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Gender inequality issues today
Feminist literary criticism shakespeare
Women's movement history
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Gender inequality has been a disadvantage for women in society for many centuries. Women have always had a disadvantage in society, even though there's been many years of time for improvement. Women in the time of Shakespeare, were treated like possessions and how a man treated a women and how he controlled his women, was how masculine he was. Women in some work places get paid less than men do. In 2011, for every $1.00 a male worker earned, a women worker earns 74 cents. In today's society, people who are called Feminists, stand up for the rights of women and the issue of women being treated as equals compared to men. This topic of gender inequality, is very prominent in the play Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare. Even in the title
Gender inequality has existed all around the world for many centuries. Women were seen as property of men and their purpose of existence was to provide for the men in their lives. Men would play the role of being the breadwinners, whereas women played the role of being the caregiver of the family and household and must obey the men around her. The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood portrays how women in society are controlled and demeaned by men, and how men feel they are more superior over women.
Consequently, in the play The taming of the Shrew and the sources of author Elizabeth Hutcheon, Marion Perrett and Dale Priest they have ideas amongst those sources and my three other sources have the common theme of women being objectifified and therefore the idea between those sources is that women’s roles become reversed when they let themselves be shrewed like the character Katherine did when it came to Petruchio. Amongst the first source the moral of it is one that Linda Boose argues that “Shrew and similar terms were transposed from their origin as contemptuous expressions for lower-class males into terms that gendered such hostility, displacing it away from the threat of male class revolt which remained real throughout the era and redirecting
so that you can guess that it is a boy dressed as a girl from the
Woman used to live in a time era, where women didn 't have the voice or privilege to speak for themselves. Men were superior and predominant, a woman was forced to obey the guidelines of society 's views of how a woman should be. Being a shrew was not acceptable, don’t tease or tempt a man and that a good women depends on four characteristics. But as time progressed slowly women have been fighting for their voice; changing the views and perspectives society onces used to have on the “ideal” women and giving it a whole new concept and ideology.
Taming of the Shrew: Male Domination. The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, deals with marriage. The ideas explored are primarily shown through the characters of Petruchio and Katharina. We are introduced to the trials and tribulations which present themselves in their everyday lives.
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.
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare’s is a comedy about marriage and Taming of the wife. This comedy highlights the themes of transformation, gender roles and marriage in the eyes for Shakespeare and his views of these topics. The comedy revolves around this event where these two suitors Gremio and Hortensio are pursing this. Beautiful women Bianca. Then comes along Lucentio who at the sight of Bianca instantly falls in love with her. The comedy goes on to show the crazy things they do to win her over and how to get rid of her ill tempered sister Kate.These themes play a major role and riddled throughout the comedy and help us understand the overall
Someone once said, “To those who are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” Gender inequality has been a concept put into practice for hundreds of year, and the idea of equal rights for women has been continuously Women’s rights have always been a concept that has been fought for for years. Back in the Elizabethan Era, the idea of equal rights between men and women was out of the question. Women had to obey their husbands no matter what, were expected to produce children, and were considered the property of their husbands. Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew takes place in this time period, where Petruchio, a greedy, aggressive man, is set on marrying Katherine, an equally contentious, curt woman whose father is wealthy. Bound by a misogynistic society, Petruchio
The play Taming of the Shrew remains one of the formidable masterpieces which is a famous comedy by early Shakespeare. It mainly describes the relationships of husband and wife and the issue of equality between gender in Renaissance. While it is possible that one will easily get surprised with the wit used in the character formation, others will not fail to comment on the artistic skills employed by Shakespeare to develop the thematic framework for this play. The fascinating ability by Shakespeare to bring several themes together in the play makes this play standing out from some other plays. Shakespeare’s desire to build on the social performance and construction of genders in scene one was not only for the sake of background
During the Elizabethan Era, the role of females has been suppressed to submit to a patriarchal society. Men were the sole providers over the household, workplace, and most importantly, their wives. William Shakespeare incorporates this ideology with the playwright, The Taming of the Shrew. In this play, Shakespeare reflects society’s gender roles in one character; Katherine. Katherine’s initial personality challenges societal norms of a woman’s role in the community. She expresses individuality and refuses to be controlled by men; including her father. Women during this time were conditioned to be submissively obedient to their husbands and so Katherine’s character threatens this norm. To establish order in the society, Katherine is “tamed”
Another point, similar to the patriarchal society is the subservient role of women at the time. Subservience is the act of without question doing the will of another, as they were seen as inferior. This was a slave-like position, but one that women held. In this case, Katherine has been put through tests till Petruchio, her husband, saw her honesty and trustworthiness as satisfactory. He throws her dresses on the ground starve her and even keeps her awake at night, till she is loyal.‘I am ashamed that women are so simple, To offer war where they should kneel for peace; Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway, When they are bound to serve, love and obey.’ This shows how women were expected to bow-down to men, hence force they were seen to have a subservient
As it is known to the world all people are defined in society by gender roles. While reading, The Taming of the Shrew, readers get to see different views of men and women. Shakespeare uses his characters in order to define what men and women were like back in the 1500s. Shakespeare uses Petruchio, Baptista, and Katherine to develop the theme of gender roles.
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.
Another message that William Shakespeare emphasizes in his play regards the effects of social roles on individual happiness which also proves true today. Kate, the eldest daughter in Taming of the Shrew, rejects society's expectation of her to act reserved and dependent on finding a husband. In fact, she embodies quite the opposite: shrewd (thus the title Taming of the Shrew) and independent. Because she resists to conform to this undesired role, Kate finds herself very unhappy. Although Shakespeare stages her struggle in the setting of Renaissance times, the same type of social unhappiness presents itself in society today. Take the case of Oprah Winfrey, an American media proprietor, talk show host, and philanthropist. Mostly known for her
Over the past four centuries, women have achieved their right to own property, accumulate their own wealth, and vote. In The Taming of the Shrew, both Bianca and Kate have arranged marriages that their father, Baptista, negotiates. Baptista tries to mask his daughters’ power by telling Petruchio “Ay, when the special thing is obtained, / That is, her love” (TotS 2.1.128-29), yet later in the scene agrees to the marriage without proof of Petruchio having won Kate’s love at all. Kate essentially has no authority over her personhood, and while arranged marriages are mostly eradicated today, women still fight for control of their bodies. Men make up an astounding majority in politics, so any legal proceedings involving women’s rights are essentially decided by men. Another aspect of inequality in Shakespeare’s time was a woman’s inability to control her own funds or even accumulate her own income. After World War I, women created a huge tide of cultural change when they entered the workforce; now they are able to obtain economic independence from their husbands, yet are still held beneath men due to the wage gap. A white woman will make seventy-seven cents to a white man’s dollar, and the gap only widens when one includes female minorities (“Your Right”). Therefore, even though women can say they are financially liberated, society still holds them at bay by not demanding equal