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Representation of women in Shakespeare's plays
Representation of women in Shakespeare's plays
Women's roles in Shakespearean plays
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In Act 2, Scene one ,which is based upon Mercutio and Benvolio attempting to persuade Romeo to return to them ( as he has gone back to Juliet whom he has just fallen in love with) and escape the Capulet’s party in fear of him getting hurt by Tibult who at this time is aware of their presence, Mercutio is presented as having a very sexual and one sided view of love. This was shown when he states the dramatic irony “I conjure thee by Rosaline’s”. The use of the verb “conjure” can infer magic; which in this case is Rosaline( as Mercutio mentions). The idea of his idea of love being one sided is proven with this fact. Rosaline stated to Romeo that she does not want him and he has understood this( thus his heartbreak). But the fact that Mercutio …show more content…
is still using Rosaline as bait despite this shows he feels her choice is irrelevant and therefore he thinks their love should be one-sided(Romeo’s side being the only one that matters). The idea of him believing their love should be one sided can also show his sexism and disrespect towards women (the male power being more important and able to disrespect the female).
Shakespeare may have felt it acceptable to include this due to the fact that the Elizabethan audience would have accepted this as that was how women were treated in that time. The idea of Mercutio being disrespectful towards women can also be shown later on tin the quotation when Mercutio states “bright eyes…high forehead…scarlet lip…fine foot…straight leg…quivering thigh ”. Choosing to only use her physical ideals as persuasion to lure Mercutio back is disrespectful as he is only viewing her as a an object Romeo desires(objectifying her …show more content…
). This also gives the impression of Mercutio viewing love as a sexual thing as him stating her physical ideals are the only aspect of a women that he thinks Romeo will appeal to and care about as they are the only ones he uses as persuasion; this tells us this is how he feels himself as Romeo does not feel this way.
He doesn’t mention any other aspect of a women to Romeo so therefore we can infer he doesn’t care about and therefore associate anything else with love( only the parts he finds sexual). This idea can also be proven when Mercutio states “Nay, I’ll conjure too! Romeo! Humours, madman, passion, lover! Use of the noun “madman” shows Mercutio thinks it’s mad how anyone can love like Romeo. This is likely because he doesn’t understand true love himself as the play never mentions him having had a partner deeper than for sex. Therefore love is just sexual for him as that is the only concept of love he knows . This factor could make the audience feel sympathy for Mercutio as they may feel bad for someone who has never felt love as it is supposedly such a powerful thing, which they learn from Romeo’s
case. On the other hand Romeo’s opinion contrasts this, he believes in courtly love and that love is a much more important thing. This is proven in Act 2, Scene 2, which is when Romeo is reunited with Juliet, when he says “Had I it written, I would tear the word” the use of the destructive verb “tear” shows that Romeo is willing to destruct something so important- something that makes him. This backs up the idea of him believing in courtly love as him stating how much he would sacrifice for her is characteristic of a courtly lover( he is trying to impress her and his devotion). This idea can be backed up with the stage direction in Act 2, Scene 1 “[Romeo] climbs the wall, and leaps down within [the Capulet’s party]”. The fact he is going back into a place he is not allowed( that is potentially dangerous)shows he risking his life for love. This backs up the idea of him being a courtly lover as this is brave and also associated with courtly love . As well as showing he believes in courtly love both of these quotations can also infer violence( leaping into a dangerous territory and tearing, which has negative connotations). This violence could show the importance love has for Romeo( he is willing to use violence for love ) as well as foreshadowing Romeo and Juliet’s eventual demise and death ( involving daggers and violence). As well as proving the fact Romeo is a courtly lover this amount of devotion and importance of their love so early on in the play could also secure to the audience that the end, were Romeo and Juliet meet their end because of there intense love for one another, is realistic and believable therefore making the reader feel more true and powerful emotions at the end of the play( what Shakespeare would have strived for). If Romeo is willing to risk so much early on it seems easier to grasp the fact that at the end they are of a mind to die for each other.
