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William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra “Heaven help the American-born boy with a talent for ballet” – Camille Paglia The prim and proper women and the strong and strapping men are no match for Shakespeare’s haze of character’s muddled together in Antony and Cleopatra. As always Shakespeare delivers a luminary cast of individuals that deviate from the socially accepted gender roles. As the audience works its way through the fierce genesis to the catastrophic resolution, it is made more than apparent that lines are being crossed all over society’s conformist board of gender specific expectations. The character that was most amplified in this context was the stunning Cleopatra. Less like a lady and more like a warrior, the audience was witness to this Egyptian queen beginning her cameo with a barrage of games she endlessly threw Antony’s way in a sly attempt to win his affections. “Nay, pray you seek no color for your going, but bid farewell and go” (1.3.33-34). Cleopatra occasionally showed signs of her female side through bouts of the play; however the majority of her presence was swarming with an aura of resiliency and strength. Other characters even mentioned her with such traits in mind; for example, Caesar proclaimed “[Lepidus] is not more manlike than Cleopatra” (1.3.5-6). Her strength was defined most in her beauty; “she makes hungry where most she satisfies; for vildest things become themselves in her” (2.2.236-237). However, it was also present in her behavior. Cleopatra was a meek woman by no means. She stood up for the things she believed in. When upset, she presented her shrewish side. “Hence, Horrible Villian, or I’ll spurn thine eyes like balls before me; I’ll unhair thy head,... ... middle of paper ... ...e 6, Enobarbus and Menas vocally agreed upon the lying and seduction methods of the female population. In Act 3, Scene 12, Caesar prattled on about the inherently weaker side of women. In some cases it was even considered an insult that the men might be compared to women. “For shame, transform us not to women” (4.2.35). In Antony and Cleopatra, the important point one must recognize is not the battles present both in love and war, but the toe that is continuously slide across the line which Shakespeare always felt inclined to cross. There were no prototypical male or female protagonists in Shakespeare’s world. It is a factor that should always be acknowledged when stewing over this brilliant playwright’s work. Boundaries were meant to be crossed, and Shakespeare made his belief just as apparent in the sloshing of gender roles in Antony and Cleopatra.
The issues involving The Tragedy of Julius Ceaser is an equivocal topic, although to narrow one down is to reiterate how the men and women are viewed in this society. This play written by William Shakespeare, he introduced numerous characters but there are a few focal characters that surface around the idea of a bend in gender roles. To clarify, the characters that illustrate this are Julius Ceaser, the romans leader, as well as, his wife Calpurnia; and the other being Brutus, Ceasers friend, and his devoted wife Portia. This book reveals how dominance was ensued in men, while women’s worries were taken into account, but when challenged by a man’s there was no decision to be made the man hurled toward their fellow man’s idea. They felt that the men made more logical decisions when in fact that was utterly wrong.
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. The citizens of Rome just follow the leader so when Rome needs a new leader or someone to follow, they won’t go towards the women that is soft, dull and dependant, they will go towards the man that is noble, manly and
Similar to the 1963 film Cleopatra, in Plutarch's The Life of Antony, sexism is maintained in the passage and compatible with its message. Through the author's portrayal of Cleopatra and Antony, he spreads the message that obsession with power is bad and the idea that manipulation and attempts at domination are signs of a bad ruler. Sexism is compatible with such messages because as indicated by Plutarch, Cleopatra utilizes sexist expectations of women in order to manipulate Antony through her aspirations of domination. Therefore, similar to the films Cleopatra and Quo Vadis, because Cleopatra is unsuccessful as she commits suicide in the end and is found "lying dead upon a golden couch," as well as is portrayed as an immoral ruler in Plutarch's Life of Antony, sexism is portrayed in the passage as a negative quality that leads to failure. (Plutarch, Life of Antony, 85) However, Plutarch differs in his treatment of sexism and attitude towards Cleopatra to the extent that he appears to place the fault with Cleopatra. While he maintains that sexism is a negative quality through his portrayal of Cleopatra playing into sexist expectations, by casting Cleopatra as a manipulative woman, Plutarch appears to be blaming Cleopatra for her own weaknesses as a ruler as well as for Antony's downfall. Although the film Cleopatra displayed how Cleopatra got power by using her sexuality and having Caesar and Antony fall in love with her, Plutarch Life of Antony portrays her as even more of a manipulator of men. For example, the author mentions that Cleopatra "pretended to be passionately in love with Antony herself, and reduced her body by slender diet; she put on a look of rapture when Antony drew near, and one of faintness and melancholy when h...
