Shakespeare’s characters have never been one-dimensional. And the individuals who appear in Henry VI Part 1 certainly go against the grain. During a time when men were viewed as strong, decisive, and brave, Shakespeare’s Henry VI is weak, uncertain, and effeminate. His wife, Margaret, a woman who is supposed to be weak-willed and subservient to him, has her own abilities and doubts about Henry as a ruler. Talbot represents chivalry, but this play brings about the death of chivalry with the death of the man who embodies it. Shakespeare’s audiences still held chivalry in high regard, and by killing that ideal, Shakespeare defied an established masculine practice. Joan is the most controversial character in this play, defying the most stereotypes about her sex. Joan of Arc is a warrior, and makes English men run in fear when they hear she is riding into battle. The women in this play are the ones who are portrayed as being powerful and in control, while the men are revealed to be uncharacteristically weak and impotent. The characters in Henry VI Part 1 overturn traditional gender roles, and defy the stereotypes of the times, to great effect.
The play opens with the news that Talbot, the hero of England, has been captured by the French, and that Talbot’s foil, Joan of Arc, has extraordinary power bestowed upon her by God. Already, Shakespeare is reversing traditional gender ideas. Talbot is playing the role of kidnapped damsel in distress, while Joan is challenging the ruler of France to a duel to prove her strength. Joan makes an impassioned, audacious speech to Charles that demonstrates her power: My courage try by combat, if thou darest, / And thou shalt find that I exceed my sex. / Resolve on this, thou shalt be fortunate, / If t...
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... She displays wisdom and abilities far beyond Henry’s, and the reader begins to view her as a better leader than the incompetent Henry. In Part 1, only glimpses of that Margaret are seen. She agrees to become Henry’s wife upon the urgings of Suffolk. But it leaves the audience to wonder: does she see the benefits in being Queen of England now, or is she simply doing what she is told? Is her gain of influence as “unwitting” as she makes it out to be? Or is Margaret more in control of her destiny than the reader realizes? Her transformation in the later plays seems to suggest that Margaret knew what she was doing all along, making her much smarter than she is given credit for. The real people in power in this play are the women. The men may be the heads of the kingdom and country, but the women are the necks, and they can turn those heads whichever way they so choose.
William Shakespeare’s writing reflected and at times emphasized the gender oriented stereotypical roles and responsibilities of the English Renaissance. However, many Shakespearean characters including Benedick and Beatrice of Much Ado About Nothing challenged the standard image and characteristics of men and women.
Upon reading Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V, I have noticed that the issue of gender ideology and identity has been an intriguing study in both Shakespearean comedies and histories. These traditional Western views have, in a sense deemed which roles are appropriate and socially acceptable, in regards to both males and females. This practice of ‘social typecasting’ has given men and women certain socially acceptable characteristics, which has influenced how they should think and act. In this essay I take an in-depth look regarding how Shakespeare dealt with gender identity, and if certain characters in The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V accepted their socially predetermined gender identity or if they rejected it.
Throughout Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, there is an overlaying presence of the typical roles that men and women were supposed to play. During Elizabethan times there was a major difference between the way men and women were supposed to act. Men typically were supposed to be masculine and powerful, and defend the honor. Women, on the other hand, were supposed to be subservient to their men in their lives and do as ever they wished. In Romeo and Juliet the typical gender roles that men and women were supposed to play had an influence on the fate of their lives.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the role of hierarchy is supported but also challenged. The writing in his play reflects the stereotypes of the roles of both men and women, especially because the play is written by a man. Shakespeare brings into action the undermining roles men play towards women, while giving nothing but judgement to the women characters. The play is written in a culture dominated by men, allowing the lack of women representation to be even more apparent. The dialogue and actions of the play, too, are written through the point of view of a male and not that of a female. Through the feminist theory, Shakespeare brings into question the way men treat women in dramatic English playwriting.The feminist theory, according to theorist Helene
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.
Imagine being a woman in sixteenth century Europe. Females were raised to believe that they were subservient and that men knew better on any subject. Basically, women had no rights. They were considered property, first “owned” by their fathers and then control was “transferred” to the husband chosen for them. Marriage was not about love, but in most cases, it was a business deal that was mutually beneficial to both families – an interesting fact is that like young women, most young men had no choice in the selection of their future betrothed. These traditions and the gender roles assumed by men and women at that time had an impact on Shakespeare’s writing and performances and a great example of this is evident in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Looking at Henry V and Saint Joan, both of the stories are very similar in many ways. Both plays have a strong main character that is persistent, dedicated, and strong and take place during the same war. Though the plots are not directly connected, the feminist lens can be connected to both plays, and by examining a speech from each, there are many similar qualities. The differences and similarities between Henry V and Saint Joan can easily be compared and contrasted through rhetorical analysis and the feminist critical lens.
Neely, Carol Thomas. "Shakespeare's Women: Historical Facts and Dramatic Representations." In Holland, Norman N., Sidney Homan, and Bernard J. Paris, eds. Shakespeare's Personality. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
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.
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.
During the Elizabethan era women had a status of subordination towards men. They had a role to marry and oblige to their husband’s wishes. Shakespearean literature, especially illustrates how a woman is psychologically and physically lesser to their male counterpart. The play, Othello, uses that aspect in many different ways. From a Feminist lens others are able to vividly examine how women were subjected to blatant inferiority. Being displayed as tools for men to abuse, women were characterized as possessions and submissive; only during the last portion of the play did the power of women take heed.
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.
Regan is one of the strongest female characters who displays a great deal of character transformation throughout the course of the play. Regan shows her strong and powerful characteristics when she does not hesitate to tell her father that; “This house is little: the old man and’s people / cannot be well betow’d” (II, iv, 285-286). This exemplifies how Regan’s character has changed due to the fact that she has now become so powerful that she no longer needs to flatter the King. Regan’s behavior towards Lear shows how she never loved him and just used him to get power over the kingdom. This demonstrates her character development because now she no longer has to worry about having to act loving and caring towards her father, since now she has nothing that she wants from him and he has become nothing to her. Moreover, another action that exhibits Regan’s character change is when she yells; “Give me thy sword. A peasant stand up thus!” (III, vii, 77). This action of killing the servant signifies that Regan has fully transformed into a powerful person, because during the Shakespearean era women did not hold swords or commit murders. However, when Regan kills the servant, its shows that she has now taken the role of a dominant and powerful male. This comparison between Regan and man shows that Shakespeare is trying to illustrate her total transformation from being a ‘weak, oppressed’ woman to a strong, powerful woman. Therefore, in conclusion Shakespeare uses women to show their character development which is influenced by
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's presentation and portrayal of his female characters in The Merchant of Venice and Henry V follows a typical pattern that is present in all of the Shakespearean plays that I have read so far. When looking closely at the fate of his female characters, this pattern becomes even more evident for it repeats itself no matter how different the plays are. For instance, Henry V and The Merchant of Venice are different in every respect. The female characters not only come from different backgrounds, they also have very different personalities. However, as different as these plays and their characters are, the female characters end up suffering the same fate. It doesn't seem to matter whether they are born into a life of peasantry, nobility, or come from royalty, for they ultimately will end up being no better than a piece of land, or cattle, or some possession that a man can own and do with as he pleases. Scholars have been debating for centuries now as to whether Shakespeare's women reflect his society's attitudes or that of his own.