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How women are portrayed in Shakespeare plays
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However, Shakespeare initially inverts expectations as Lucrece's celebrated chastity and loyalty prove an imperative premise to her assault. Despite having little to no autonomy in her society - we receive large passages of her perspective, suggesting a form of agency. Moreover, Lucrece effectively silences Tarquin utilizing words in the same was he silences her physically, whereby "with her own white fleece her voice controlled" (678). Lucrece's antagonism to irrational, passionate, sexualized violence is verbal, she epitomizes reason - repeating his arguments, his logic and rational, imploring Tarquin to remember that, “My husband is thy friend; for his sake spare me” 582. However, regardless of her rhetorical skill and manipulation of
When Chaucer’s knight stands judgment for the rape of an innocent girl, it is the queen’s authority that decides his fate: “And yaf him to the queene, al at hir wille, / To chese wheither she wolde him save or spille” (903-904). Using her power to humiliate the knight even further, she metes out the most ironic of punishments: “I graunte thee lif if thou canst tellen me / What thing is it that wommen most desiren” (910-911). With the queen’s decree, a great importance is placed upon the understanding of a woman’s needs—for this knowledge is the only hope in saving a man’s
Have you ever felt stuck? Wherever you are, it’s the absolute last place you want to be. In the book Into the Wild, Chris McCandless feels stuck just like the average everyday person may feel. Chris finds his escape plan to the situation and feels he will free himself by going off to the wild. I agree with the author that Chris McCandless wasn’t a crazy person, a sociopath, or an outcast because he got along with many people very well, but he did seem somewhat incompetent, even though he survived for quite some time.
In Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Richard the Third, the historical context of the play is dominated by male figures. As a result, women are relegated to an inferior role. However, they achieve verbal power through their own discourse of religion and superstition. In the opening speech of Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 1-30 Lady Anne orients the reader to the crucial political context of the play and the metaphysical issues contained within it (Greenblatt, 509). Lady Anne curses her foes, using strong language to indicate her authority. She speaks in blank verse, by which she utilizes imagery to emphasize her emotions and reinforce her pleas. Her speech clearly illustrates the distinction between the submissive female role within the male sphere of war and the powerful female voice within the realm of superstition.
“Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both” (Roosevelt). The goal of America’s legal system as we know it is that everyone is given an equal opportunity to stick up for what they may or may not have done, as described by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Also this is what officials strive for, it is not always the case. Facts can be skewed, distorted, or misrepresented to make one side seem to be guilty without a doubt and to make the other side seem as if they have done nothing wrong. The Crucible by Arthur Miller begins and ends with one-sided accusations of witchcraft. It all results from a group of girls who had been dancing in the woods. After two fall sick, the accusations begin. The girls who were dancing, especially Abigail Williams begin blaming others to look less guilty themselves. Accusations are flying left and right so that soon, hundreds are in jail and over a dozen are executed. Abby’s main goal is to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor, so she can be with John Proctor, a man she previously had an affair with. However, John is not interested in Abby and his
Pitt, Angela. "Women in Shakespeare's Tragedies." Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Shakespeare's Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.
Since the witches’ prediction about him becoming Thane of Cawdor had already come true, Macbeth felt very little desire to chase after the throne. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, wanted her husband to pursue the rank by murdering King Duncan instead of waiting to receive it. The idea that a woman, who were considered inferior and powerless compared to men during shakespeare's time, would be the responsible for such violent conflict in the play was unusual. Because she was still unsure of her thoughts, Lady Macbeth prayed that her womanly features would be removed in order to gain more, at the time, manly qualities; such as violence and ambition. “...unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the top-full of direst cruelty.” (Act I, Scene V) This decision was not an easy one, for it meant that Lady Macbeth would no longer be able to give birth to any children, thus resulting in the end of their blood line. In the spur of the moment, Lady Macbeth trusted that her decision was the best, even though she was completely blinded by her desire. She was willing to change her gentle, womanly features for those of a man’s. Once her ambition began to grow, it affected Lady Macbeth’s morals, because it allowed her believe that killing King Duncan was acceptable, since it would fulfill the witches’ prophecy. Her amount of ambition caused Lady Macbeth to not only have a troublesome introspection of her identity, but also let her conceive a heinous crime against her
Lady Macbeth has been taunting her husband with the idea of success and obtaining royal status. Her solution is one “small” deed- to kill the king. Macbeth becomes uncertain of the repercussions of success, questioning whether he could overome the mental impact of the act. She is the closest character to Macbeth, meaning she is influential through the close proximity of their relationship and in their love. Macbeth is dependent on advice and the opinion of his wife. Lady Macbeth speaks to Macbeth, attempting to aggravate him and obtain an intentional response, she says: “From this time/Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard/To be the same in thine own act and valor/As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that/Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,/And live a coward in thine own esteem,/Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,
Shakespeare illustrates the injustices done to women by demonstrating the treatment Desdemona and Emilia received after having been framed of adultery. Because both women are though of cheating on their husbands, they no longer fit in society’s model of an exemplary wife. Despite having proved their affection for their husbands countless of times, not having a pure image led to Iago and Othello mistreating of the women they once loved. Once both women began to stand up for themselves and challenge the authority of their husbands, the repercussions of their bravery were both women’s death. Which shows, women’s only source of authority was their reputation as a wife. Once they lost that status, they no longer held any form or respect in society or with their husband’s.