In conclusion, The Aeneid’s lovers and Antony and Cleopatra are both tragic tales with many connections to each other. They share a common theme of a patriotic, heroic man having to choose between duty to his country and the passionate love of a beautiful, foreign and strong queen. Then on the otherside, they both depict a powerful and noble queen who is able to overcome the rampant patriarchy in their cities and rule with a firm loyal hand.
William Shakespeare is known to be the greatest writer in the English language, and till this day Shakespeare upholds the title of being the start of English literature. Something every reader has possibly observed is how Shakespeare portrays women. The majority of William Shakespeare’s plays objectifies women and in some ways shows his underline feelings towards women, and their roles in society. This is clearly shown through out Shakespeare’s play ‘Othello’. The society of Othello is completely controlled by men who are the military and political leaders of their homeland. Furthermore women are seen as powerless second-class citizens, who are in place for nothing more than to serve their men. But the horrendous actions and intense downfall of the men in Othello show how men are not nearly as authoritative and powerful as they seem. The boldness of the female characters proves that they are much more capable of just serving. Furthermore, by the end of the play, I admit the men of Othello are not the ones who perform courage and power instead; this title is given to the women in the play.
Throughout Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, readers are constantly thrown in the middle of a battle between Roman and Egyptian values. Antony, a noble warrior for the Romans, is the character that seems to have the most trouble between this dichotomy. He is constantly caught between reason (Rome) and passion (Egypt) and has a difficult time making the transitions. Cleopatra is the character that stays most true to her roots, but begins adopting the other side’s values toward the end of the story. She makes a smoother transition than Antony, which can be attributed to her self-confidence and open-minded spirit. Antony is a constant source of back-and-forth commotion while Cleopatra seems to posses Egyptian qualities until the end of the book when the reader’s eyes are opened to her new, Roman ways.
Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello is an unfortunate example of gender bias, of sexism which takes advantage of women. The three women characters in the drama are all, in their own ways, victims of men’s skewed attitudes regarding women. Let us delve into this topic in this essay.
The women’s lack of power is also shown when Calphurnia can’t get Caesar to stay home, and away from the capitol, after having her dream. After hearing Decius’s interpretation of Calphurnia’s dream, Caesar cries out, “How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia! / I am ashamed I did yield to them. / Give me my robe, for I will go.” Caesar would rather believe the lies of a man than the truth of a woman. More often than not, the women in this play could not control any situation or their husbands very well.
The portrayal of gender roles in William Shakespeare’s play Othello, demonstrates the inferior treatment of women and the certain stereotypes of men placed on them by society. Both the male and female characters in the play have these certain gender expectations placed on them. In a society dominated by men, it is understood that the women are to be seen rather than heard. The women are referred to and treated much like property. If indeed they do speak up, they are quickly silenced. One woman’s attempt to be the perfect wife is what ultimately led to her demise. The expectations of men are equally stereotypical. Men are to be leaders and to be in control and dominant especially over the women. The male characters compete for position and use the female characters in the play as leverage to manipulate each other. Shakespeare provides insight in understanding the outcomes of the men and women who are faced with the pressures of trying to live up to society’s expectations, not only in the workplace, but also in the home. The pressure creates jealousy issues amongst the men and they become blind to the voice of reason and are overtaken by jealous rage, leads to the death of many of the characters.
