Gender in Mother Courage and Her Children and M. Butterfly

1802 Words4 Pages

Comparing Gender in Mother Courage and Her Children and M. Butterfly "The term gender is commonly used to refer to the psychological, cultural, and social characteristics that distinguish the sexes" (Cook 1). From the idea of gender such notions as gender bias and stereotyping have developed. Stereotypes have lead society to believe that a male or female should appear, act, or in more philosophical terms, be a certain way. What these gender stereotypes are and, whether or not they really exist, will be discussed further so that they can be examined in reference to the plays Mother Courage and Her Children and M. Butterfly. In Mother Courage and Her Children "motherhood", and what it should be, is challenged as a result of the actions and qualities of the character Mother Courage. M. Butterfly gives us a great depiction of a stereotypical male, and uses the female stereotype against him. Both of these plays invert, modify, and even glorify the gender stereotypes. Society has females and males alike typecasted into roles which have basic characteristics that are the reverse of each other. Although this has begun to change over the past thirty years, typically the man was seen as superior to the female. This superior image is one that today, is slowly on its way to being reduced to one of complete equality between the two genders. Before the feminist revolution began, the female was traditionally in charge of taking care of the children and household. Her image in life was that of the wife, mother, and nurturing person. Some of the traits that were thought to be uniquely feminine were; ". . .emotional, sensitive, gentle, quiet, nurturing, interested in personal appearance and beauty, focused upon h... ... middle of paper ... ...ect Woman" (1.3.5) in M. Butterfly. The play shatters the illusion of the female ideal. The character Gallimard discovers that it doesn't really exist. However, the stereotypical male all too real. It is glorified to its absolute extremes in this play. The one conclusion that can be drawn between these two plays and gender stereotypes, is that stereotypical masculine characteristics are quite genuine. Conversely, those qualities that create the female ideal, are merely a figment of male perceptions. Works Cited Brecht, Bertolt. "Mother Courage and Her Children." Worthen 727-751. Cook, Ellen Piel, ed. Women, Relationships, and Power. Virginia: American Counseling Association, 1993. Hwang, Henry David. "M. Butterfly." Worthen 1062-1084. Worthen, W.B. ed. The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama. 3rd ed. Toronto: Harcourt, 1993.

Show More
Related

  • The Bechdel Test In A Midsummer Night's Dream

    516 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare is one of the world’s most well known plays, yet it doesn’t pass a very simple test: the Bechdel Test. While the Bechdel Test isn’t always accurate in measuring female representation and the work’s success in films and literature, it can help to give the audience a pretty good understanding of how significant the female roles are. This test shows the reader that A Midsummer Night’s Dream doesn’t have many well represented women in it, but neither do many other great works.

    Read More

  • Spanish drama

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    Valle-Inclán and Lorca have both been very influential and important figures of the twentieth century Spanish theatre. During their time, the theatre was mainly made up of bourgeois theatregoers who did not enjoy thought provoking plays, but preferred a theatre that was conventional and contemporary. Both Valle and Lorca departed from convention and showed freedom in their style of writing, therefore earning their reputation of dramatists of utmost importance, respect and originality, who not only brought new trends to the Spanish theatre, but also embodied the signs of change and hope for the Spanish stage.

    Read More

  • Argentina's Most Notable First Lady: Santa Evita

    1457 Words  | 3 Pages

    From a young age, Eva had aspirations of becoming a famous actress. She enjoyed the theatre, and often put on small performances with her sister Erminda. When Eva was fifteen, she moved to Buenos Aires to pursue her interest in theater, a risky pursuit, because finding work and achieving success were not guaranteed. Fortunately, she was successful in finding work. She performed small, low-paying jobs until she captured her fir...

    Read More

  • Trifles And A Doll House Comparison Essay

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nora and Mrs. Wright’s social standing when compared to the men in each play is inferior. Both works expose their respective male characters’ sexist view of women diminishing the women’s social standing. Each work features egotistical men who have a severely inflated view of their self-worth when compared to their female counterparts. The men’s actions and words indicate they believe women are not capable of thinking intelligently. This is demonstrated in “Trifles” when Mr. Hale makes the statement about women only worrying about mere trifles. It is also apparent in “A Dollhouse” when Torvalds thinks his wife is not capable of thinking with any complexity (Mazur 17). Another common attribute is of the women’s social standing is displayed as both women finally get tired of feeling like second class citizens and stand up to the repressive people in the women’s lives (Mulry 294). Although both women share much in common in their social standing there subtle differences. Torvald’s sexist view of Nora is more on a personal level in “A Dollhouse” while the male characters’ sexist views in “Trifles” seem to be more of a social view that women are not very smart and their opinions are of little value. This attitude is apparent in “Trifles” as Mr. Hale and Mr. Henderson’s comments about Mrs. Wright’s housekeeping (Mulry 293). As the women in both works reach their emotional

    Read More

  • Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Doubt by John Shanley

    1732 Words  | 4 Pages

    Through the actions of the male hegemony and the mother figure, both plays show the different perspectives both sexes have towards homosexuality. The patriarchal figures, show an intolerant and abusive perspective whereas the mother figures show a more understanding way of coping with the identities of their sons. By seeing the reactions of both males and females, it is to say that the maternal figures of the play show a more comprehensive attitude towards the struggles that the male protagonist undergo. Both plays are related to today´s society, because there are still families in which homosexuality is not accepted. People are still

    Read More

  • Comparing the Roles of Women in Arcadia, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Look Back in Anger

    1829 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Arcadia, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Look Back in Anger, the women characters play distinct roles in the dramas. However, the type of roles, the type of characters portrayed, and the purpose the women’s roles have in developing the plot and themes vary in each play. As demonstrated by The Importance of Being Earnest and Look Back in Anger, the majority of women’s roles ultimately reflect that women in British society were viewed to be unequal to men in love and in relationships and generally the weaker sex, emotionally, physically and intellectually. However, I have found an exception to this standard in the play Arcadia, in which Thomasina Coverly plays the role of a young genius.