Mercutio is an extremely cocky jokester who views the subject of love as a very physical matter. When the Montagues are on their way to the Capulet party, Mercutio mocks Romeo saying, "If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down" (I, iv, 27-28). Mercutio is trying to comfort his friend by proclaiming that Rosaline is just another love prick in his life, and Romeo will love again after this phase of heartbreak. Several lines past, Mercutio's Queen Mab speech about a fairy creeping on people's dreams stretches on and on (I, iv, 53-94). Romeo tries to calm his friend, and the kinsman of the Prince admits to talking of nothing; he is one "that loves to hear himself talk and will speak more in a minute than he will stand in a month" (II, iv, 137-139). His tangent proves that his witty, light-hearted remarks puncture yet highlight the passionate, love-seeking qualities of Romeo.
When suddenly Baz Luhrmann nineteen minutes into his work presents a drag Mercutio dressed scandalously in a ridiculous white wig and wearing red lipstick to top it all off, it seems he has no regard for the original Romeo and Juliet. In his portrayal of a character as crucial as Mercutio, Luhrmann crosses the fine line between the individual possessing eloquence and profuse wit Shakespeare creates, and a downright maniac. Before entering the Capulets’ mansion Mercutio’s acclaimed Queen Mab Speech in Act One, Scene Four, displays the aforementioned eloquence and vivid imagination of the character. Specifically, Mercutio claims, “Oh, then I see you’ve been with Queen Mab/...True, I talk of dreams,/Which are the children of an idle brain,/Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,”(I iv 53, 97-99). Anyone with a rational mind does not expect Mercutio to deliver his lines about dreams being merely the result of the anxieties and desires of those who sleep while holding ecstasy and jumping agitatedly. Luhrmann offers an insane Mercutio in his take on Romeo and Juliet and all it achieves is a massacre of the brilliance of the dialogue. The unconventional director stages the exchange to end with Romeo accepting a psychoactive drug inducing him in a euphoric state, then shattering any proceeding potential romantic mood.
The poem is a rather sexist piece, not in the case of sheer misogyny, but in the sense that it assumes what it is a woman is to want. It takes common stereotypes of how to romance a woman, common tropes used so much they have lost all flavor and have become bland, meaningless gestures. Additionally, they are used to conceal an inner desire; the speakers lust for the woman. In perhaps the only stanza where Marlowe slips and reveals his inner desires, we are shown one of the most sexist lines in the entirety of the poem.
Many a time this supports Romeo, as Romeo is the passionate one and always in love. Whilst Mercutio is often the one saying love is “idiotic” or “a waste of time” (paraphrased 1.4). He often times uses taunts or common sense to get information out of Romeo, “If love be rough with you, be rough with love;/Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down./Give me a case to put my visage in:/A visor for a visor! what care I/What curious eye doth quote deformities?/Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me.” (1.4). As well as “The ape is dead, and I must conjure him./I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes,/By her high forehead and her scarlet lip,/By her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh/And the demesnes that there adjacent lie,/That in thy likeness thou appear to us!” (2.1). In the beginning quote Romeo is down and about about how his want to be lover, Rosalind, and her disdain toward him and her promise of chastity. Naturally, Mercutio uses a classic line of “Get over her with other women!” Which then goes on to reveal Romeo’s stubbornness in listening to advice of others and his inability to stop loving. (Which is revealed to be futile). The second line is referring to his taunting of Romeo that makes the Romeo, as well as the reader, begin to understand the statement “revealed to be
Because he is Romeo’s friend, he stands on the Montague’s side. In fact, Mercutio simply appears in four scenes in Romeo and Juliet, in other words, he is not the main character in the play. Nevertheless, I think he is an attractive and memorable character in the play. Actually, Mercutio’s name is related to the word “mercurial,” meaning “having an unpredictable and fast changing mood,” an accurate description of Mercutio’s personality. Moreover, he also plays a vital
Obviously nobility and honour are a theme of this play and Blits clearly states that the main women of this play such as Portia does not fit into the role of an honorable character, even when she is married to the “Most honourable man in Rome.” According to Blits, “Rome is a man’s world. No one in Caesar has a good word for women.” Once again he is being sexist, not one bit of respect for women but this fits right into the play, the people of Rome seem to be somewhat of a sheep that don’t stand out.
