Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Topic on Women Rights
Women rights in society
Women rights in society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Philosophy professor and feminist theorist Marilyn Frye compares oppression to a birdcage in her essay entitled Oppression from her collection, Politics of Reality. “Consider a birdcage. If you look very closely at just one wire in the cage, you cannot see the other wires. If your conception of what is before you is determined by this myopic focus, you could look at that one wire, up and down the length of it, and be unable to see why a bird would not just fly around the wire any time it wanted to go somewhere…” (Frye). She goes on to say how one requires a macroscopic view to understand why the bird will not go anywhere. This type of understanding is crucial to the study of oppression because it can be hard to see the big picture when analyzing only one subject or aspect. Oppression has been a factor in our world as long as people. From political and social inequalities based on gender, to those based on race or sexuality, oppression has been a constant element throughout history. From forcing Africans into slavery, to the murder of 11 million people during the Holocaust, humans who have not wronged anyone have had their rights, or lives sacrificed for the “benefit” of others. Women have been seen as objects that men own and homosexuals have been compared to terrorists. Oppression comes in many different forms, but it can be explained by the same few causes in every different case there is. The act of oppression can be defended by ignorance, insecurity, and false sense of entitlement, although it is never justified. In William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, Katherine is oppressed as she is forced to marry someone she just met and silenced in the process. Petruchio, her new husband, tries to tame her and appears to succee...
... middle of paper ...
... he needs to live up to his father’s expectations and gain respect. Men throughout history have felt like they were better than women and entitled to more. Because of the subjugation of women by men, the female gender has been silenced. Sons follow in their father’s footsteps and people who know it is wrong stay silent in fear of breaking tradition. With a macroscopic view, like Marilyn Frye suggests, it is easily seen how, like a chain reaction, the tradition of oppression lives
Works Cited
1. Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Ed. Barbara A. Moway and Paul Werstine. New York, Washington Square Press, 1992. Print.
2. Marilyn Frye, The Politics of Reality. Trumansburg, N.Y.,: The Crossing Press, 1983.
3. SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNotes: The Taming of the Shrew.” http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/shrew/ SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 7 Feb. 2014.
Clark, W.G., and W. Aldis Wirhgt, eds. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol 2. USA: Nd. 2 vols.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009. Print
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009. Print
William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is an interesting story that demonstrates the patriarchal ideas of how a marriage is suppose to be according to society, what is acceptable of a woman's role in a relationship. It's a story that has many things to show for it's been remade, and remade, even slightly altered to better relate to the teenage audience.
William Shakespeare is a master of satire, and it is very evident in his work “The Taming Of The Shrew”. His use of exaggeration is impeccable, and he managed to make the entire work one giant parody. Through this satire, he makes a very important social commentary, using his influence to bring new ideas into people’s minds, and make them realize the flaws in their
Sexism is an ever changing concept in today’s world. Every day the concept morphs a little bit, changing the entire definition of what is sexist and what is not. In The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare, the male characters lie to and abuse their women in order to have the women marry them. Lucentio come to Padua to study, but when he sees a beautiful girl, he pretends to be a teacher in order to marry Bianca. Petruchio on the other hand forces a woman to marry him and then trains her to follow his every command. Although the The Taming of the Shrew is frequently regarded as a particularly sexist play, it is not sexist and demeaning towards women.
Shakespeare, William, Marilyn Eisenstat, and Ken Roy. Hamlet. 2nd ed. Toronto: Harcourt Canada, 2003. Print.
in this play, women are used as a symbol of male power, or lack of it.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square, 1992. Print. The New Folger Library Shakespeare.
Shakespeare, William. The Three-Text Hamlet. Eds. Paul Bertram and Bernice Kliman. New York: AMS Press, 1991.
Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Alison Booth, and Kelly J. Mays. Tenth. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2011. 1024-1129. Print.
Thorne, Sherri. "Shakespeare: Advocate for Women in The Taming of the Shrew." Http://www.hsu.edu/uploadedFiles/Faculty/Academic_Forum/2003-4/2003-4 AFShakespeare.pdf. Henderson State University Department of English and Foreign Languages, 2003-2004. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
Shakespeare, William. The Norton Shakespeare. Edited Stephen Greenblatt et al. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare is a play that is ahead of its time in its views toward gender roles within society. Katherine is a woman who is intelligent, and is not afraid to assert her views on any given situation. She is paired with another obstinate character in Pertuchio. The Marriage formed between the two is a match made in heaven for two reasons. First Because Katherine is strong enough to assert her views, and more importantly, she realizes when she should assert them. The second reason the bond survives is that Petruchio is strong enough to accept the fact that Katherine has a mind and, more importantly he loves her for that reason. Petruchio cleverly weaves the relationship into the framework of society without compromising the integrity of the relationship. Petruchio does this by comparing Katherine’s at attitude to repulsive clothing. Carefully and calculatingly, Petruchio forges a relationship that is envied by all who witness it.
Wadsworth, Frank W. "Shakespeare, William." World Book Online American Edition. Online Edition. Online. Netzero. 26 Mar 2002.