Shakespeare and the members of the Elizabethan era would be appalled at the freedoms women experience today. The docility of Elizabethan women is almost a forgotten way of life. What we see throughout Shakespeare’s plays is an insight into the female character as perceived by Elizabethan culture. Shakespeare’s female characters reflect the Elizabethan era’s image of women; they were to be virtuous and obedient and those that were not were portrayed as undesirable and even evil.
When one considers Shakespeare’s female characters, one has to remember that the plays were written in a time when women were considered weak-minded creatures who were apt to make bad choices if given the freedom. Shakespeare, for the most part, divided his female characters into two categories. One was the docile, obedient, virtuous woman, the heroine in some cases, who embodied all that was desirable in a female. The other was the independent, dominating, evil counterpart.
It’s difficult to comprehend exactly how society in general, and men in particular, viewed females. To us, some of their beliefs seem almost ludicrous. Orsino, for example, “recalls Elizabethan folk beliefs when he speaks of Olivia’s liver, brain, and heart which were thought to be the seats of passion, judgment, and sentiment, respectively, and the three centers of power within the body” (Bates 5).
Of course, one Elizabethan belief was that women lacked character, particularly in the case of love. Some considered “women’s love [was] very variable and not lasting” (Bates 13). Shakespeare alludes to this belief in Twelfth Night when “Viola also laments that Olivia cold fall in love with Cesario so easily; she compares women’s hearts to ...
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...emona
c. Petruchio creates dream in Kate
III. Minor characters self-victimized
A. Manipulation backfires
1. Unhappiness
2. Shakespeare/Glaser quote, “No one putting…”
B. Success does not mean triumph
1. Beat rivals
2. Results unexpected
3. Bevington, Iago’s downfall
C. Female retribution
1. Used the women
2. Emilia used against Desdemona (Shakespeare III.iii.321-345)
3. Emilia retaliates (Shakespeare V.ii.176-204, 232-236)
4. Bianca refuses submission (Shakespeare V.ii.129-133)
5. Audrey’s stupidity
IV. Conclusion
A. Minor characters key in plays
B. Iago, Lucentio, and Touchstone motivate others
C. Iago, Lucentio, and Touchstone create destinies
Neely, Carol Thomas. “Shakespeare’s Women: Historical Facts and Dramatic Representations.” Shakespeare’s Personality. Ed. Norman N. Holland, Sidney Homan, and Bernard J. Paris. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. 116-134.
Pitt, Angela. "Women in Shakespeare's Tragedies." Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint of Shakespeare's Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.
Literature has been portraying the idea of the American dream in many different stories throughout all of history. This dream can be defined as someone rising from the bottom and finding wealth and love in their everyday life. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the storyline illustrates the life of several characters pursuing the American dream in New York City. The characters are all by intrigued Jay Gatsby, the man who lives across the bay with the biggest house in the city. Every person wants to gain the wealth that Gatsby has. The corruption of this desired American dream develops throughout the novel as the characters pursue love and money yet ultimately end up broken-hearted, empty-handed, or dead. During the time period of The Great Gatsby, the empty and superficial way of life was masked by the glamour and wealth that the people were absorbed in.
In The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald money, power, and the fulfillment of dreams is what the story’s about. On the surface the story is about love but underneath it is about the decay of society’s morals and how the American dream is a fantasy, only money and power matter. Money, power, and dreams relate to each other by way of three of the characters in the book, Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom. Gatsby is the dreamer, Daisy cares about money, and Tom desires and needs power. People who have no money dream of money. People who have money want to be powerful. People who have power have money to back them up. Fitzgerald writes this book with disgust towards the collapse of the American society. Also the purposeless existences that many people lived, when they should have been fulfilling their potential. American people lacked all important factors to make life worthwhile.
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.
F. Scott Fitzgerald penned The Great Gatsby in the midst of the Roarin’ Twenties. It was a period of cultural explosion, rags-to-riches histories, and a significant shift in the ideals of the American Dream. Fitzgerald’s characters all aspired to fill an American Dream of sorts, though their dreams weren’t the conventional ones. In the novel, the American Dream did a sort of one-eighty. Instead of looking west, people went east to New York in hopes of achieving wealth. The original principals of the Dream faded away, in their place, amorality and corruption. The fulfillment of one’s own American Dream is often marked by corruption, dishonesty, and hope.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is set in the 1920s when the Jazz Age was at its peak, and immigrants seeking fast fortune set their eyes to the United States to obtain the American Dream. Fitzgerald’s theme throughout the novel is the idea that the American Dream that many individuals set out to obtain a rags to riches story is a myth. Gatsby and George Wilson are portrayals of those who strive to gain wealth as fast as possible, and will do anything in their power to get what they want. As society framed the American dream as an optimistic form of pursuing your goals, Fitzgerald makes a stubble nod and racial hierarchies that were formed from this idea. Though they represent individuals striving for a better life, their goals and social status within the community are immensely different, and their deaths at the end of the novel symbolize the death and decline of the American dream.
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.
In 1896, the case Plessey v. Ferguson was argued before the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Homer Plessey, a black resident of the City of New Orleans, had asserted that the Louisiana law requiring the racial segregation of train cars violated Section of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, which states, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” In issuing its opinion, the Supreme Court held that the Louisiana law was, in fact, constitutional. Justice Henry Brown Billingsley’s writing for the majority opined, “While we think the enforced separation of the races, as applied to the internal commerce of the state, neither abridges the privileges or immun...
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is born with the idea of the American Dream and moving from rags to riches. By the age of sixteen everyone knew, “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something.” (p. 173) Gatsby, born James Gatz, grew up on a poor farm in North Dakota. He grew up dreaming, dreaming of a life much different from the one he was living. At first, he dreamt of bettering himself by “Practice elocution, poise and how to attain it” and “[studying] needed...
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.
Starting from the first day that he meets her, Gatsby does everything within his power to please Daisy. Nothing has changed for him as far as his feelings for Daisy are concerned, even though it has been five years since their first meeting, and despite the fact that she has married Tom Buchanan. He “revalue[s] everything in his house according to the amount of response it...
Firstly we will commence by discovering how women are presented in Shakespeare’s play .Through-out the play women are presented as immature , impuissant characters : Lady Capulet & Juliet ,all women are regarded as possessions of men ,for them to do as they please . They are ornaments, they cannot speak their minds nor can they make their own decisions. Women are in the men’s shadows.
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...
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest provides dialogue that portrays the social expectations and stereotypes imposed upon women in Elizabethan times. Even though the play has only one primary female character, Miranda, the play also includes another women; Sycorax, although she does not play as large a roll. During many scenes, the play illustrates the characteristics that represent the ideal woman within Elizabethan society. These characteristics support the fact that men considered women as a mere object that they had the luxury of owning and were nowhere near equal to them. Feminists can interpret the play as a depiction of the sexist treatment of women and would disagree with many of the characteristics and expectations that make Miranda the ideal woman. From this perspective, The Tempest can be used to objectify the common expectations and treatment of women within the 16th and 17th Centuries and compare and contrast to those of today.