Throughout the passage in Hamlet, Act III, scene 4, Shakespeare uses envious and malignant tones by carefully engaging his writing with powerful poetic techniques and literary devices to attract his readers towards the characterization of Hamlet as a grotesque individual. Shakespeare uses the devices of stichomythia, repetition, and antithesis intact with his precise diction, adequate syntax, and unnatural imagery to illustrate the conflict between Hamlet's mother and himself. Therefore, Shakespeare creates an agonizing mother and son relationship, to harass Gertrude for her sins and evoke her to somehow either feel guilty or to fully confess.
You have had sleepless nights anticipating graduating from university and receiving your diploma. As you work your way up, you finally accomplish your lifelong dream: a banker at Citigroup. Suddenly, the market crashes and some loans you set up have gone wrong. You had no intentions to put the company in danger. All you wanted was to contribute to the bank’s prosperity and live a comfortable life. The bank blames you for what has happened, fines you accordingly and puts your job in jeopardy. Despite your honest intentions, you are now left alone and blamed. Do you think that is fair treatment?
After Macbeth learns his first prophecy from the witches, he writes to his wife, explaining his idea to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth supports and encourages his idea, though she knows he will not follow through with his plan. She is aware of Macbeth’s powerful ambitions, yet she knows that he lacks the cruelty to kill the King. “Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it” (I, v, 16-19). Lady Macbeth, a character with even more determination than her husband, manipulates him to make decisions that his conscience tells him are not right. She questions Macbeth, asking if he is a coward and even a man. Lady Macbeth further uses guilt to influence her husband’s decisions. “How tender it is to love the babe that milks me, I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you, Have done to this (I, vii, 55-59).” Lady Macbeth’s manipulative mentality controls Macbeth until he decides to exclude her from his decision making process. Shortly after the death of Banquo, Lady Macbeth begins to loose her mind and she eventually commits
At first, Lady Macbeth urges her husband to kill. She undermines and manipulates him into agreeing to murder Duncan. However, at the banquet following Banquo's death, Lady Macbeth becomes aware of the insanity brewing in her husband’s mind. When she tells Macbeth he “lacks the season of all natures sleep,” she acknowledges that he has become unhinged (3.4.173). Realizing the murders Macbeth had part in carrying out, she acknowledges that she has lost her control over him. Knowing she served as the impetus of Macbeth’s murderous rampage she feels guilt. Muttering in her sleep that her hands might “ne’er be clean,” the audience becomes aware of Lady Macbeth’s guilt and struggle to pardon herself from the deaths her unruly puppet of a husband has committed (5.1.45). While Macbeth was regarded as the coward in the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth proved herself to be the true coward; the coward who could not commit the dirty deeds she thought of herself and who was too scared to face the consequences of her actions head
Germ-line engineering(GLE) is the reason for which we have created so much human developmental progress. Even when not used for medical purposes, GLE is a powerful tool that humans have practiced and mastered for decades that is capable of advancing the human race to parameters that evolution alone could not reach. In the next 1000 words, I will argue that GLE for non-medical purposes is morally obligatory. I will present some objections to my claim, then I will respond to those objections accordingly, ultimately proving that GLE is morally obligatory because we can achieve changes that will not only help humanity, but improve it in drastic ways.
It is an absolute fact that if Emerson could see what we are as a culture today, he’s roll over in his grave. He’d roll over to hurl. All he wanted was for people to be their own selves and to respect nature. And yet here we are, all carbon copied clones of one another doing all that we can to conform to the ideas of others and what they say is right without so much as a thought of what our own thoughts would feel like. We are even told that what we say and do as a part of everyday life is one’s individuality! HA! We drive our little boxes (cars) to bigger boxes (jobs) to fill boxes of different sorts up, all day every day so that we can get our little green box shaped paper (money) in the hopes of paying for big boxes to live in (rooms houses
She pushes Macbeth into committing regicide for her own gain. She would do anything to make Macbeth king, even though Macbeth doesn’t want to kill the king. Lady Macbeth is blinded by her lust for power; she convinces her husband to kill King Duncan, undeterred by his belief that regicide is a serious crime and it’s potential to disrupt the Chain of Being. Lady Macbeth is unwavering and determined as nothing can turn her from her plotted course until her goal is reached. In Act 1 Scene 7, Lady Macbeth says to her husband, “When you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man…I know how tender ’tis to love the babe…I would have dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.” She proves to her husband that nothing can discourage her from achieving her goal. She wishes to be more masculine and strong; and says that if she had been a man, she would have killed King Duncan herself. In a thesis essay written by Taralyn MacMulle, she wrote that, “In Lady Macbeth’s famous “unsex me” speech, she demands the forces of evil to neuter her, to free her of gender, and the frailty of womanhood… Lady Macbeth is the dominant figure in the relationship [as she] constantly questions Macbeth’s manhood.” Lady Macbeth teases Macbeth and tries to help him increase his self-confidence. In Act 1, Scene 7, he asks, "If we should fail?” Lady