introduced to Beatrice’s free spirit in the very first act of the play as she says “I pray you, how many hath he killed and eaten in these wars?
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But how many hath he killed? For indeed I promised to eat all of his killing.” (1.1.25-27) This is unlike any phase a woman has said in any other Shakespeare comedies that we have read so immediately she sticks out as a unique and different character. Her anomalous behavior is further developed as we here her take on love and matrimony in Act 2 scene 1, lines 22-27 : “What would I do with him? Dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting-gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man: and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him…” She is so free spirited and she loves every second of it, being free is her first, and in her own prediction, her only love. Her other love is that of her dear cousin Hero who is the counterpart to Beatrice’s sworn solitary life. Hero want’s nothing more than to be in love and she believes she has found in in Claudio and they plan to marry. Hero’s love for Claudio is perfect until a misunderstanding enacted by the cruel Don John causes Claudio to go mad with jealously and leave Hero at the alter in tear and shamed. The love Beatrice feels for Hero is now called to attention as she sees her innocent cousin shamed and heart broken. Beatrice, newly concomitant with Benedick, requests that he help her fake Hero’s death to try and get a reaction out of Claudio that is not jealous rage. This is a perfect example of Beatrice righting against the social conformities of the time for the sake of her cousin. In those days a man “seeing” his wife lay with another was enough for her and her entire family to be shamed with only the word of one-man necessary, yet Beatrice strives to make is right. She sees the injustice and is willing to work with a man whom she was convinced to have feelings for all to save her poor cousin’s honor. The final element of this paper that Beatrice exhibits is that of martyrdom through multiple actions. The first is when she pretends to offer herself to marry Claudio in place of Hero. Even though she knew the marriage would never actually occur, due to the love of her cousin she was willing to stand under a veil for her. She was willing to sacrifice the freedom she so loved for the love she had for Hero. On this same point, Beatrice sacrifices her freedom when she decides to officially be with Benedick. She was so adamant about not being apart of this conformity and yet she does. This appears to me as a silent message of the time that even the most powerful woman will eventually give into the societally pressures and get married. In Measure for Measure we see an entirely different woman than Beatrice but one with the same qualities nonetheless.
Isabella arises in the end of the first act and her station as a nun immediately sets her apart from Beatrice because we know that she will not be as loudly spoken and much more modest with her words and actions. Although the common factor is their love for a way of life and a family member, in Isabella’s case this is her faith that shapes the very essence of who she is. The other love of this peaceful nun is of is her wrongfully imprisoned brother; which leads her actions into those of a rise against this
injustice. When Isabella learns of her brother’s imprisonment she goes to the acting regent, due to the beloved Duke’s sudden departure for the thrown, which is a man by the name of Angelo. Angelo offers to free Isabella’s brother but only if she will sleep with him. The brings up a serious conflict between her two loves, her brother and her faith. One might see Isabella as a meager character who is unable to stand up to Angelo but her sign of resilience and resistance can be found in the end of Act 2 Scene 4 where Angelo gives a long ultimatum before he exits but this ultimatum is followed by the longest stichomythia yet noticed in any previous plays. “Bidding the law make curtsy to their will Hooking both right and wrong to th’ appetite To follow as it draws! I’ll to my brother… …Then Isabel, live chaste, and brother die; More than our brother is our chastity” (2.4.185-193) She is willing to let her brother fall to save her chastity, because this is the love she believes to love most and therefor will fight for the hardest. When Isabella faces the Duke in the very last Act, she tells her all of her attempts to save her brother and all of the terrible things that Angelo said when she tried to get her brother pardoned. She fights from the stance of her unwavering chastity and she is rewarded with the knowledge that her brother is alive, yet her victory quickly turns when she has to pay the price. She is now to marry the Duke. She has lost what she has fought for so passionately all along, she looses her life long goal of being a pure woman of god. She is the martyr than must die so that her brother can live. This one incident shows that despite her power that she posses through out the entirety of the play she is still just a woman, who’s life and ambitions are lesser than a man’s.
Beatrice is an extremely crucial character in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. She is one of the reasons that many plans and schemes fall into place to provide us with the outcome that the play finally reaches. Shakespeare depicts Beatrice as a very strong character who knows what she wants and how she wants to achieve it. Her characteristics of sharp wit and her ability to be acutely opinionated allow her to be a notable contrast from the other women in the play, whether this be in a positive or a negative way.
In Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing, there are the usual characters that show up in most of Shakespeare’s pieces. For instance the characters Hero and Claudio could easily be compared to Romeo and Juliet. Both Hero and Juliet are innocent, quite, and beautiful young women who fall in love instantly without conversing with the other person. Likewise, Claudio and Romeo decide to marry these women within twenty-four hours. Because of these characters’ lack of unique and interesting qualities, I am intrigued by Beatrice.
Much Ado About Nothing is a tale of two very different relationships. The relationship between Beatrice, the niece of the Governor of Messina and Benedick, a close friend of the Nobleman Don Pedro and that of a young soldier called Claudio and The Governor’s young and beautiful daughter Hero.
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.