Throughout the historical literary periods, many writers underrepresented and undervalued the role of women in society, even more, they did not choose to yield the benefits of the numerous uses of the female character concerning the roles which women could accomplish as plot devices and literary tools. William Shakespeare was one playwright who found several uses for female characters in his works. Despite the fact that in Shakespeare's history play, Richard II, he did not use women in order to implement the facts regarding the historical events. Instead, he focused the use of women roles by making it clear that female characters significantly enriched the literary and theatrical facets of his work. Furthermore in Shakespeare’s history play, King Richard II, many critics have debated the role that women play, especially the queen. One of the arguments is that Shakespeare uses the queen’s role as every women’s role to show domestic life and emotion. Jo McMurtry explains the role of all women in his book, Understanding Shakespeare’s England A Companion for the American Reader, he states, “Women were seen, legally and socially, as wives. Marriage was a permanent state” (5). McMurtry argues that every woman’s role in the Elizabethan society is understood to be a legal permanent state that is socially correct as wives and mothers. Other critics believe that the role of the queen was to soften King Richard II’s personality for the nobles and commoners opinion of him. Shakespeare gives the queen only a few speaking scenes with limited lines in Acts two, four, and five through-out the play. Also, she is mentioned only a few times by several other of the characters of the play and is in multiple scenes wit...
Shakespeare shows Caesar to be, what you could say, a contradiction. The audience see how Caesar respects Antony's soldier-ship yet still fights him; they see how he clearly loves his sister, but uses her unscrupulously as a political device; and they are shown how he is very rational and dull, yet he surprisingly tells his soldiers, as well as some Egyptians about how he would parade the defeated Cleopatra. He wants to do this because he feels that 'her life in Rome would be eternal in our triumph.' This shows the reader how Caesar has strong emotional outcries, which contrasts his initial characteristics.
Over the course of the semester, we have read some beautiful plays from comedies to tragedies; Shakespeare’s later plays exhibited an extensively wide range of female characters from the weak, obedient to the strong, empowering woman. One of the examples of this would be Ophelia in Hamlet exhibits weak and obedient characteristics whereas Viola in Twelfth Night is a strong female role that breaks the gender roles by disguising herself as a male and proving women are equivalent to men. Even Shakespeare’s weakest female characters seem to break some of the stereotypical role of the period. For example, Ophelia does listen to her father, however, talks back to Hamlet which during the Renaissance breaks the stereotypical role. Shakespeare was an early feminist because of his nontraditional female characters; despite his weak female characters, Shakespeare still provides his female characters with some trait that follows a nontraditional role. I will focus on in this paper are King Lear, Twelfth Night, and Hamlet. I will use Hamlet to show that even the weakest of female characters have gender breaking characteristics.
From the expansion days of Ancient Rome to the fall of the Roman Empire, women have always succumbed to living subjacent to the status of their omnipotent and dominant male figures. After leaving her childhood home and the rule of her father, a young Roman girl would then be coerced into the dominion of her husband, often taking a plethora of roles, ranging from lover, caretaker, and best friend. It is often lightheartedly stated that, “Behind every great man is an even greater woman,” and William Shakespeare exemplifies this concept beautifully in Julius Caesar, in which he effectively used the spouses of the two main characters to add more depth, drama, and literary elements to the play, bringing it to life. Although the only two female characters in Julius Caesar, Portia and Calpurnia do not play a pivotal role in the overall plot of the story, their presence is vital in illuminating and developing the characters of their husbands, Brutus and Caesar. What they reveal about their husbands leads the reader to infer that Portia is the more admirable and redeeming character.
Mark Antony’s character at the beginning of the play, is that of a great, powerful, triumvir whose heart has been entrapped by Cleopatra’s enchanting personality. The audience hears many good things about Antony’s character, which is shown through his great past, “It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh which some did die look on,” which informs us that he was a great warrior which evoke feelings of respect towards him.
Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra Antony bears the guilt. Shakespeare writes'Antony and Cleopatra'in a way where the reader places the blame on Cleopatra. Cleopatra brings the downfall of Mark.