    Read More

  • Trifles and A Dollhouse

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the plays, the reader can visualize how men dismiss women as trivial and treat them like property, even though the lifestyles they are living in are very much in contrast. The playwrights, each in their own way, are addressing the issues that have negatively impacted the identity of women in society.

    Read More

  • Romeo And Juliet Gender Roles

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    William Shakespeare is well known for being a poet, playwright, and actor. Shakespeare's work appears to be very sexist in gender roles. He uses gender roles in his 'Romeo & Juliet' play. Juliet being the main and most important female role in this play; is supposed to be noble and respectful, but instead she goes against her father’s wishes and acts more educated than she really is. Romeo being the main male role in this play is supposed to be focused and noble, but instead he is passionate in love and isn't very wise with decisions but in comparison to Paris, who is very masculine, focused and noble shows a real renaissance male. This paper will demonstrate how Shakespeare uses gender role reversement ; by having feminism and masculinity, arrangement of marriages, and compare and contrast of different characters to prove the model of genders in Elizabethan England.

    Read More

  • The Roaring Girl

    3981 Words  | 8 Pages

    Though its primary function is usually plot driven--as a source of humor and a means to effect changes in characters through disguise and deception—cross dressing is also a sociological motif involving gendered play. My earlier essay on the use of the motif in Shakespeare's plays pointed out that cross dressing has been discussed as a symptom of "a radical discontinuity in the meaning of the family" (Belsey 178), as cul-tural anxiety over the destabilization of the social hierarchy (Baker, Howard, Garber), as the means for a woman to be assertive without arousing hostility (Claiborne Park), and as homoerotic arousal (Jardine). This variety of interpretations suggests the multivoiced character of the motif, but before approaching the subject of this essay, three clarifica- tions are necessary at the outset.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes in M. Butterfly

    1569 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...the female and male gender across cultures. This role can cause problems when mistaking a male for a female much like Gallimard did in the play. Everyone from children, to the media, creates stereotypes. Stereotypes corrupt members of society, compelling them to view cultures and gender unfairly. Societies must eliminate the amount of stereotypes that are being distributed to various cultural around the world. Stereotypes are powerful, limiting, and discriminatory, and they prevent people from understanding other cultures fully. Without the demolition of stereotypical ideas, cultures that stereotype others will not see the differences between the stereotypical ideas and the real ideas of a culture.

    Read More

  • Commedia dell’ Arte

    2124 Words  | 5 Pages

    The first question is why use "commedia dell' arte" as a training tool for modern actors at all, since drama and the business of acting has hopefully moved on since the Italian Comedians finally left Paris. The fact remains, however, that the dominant form of acting today that both exists as the aspiring young actor's performance role model and as a category of performance in itself is T.V. naturalism. We are lucky in that something both inspirational and technical has survived from those heady times. When contemporary acting technique does not provide all the answers that actors may be looking for, it is not surprising that they look towards the past for inspiration. It is in this grey area between researching historical certainties and reconstructing guessed at acting technique that we must look. These Martinellis and Andreinis were the superstars of their day and the question that most often gets asked is "how did they do it?"(Oliver Crick).

    Read More

  • Compare Trifles And M. Butterfly

    1836 Words  | 4 Pages

    Initially, the play “M. Butterfly”, asserts its position on masculinity in Act 1, Scene III, when Gallimard declares, “And I imagine you—my ideal

    Read More

  • Pirandello: A Theatrical Philosopher

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, is a unique and passionate play in which the dynamics of the theater are uprooted, deconstructed, and questioned for their validity and integrity. In Pirandello’s play, we experience the art of “metatheater.” Pirandello utilizes this technique to demonstrate the disadvantages of theatrical editing, enlighten his audience with self-reflecting philosophical questions, and acknowledge the timelessness of art.

    Read More

  • Applied Theatre Essay

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this paper, I will be focusing briefly on my knowledge and understanding of the concept of Applied theatre and one of its theatre form, which is Theatre in Education. The term Applied Theatre is a broad range of dramatic activity carried out by a crowd of diverse bodies and groups.

    Read More

  • Gender Inequality In A Doll's House Essay

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the late 1800s, gender inequality was one of the common issues that existed in the society. Men and women were often distinguished among themselves. Men were regularly portrayed as the one who had power and strength, whereas women were supposed to do all the household work and they were seen as weak and trivial. Henrick Ibsen shows a prefect illustration of this example in the play A Doll’s House. Ibsen develops a notion of how the existence of gender roles in society affected one’s lives. The protagonist Nora, whose identity is shaped after seeing her husband’s actions, which depicts his beliefs of gender inequality, demonstrates this idea.

    Read More

More about Gender in Mother Courage and Her Children and M. Butterfly

Open Document