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Shakespeare in elizabethan era gender roles
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Ashley Gaither; Starks "'That's Amores!' Latin Love and Lovesickness in Venus and Adonis"
In a good overall summation of the article, the PowerPoint explores the ways in which Shakespeare both adhere to Ovid's use of sexuality and the ways in which Shakespeare metamorphosizes it. Ovid is known to have questioned the established Roman masculine ideal, and this Shakespeare takes even farther in Venus and Adonis when he transforms the traditional gender roles of the hunter and hunted. Shakespeare also transforms Petrarchan conventions through the adaptation of Ovid's focus on "mournful love", the power of love, and the pain of vulnerability for members of both sexes in Venus and Adonis and in much of his poetry.
Megan Shaw: Stanivukovic "Teaching
In the plays female sexuality is not expressed variously through courtship, pregnancy, childbearing, and remarriage, as it is in the period. Instead it is narrowly defined and contained by the conventions of Petrarchan love and cuckoldry. The first idealizes women as a catalyst to male virtue, insisting on their absolute purity. The second fears and mistrusts them for their (usually fantasized) infidelity, an infidelity that requires their actual or temporary elimination from the world of men, which then re-forms [sic] itself around the certainty of men’s shared victimization (Neely 127).
As one of the most well known ancient Roman love poets, Ovid has demonstrated bountiful talents within his writing. When reading myths from his book titled Metamorphoses, you gain an enlightening insight of how he viewed mythology. To Ovid, love was the origin of everything. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that most of his poems relate to the theme of love. However, not all poets are the same and every re-telling of a myth has its own unique perspective. In this paper I will compare and contrast the myth of Medea in Euripides Medea and Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 7. I will then explain how Ovid’s approach to love and loss correlate to his general approach to myth as a whole. I will support my belief with evidence from Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 14.
The Manipulation of Gender Roles in Shakespeare’s Othello. Of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, the story of the rise and fall of the Moor of Venice arguably elicits the most intensely personal and emotional responses from its English-speaking audiences over the centuries. Treating the subject of personal human relationships, the tragedy, which should have been a love story, speaks to both reading and viewing audiences by exploring the archetypal dramatic values of love and betrayal. The final source of the tragic action in Shakespeare’s
Ovid’s Metamorphoses is as an epic containing fifteen books about the element of change. This work describes the myths of transformation as well as the many forms of love and power. The transformational power of love is a common theme in the stories of Metamorphoses; the forms that love takes are different and thought as provoking. One of the stories Ovid describes subsists that of Venus and Adonis; the transformational power of love shown in the epic is sorrowful, yet beautiful. However, are Ovid’s descriptions of love in this epic the true act of pure love or just the uncontrollable urge of lust? Some as an act of love can see decisions Venus makes, but there are some aspects, which question if the transformations she produced are made in
This paper will look at the different conceptions highlighted by Bulman in his article through the use of different methods used by the actors in the play. Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare captures the different conceptions of gender identity and different sexualities within the Elizabethan period.
Cardinal Wolsey’s introduction of Metamorphoses into the English schooling curriculum during the sixteenth century gave prominence to Ovid’s influence at the time. It became popular to students, such as Shakespeare, to learn the poem so that they could adapt and imitate it in Latin verse. Though Shakespeare was familiar with the poem in its Latin form he preferred Arthur Golding’s 1567 translated adaptation. Golding was a moralist whose interpretation of Metamorphoses was that the poem “was a punishment for sexual unnaturalness” howsoever, writers such as Shakespeare and Marlowe were more interested in the romanticism in the poem rather than moralising the characters’ actions. Greek mythology was an essential focus in poetry as it constituted the erotic love narrative background which was a flourishing poetic theme towards the end of the sixteenth century. Shakespeare would have been aware of the fantastic reception of these narrative poems and this is why he contributed to the subject by writing the epyllion of Venus and Adonis in April 1593 which...