In the opening scene of Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice says some harsh things about Benedick (1.I.37-43). She seems to be unprovoked but very rigid in her opinion of him. In Leonato's house, the discussion of Beatrice and marriage leads her uncle to conclude that, "Thou...
adds to the comedy of the rest of play. It is obvious to the audience
Many readers feel the tendency to compare Aphra Behn's Oroonoko to William Shakespeare's Othello. Indeed they have many features in common, such as wives executed by husbands, conflicts between white and black characters, deceived heroes, the absolute vulnerability of women, etc. Both works stage male characters at both ends of their conflicts. In Othello, the tragic hero is Othello, and the villain is Iago. In Oroonoko, the hero is Oroonoko, the vice of the first part is the old king, and the second part white men in the colony. In contrast to their husbands, both heroines—Desdemona and Imoinda—seem more like "function characters" who are merely trapped in their husband's fates, occasionally becoming some motivation of their husbands (like Desdemona is Othello's motivation to rage, Imoinda's pregnancy drives Oroonoko restless to escape). While Shakespeare and Behn put much effort in moulding them, to many readers they are merely "perfect wives". This paper aims to argue that, Desdemona and Imoinda's perfect wifehood may be the product of compliance to male-dominated societies, where women are
(Essay intro) In the modern day, women have the luxury of belonging to themselves but unfortunately this was not always the case. During his life, William Shakespeare created many positive female characters who defied the traditional gender roles and brought attention to the misogynistic patriarchy of Elizabethan England. One of these true feminist icons is ‘Much Ado about Nothing’s. Beatrice. The women in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ defy traditional gender roles. Beatrice represents a brave and outspoken woman who defies the oppressive, traditional gender roles for the female sex. Her cousin Hero, however, represents those women who were successfully oppressed by the patriarchy and accepted the traditional gender roles without much complaint.
Feminist critics of Much Ado About Nothing, like Sylvia Townsend Warner, praise Beatrice for being "free and uninhibited" ("Women as Writers," Warner, 272). Beatrice is a strong female character who marries only after asserting her disapproval for the traditionally voiceless role of women in marriage and courtship relationships of the 16th and 17th c. Beatrice is a fearless verbal warrior, and Benedick is her greatest challenger. Their verbal bantering allow for each of their strengths and opinions to show, and together they glory in the challenge of their next duel.
Differences between Beatrice and Hero in the early scenes of Shakespeare’s play ‘Much Ado about Nothing’
Beatrice is, without a doubt, one of the strongest female characters that Shakespeare ever came up with in his time of writing. Shakespeare shows, through Beatrice, how every woman should act in an era where only the men were even able to have control. In this era, or the renaissance time, no woman had free will; they were always told what they could and could not do, as well as, who they were to marry. In the play “Much Ado About Nothing” Beatrice has many qualities but the ones that stand out the most in the play are: her independence, her feistiness, and of course her openness to defy male subjection.
During the Elizabethan era women had a status of subordination towards men. They had a role to marry and oblige to their husband’s wishes. Shakespearean literature, especially illustrates how a woman is psychologically and physically lesser to their male counterpart. The play, Othello, uses that aspect in many different ways. From a Feminist lens others are able to vividly examine how women were subjected to blatant inferiority. Being displayed as tools for men to abuse, women were characterized as possessions and submissive; only during the last portion of the play did the power of women take heed.
...God's creature, and craves love as its daily food" (Hawthorne 625). If she is evil, it is only because she was made that way. Her heart is pure. So in the end, the beautiful and innocent Beatrice is betrayed by the man she loved, Giovanni. For Giovanni betrays Beatrice because he thought she was evil, and truly Beatrice is the one who demonstrates to have true love. Beatrice proves to be very human, but with a poisonous body and a loving soul.
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest provides dialogue that portrays the social expectations and stereotypes imposed upon women in Elizabethan times. Even though the play has only one primary female character, Miranda, the play also includes another women; Sycorax, although she does not play as large a roll. During many scenes, the play illustrates the characteristics that represent the ideal woman within Elizabethan society. These characteristics support the fact that men considered women as a mere object that they had the luxury of owning and were nowhere near equal to them. Feminists can interpret the play as a depiction of the sexist treatment of women and would disagree with many of the characteristics and expectations that make Miranda the ideal woman. From this perspective, The Tempest can be used to objectify the common expectations and treatment of women within the 16th and 17th Centuries and compare and contrast to those of today.
Antigone asks Ismene, her sister, if she recognizes how Zeus fulfills them as they live the curse of Oedipus. Although this idea of fulfillment manifests itself specifically in the tragedy of Ismene's and Antigone's radical behavior, the myth also serves as an archetypical model of a woman's position in society, and its patriarchal elements. The influence of Oedipus' curse over his daughters, whether mythological or directly familial, lingers in the ethos of psycho-sexualized European mores. Culturally, this notion characterizes masculinity as being `large and in charge,' the provider and protector; thus, femininity necessarily involves a certain subservience. Such ethos associates femininity with certain gender roles. The story of Oedipus and his daughters, therefore, highlights the overshadowing efficacy of the male presence and it's effects on the female psyche. For instance, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, each paint a picture of the feminine gender role, which predominantly consists of becoming a proper wife, so as to secure a husband, or mother, so as to produce his heir. Essentially, the occidental woman of this period is confined to a life of marriage. In such a patriarchy, what happens to an Antigone, a vicious rejection of all social conventions? And to an Ismene, a passive surrender to patriarchy's nomos? A woman's relationship to society's oppr...