Before I embarked on this journey, I was watching a film called Stage beauty, film about a male thespian playing numerous female characters of Shakespeare’s oeuvre. Billy Crudup plays the role of Ned Kynaston/Desdemona a female character he played his whole life, Claire Danes plays the role of Maria/Margret Hughes who succeeds to enlighten King Charles II that it is time for females to perform on stage instead of men portraying them. Kynaston loses his job as a ‘female performer’ and struggle to make ends meet. After the movie I was in awe of the fact that Kynaston’s character was banned from stage, since he can’t find work elsewhere after a quick demand from the king, a king who loved to dress up as a female and perform in privacy. This story …show more content…
Firstly, I will delve into the history, customs and conventions that were synonymous with the Elizabethan era/period. In order to discuss and question the male to male relationships that were accepted by society on stage, I need to gathering the necessary data to discuss how male to male relationships on stage was ironically accepted by audiences It will also be imperative to this study to take an in depth look at the contradictions of the male to male interaction within a socio-political context and the influences it had on the subtleties/happenings within the play and on stage.” The subject of male relations versus homosexuality correlates that it was seen as a norm in theatre for men to portray female characters, but was seen as immoral in Elizabethan society, It then becomes ironic that the idea of theatre and stage representing real life contradicted the societal …show more content…
Sodomy and Buggery can then be seen as the main elements that are pivotal to my study in linking the subtle overtones/undertones of homoeroticism and homosexuality within a political and historical context and the blatant acceptance of these theatre practises/conventions. Essentially my aim of this study will shed light on how sodomy and buggery had an impact on Shakespeare work, especially As you like it. In the Elizabethan era, plays were written for male dominated casts (Bullion.2010:45). It can then be argue that there is irony, and to a certain degree a sense of absurdity in audience members blatantly accepting these theatre norms/conventions which contradicted their own culture and justice system of their own
Upon reading Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V, I have noticed that the issue of gender ideology and identity has been an intriguing study in both Shakespearean comedies and histories. These traditional Western views have, in a sense deemed which roles are appropriate and socially acceptable, in regards to both males and females. This practice of ‘social typecasting’ has given men and women certain socially acceptable characteristics, which has influenced how they should think and act. In this essay I take an in-depth look regarding how Shakespeare dealt with gender identity, and if certain characters in The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V accepted their socially predetermined gender identity or if they rejected it.
Rose, Mary Beth. The Expense of Spirit: Love and Sexuality in English Renaissance Drama. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1988. Shakespeare, William. The.
This paper will look at the different conceptions highlighted by Bulman in his article through the use of different methods used by the actors in the play. Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare captures the different conceptions of gender identity and different sexualities within the Elizabethan period.
Looking at theatre reviews and books such as Stephanie Jordan and Dave Allen’s Parallel lines: Media Representations of Dance and Ramsay Burt’s The Male Dancer: Bodies, Spectacle, Sexualities. I will find out more about the history of homosexuality in theatre and how DV8 defied the law to produce shows with gay themes despite it being illegal to promote such themes in the UK during the 80’s and early 90’s.
Adelman, Janet. 1985. 'Male Bonding in Shakespeare's Comedies.' In Shakespeare's Rough Magic: Renaissance Essays in Honor of C.L. Barber, edited by Peter Erickson and Coppélia Kahn. Cranbury and London: Associated University Presses, 73-103.
Howard, Jean. "Cross-dressing, The Theatre, and Gender Struggle in Early Modern Eng- land." Shakespeare Quarterly 39 (1988): 418-40.
Fineman, Joel. 1980. 'Fratricide and Cuckoldry: Shakespeare's Doubles.' In Representing Shakespeare: New Psychoanalytic Essays, edited by Coppelia Kahn and Murray M. Schwarz. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins Press, 70-109.
Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity suggests that there is a distinction between “sex, as a biological facticity, and gender, as the cultural interpretation or signification of that facticity” (Butler, 522). Performing certain actions that society associates with a specific gender marks you as that gender. In this way, gender is socially constructed. Alfar defines the societal expectation of women as the “constant and unquestioning feminine compliance with the desires of the masculine” (114). Considering Macbeth from a modern perspective and taking this distinction into account, it is necessary to determine if the play is concerned with sex or with gender. Before the action of the play even begins, the audience is warned that “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (1.1.11). The first scene of the play casts the world of Macbeth as a land where everything is opposite or disordered. This line at the very start of the play cautions audiences to not take the play at face value because things are not always as they appear to be. Because of this, “all the binaries become complicated, divisions blurred. Thus the binary nature of gender identities, male/female, is eliminated” (Reaves 14). In the world of Macbeth, the typical gender constructions are manipulated and atypical. If the play does not deal with sex, the qualities of Lady Macbeth cannot be applied to all women but rather, representative of society’s construction of gender, “the patriarch, and the limited, restrictive roles of women” (Reaves 11). Within this reading of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s examination and questioning of gender construction allows modern day readers to recognize the enduring relevance of
The topic of homosexuality has always been one approached with caution due to its taboo nature derived from its deviation from the heterosexual norm. Traditionally, and across several cultures, homosexuality has been successfully discussed through normalizing the behaviour through heterosexual representation. Gender reversal or amplification of feminine qualities of male characters have often been means by which authors are able to subtly introduce the foreign idea of homosexuality and equate it to its more formal and accepted counterpart, heterosexuality. The works of Shakespeare and Li Yu have assisted in exposing homosexual relationships while still maintaining them under the heterosexual norm, whether it be through direct or metaphorical representations.
Garner, Shirley Nelson, and Madelon Sprengnether, eds. Shakespearean Tragedy and Gender. Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indian U, 1996.
Shakespeare, one of the most famous play writers in history, wrote Macbeth in 1606. Many women were not allowed to perform in plays during that time period; however, Shakespeare did have very few females act out roles in his play (Shakespeare: Sample). Shakespeare viewed his women as strong-willed individuals (“Macbeth.” 227 ) when in reality they were often gone unrecognized (Women in Anglo). The character, Lady Macbeth, was a frightening, ambitious woman. Lady Macbeth often wished to “unsex herself” to carry out the killing of King Duncan on her own as her husband showed no manly characteristics to do it. Women during the Anglo-Saxon time period however, were way different then the way Shakespeare viewed his women during his time period.
With every great story line comes a theme. William Shakespeare created an art of intertwining often unrecognizable themes within his plays. In Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, one hidden theme is the idea of homosexuality. This theme might not have even been noticed until modern Shakespeare fans discovered them. According to Alan Bray’s book, Homosexuality in Renaissance England, “the modern image of ‘the homosexual’ cannot be applied to the early modern period, when homosexual behavior was viewed in terms of the sexual act and not an individual's broader identity.” (Columbia University Press). This difference between homosexuality as a “sexual act” and an “identity” proves why, during Renaissance England, this theme in Shakespeare’s play was almost invisible. The actual merchant of Venice, Antonio, displays this homosexual identity that might only be recognizable to the modern day reader. Through a close reading of a speech given by Antonio, one can begin to understand the significance of Shakespeare’s word choice and how it plays into this idea of homosexuality.
Throughout various mediums, queer and gender portrayals are not shown in the best light. Majority of media show clear negative connotations of homosexuals and queens while constantly being a target of discrimination and ridicule. Though as time went on many writers decided to speak up and gain awareness for queer and gender biases by incorporating messages of societal discrimination in their plays. Much of their ideals were that of how sexual/gender identity portrayal, lifestyle stigma, and preconceived notions of the homosexual community. These ideals were combined in what is called gender studies and queer literary theory. Some of these concepts and ideas of queer and gender theory can be seen throughout the play
The aim of this paper is to analyze the themes of love and sexuality in one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, Hamlet. As a playwright, Shakespeare depicted human nature profoundly, therefore, in Hamlet we may find as many kinds of love as the number of relationships that are described and intermingled. There is romantic love, paternal and maternal love, and friendship, which is love among people of the same rank, class or sex. The love present in some of these relationships is sometimes connected or overlapped with sexuality, even in cases where it is not expected to. In the following pages we will try to illustrate how two attributes which all human beings posses are shown and experienced by the characters in Hamlet.
Schleiner, Louise.Voice, Ideology, and Gendered Subjects: The Case of As You Like It and Two Gentlemen.Shakespeare Quarterly 50, no.3 (1999 Fall) p. 285-309.