Vast numbers of Shakespeare’s works allude to a common theme of either love or lust. These themes, conveyed in the stories, are either ambiguous or blatant. Shakespeare presents such themes in countless works to generate a connection with his audience who have experienced what it means to love and to lust. Nevertheless, some plays epitomize these themes better than others do. Shakespeare’s Othello and The Merchant of Venice both provide comprehensive and flawless evidence of the themes of love and lust.
The poems Venus & Adonis and Hero & Leander have many similarities. Venus & Adonis, written by William Shakespeare (1593), is the story of lovesick Venus and innocent Adonis. Venus attempts to convince Adonis to have intimate relations with her. In the poem Hero & Leander, written by Christopher Marlowe (1598), Leander convinces the beautiful Hero to consummate their relationship despite her arguments. Another similarity of the two works is the digressions within the poems. In V&A, the digression involves two horses that are overcome by lust and eventually run off to mate in the woods. The digression in Hero & Leander is also sexual in nature. It involves Neptune attempting to seduce Leander. The digressions in V&A and Hero & Leander have parallel references to the work as a whole. The digressions also have similar qualities that indicate the influence of Shakespeare on Marlowe.
The idea of sexuality as constructed by Ancient Romans is wholly complex as was most of Roman society. An interesting way to look at Roman sexuality is through the lens of Roman society. Ancient Roman sexuality was not uniform throughout society and different societal classes created different types of sexualities. Three authors examine sexuality from three different social realms, the realm of the prostitute, the realm of Roman patricians in terms of contraception, and the realm of Vestal Virgins. Prostitutes in Rebecca Flemming's article, "Quae Corpore Quaestum Facit: The Sexual Economy of Female Prostitution in the Roman Empire" are a representation of lower class sexuality. Mary Beard's article, "The Sexual Status of Vestal Virgins" examines a form of deviant sexuality based around religious values. Lastly, Keith Hopkins' article," Contraception in the Roman Empire" examines the sexual practices of upper class Romans using contraception and abortifacents, vital conclusions about Ancient Roman society and sexuality can be determined.
Newman, Karen. "'And wash the Ethiop white': Feminity and the Monstrous in Othello." Critical Essays in Shakespeare's Othello.
In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello there are numerous instances of obvious sexism aimed at the three women in the drama -- Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca – and aimed at womankind generally. Let us delve into this subject in this paper.
The feminism of Shakespeare’s time is still largely unrecognized. Drama from the 1590’s to the mid-1600’s is feminist in sympathy. The author
For example, she notes that Othello “likens Desdemona’s sexuality to a storm” (7), while Hamlet expresses disgust towards Ophelia’s sexuality until she is a “dead, but perpetual, virgin” (5). These observations make her take on how feminine sexuality is either oppressed or fetishized in these plays especially interesting, as they highlight how the male characters would rather displace and/or contain the sexuality of their lovers rather than come to terms with it. Traub also mentions that during this time period, chastity was seen as the “female essence” (6), as if the expression of sexuality would rid a woman of her feminine identity or desirability. I plan to use this source to illustrate how Ophelia and Desdemona were faced with a double-edged sword because of the way in which they could not express their natural sexuality without it being called unnatural by men, but also could not hold back their sexuality without relinquishing a part of their own
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.
Two of the greatest masters of British literature, Shakespeare and Chaucer, tended to look to the classics when searching for inspiration. A lesser-known example of this lies in an ancient tale from Greece about two star-crossed lovers. There are many variations on the names of these lovers, but for the purpose of solidarity, they shall henceforth be referred to as “Troilus and Criseyde” for Chaucer and “Troilus and Cressida” for Shakespeare. Chaucer’s “Troilus and Criseyde” offers up a classic tale of love that is doomed, whereas Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida” is not only tragic but also biting in its judgment and representation of characters. This difference may be due to the differences in time periods for the two authors, or their own personal dispositions, but there can be no denying the many deviations from Chaucer’s work that Shakespeare employs. Shakespeare’s work, by making the characters and situations more relatable, builds upon Chaucer’s original work, rather than improving it or shattering it.