In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Mercutio, a friend of Romeo plays a deep role within the play. Many characters in Romeo and Juliet can represent the masculine or feminine spaces. The masculine space is chaotic and more towards the sexual and material side of the play, which have more of a tragic potential. While the feminine space is peaceful, more romantic and spiritual in giving a better chance for the comic potential. Mercutio represents the masculine space while Romeo prefers the peacefulness of the feminine space. Mercutio tells Romeo to be rough with love, he tries to keep him within the masculine space after the ball, and he fools with the Juliet’s nurse because of his actions he pushes Romeo towards tragedy.
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the views of love held by the character Romeo contrast sharply with the views of Mercutio. Romeo's character seems to suffer from a type of manic depression. He is in love with his sadness, quickly enraptured and easily crushed again on a passionate roller coaster of emotion. Mercutio, by contrast is much more practical and level headed. His perceptions are clear and quick, characterized by precise thought and careful evaluation. Romeo, true to his character begins his appearance in the play by wallowing in his depression over Rosaline who does not return his love:
...st play, it is not sexist and demeaning towards women. Petruchio, Hortensio, and Lucentio may have bet on their wives compliance in some eyes, but after further analysis, they were actually betting on the trust between the couple. The reader must also take into account the time period the play was written in which was the 16th century, where women were usually not even allowed to go to school to be educated, and Bianca was having private tutors for her education. Kate was changed by Petruchio’s “taming” from the beginning to the end of the play, but at the end of the novel when Kate was called upon and made her speech, she was the happiest she had been in the entire story. There are however some sexist elements in the story, but just because there are certain characteristics of sexism in a play does not mean the play in itself is sexist and demeaning towards women.
Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine comment in the Introduction to Shakespeare: Othello that sexism is a big factor in the play:
Shakespeare has written some of the most outstanding pieces of literature throughout history that have lasted through out the ages. But, critics often criticize Shakespeare as being sexist towards women in his work. He often portrays them as weak minded, evil, or as sexual objects. Ophelia, Queen Gertrude, Lady Macbeth, and Juliet Capulet are just a few female heroines that are accused of being feeble or heinous. Shakespeare's Othello represents Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca as weak characters that do not become triumphant by the end of the play.
During the Shakespearean time women were treated as inferiors. The three women in Othello, Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca encountered many degrading and unfortunate situations. They were to be obedient. The women had to comply with the commands, orders, and the instructions of the men. Women were made to believe that they had no rights. The men would publicly humiliate the three women. It was difficult for the women to stand up for themselves due to that time in society. In Shakespeare’s play Othello, he portrayed the three women to be viewed as obedient, loyal, and submissive to their husbands.
Throughout Shakespeare’s various works, it has been observed that he rarely uses females in his literature, but when he does, he uses them for a distinct purpose, as is evident in Julius Caesar. By defying the societal standards of her gender and showing genuine interest in her husband’s thoughts and feelings, Portia, the wife of Brutus, reveals key aspects of his character while adding depth to the story. For her time, Portia was a woman who both respected herself and took pride in herself, without allowing society to make a mark on her. This is evident when she states, “Think you I am no stronger than my sex/ Being so father'd and so husbanded?" (Port...
As Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, the fiction was set in the Renaissance era and therefore the persona of women was reflective of that period. The natural stereotype of that time viewed women as weak, fickle, and dependent of the men in their society and subject to the decisions that men make for them. It was an exceedingly common depiction and very rarely was it proven wrong to the men of that time. Women’s rights were nonexistent in this time period so it wasn’t unusual for the portrayal of women to be so negative and offensive. Given that women of that age had known nothing else they attempted to fit the stereotype to please the ‘natural order’.
The play, The Merchant of Venice drastically altered the perception of women during the time as Shakespeare makes women during the Italian Renaissance appear independent and intellectual, such as the beautiful Portia and the young Jessica. This play shows that women are not only beautiful people to look at but also powerful and intelligent individuals. The characteristics of the women in this play show the possibilities of equality between men and