Shakespeare’s works had few females because women were not allowed to act in London in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Disregarding the standards imposed on women of his time, Shakespeare created many female characters that were strong-willed, intelligent, and daring. Shakespeare resided in a world dominated by men, in which women were essentially the means of exchange in power relationships among those men. Feminist criticism is interested in marriage and, gender relations, and family structures (Shakespeare, William).
One issue that concerns feminist critics is how limited Shakespeare’s portraits of women are. During Shakespeare’s time period, there were no female actors and the female roles were played by males. In the meantime, Shakespeare’s more fully developed characters usually follow the harsh gender roles of the society. Women during this time were supposed to be obedient and were expected to listen to males. The refusal to obey male authority would be quite shocking to the Elizabethan society (Andrews 1: 121-122). Macbeth was a great war hero who defeated King Duncan’s enemy. When King Duncan came over to the Macbeth’s household to honor Macbeth for his heroism, Lady Macbeth makes all the preparations for King Duncan’s arrival. In the Elizabethan society, men were expected to engage in the public affairs, to be speakers, make decisions, and move events forward. Because Lady Macbeth decided to become an active partner in her husband’s deadly mischief shows that Shakespeare depicted her differently compared to how women normally behaved in the Elizabethan society (Gerlach, Almasy, and Daniel).
Mary Louise Prattnd the way they have shaped the modern ideas about women. Shakespeare has shown portraits of women and how t...
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The concept and perception of gender has changed radically from Shakespeare’s time to now, yet the perceptions of women and the limitations placed on them remain shockingly similar. William Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, Macbeth, addresses gender concerns and the role of women in power positions. The play was written for King James VI of Scotland and I of England as he took the throne during a transitional period in the country’s history. The succession of King James marked the long-desired transition from a matriarchy to a patriarchy. Considering the historical context and Shakespeare’s affinity for King James, some Shakespearean critics hold Lady Macbeth responsible for the political, moral, and personal destruction in the play, as well
In Act 1 Scene 7 of “Macbeth”, Lady Macbeth uses persuasive language to bring Macbeth from a man full of trepidation, to a hardened killer, ready to commit regicide. She does this in a variety of ways. The play was extremely controversial at the time; this was because it effectively reversed the gender roles of society. These roles were imprinted into the very fabric of medieval community; women were seen as inferior to males, and were brutally oppressed by the largely patriarchal society. As a result, shakespearean audiences would be shocked by the role reversal portrayed in Macbeth.
In Shakespearean time and even up to the turn of the 20th Century men were expected to be the sole provider of the family, entailing them to be either well educated or hard working. They were also expected to be good with the handling of finances and property. It was also acceptable for them to be barbaric, boisterous and socially well connected. This has given the men of this time an overwhelming sense of power, respect and freedom; rights which were not given to women at this time. Far from what was socially acceptable in regards to men, the gender identity of women was of a somewhat weaker nature. Women during Shakespearean time were regarded as docile, quiet and non-opinionated. Their socially acceptable role in many cases was to be domestic, entailing them to spend countless hours in the home, tending to basic familial needs, such as cooking and cleaning. This position prevented many women to receive an education or to socialize outside of the home. As a result of their inferior social status, they were expected to be submissive and to cater to her husband’s needs at all times. Women in Shakespearean time were also treated as property, either by their husbands or fathers, which diminished any sense of self-worth they may have possessed. This gender ideology ultimately paralyzed women, as the majority were helpless to alter their social standing or designated familial role.
The Elizabethan era was a time that had very strict expectations of what it means to be a man or a woman. However, these expectations are not followed in Macbeth. In Macbeth, Shakespeare investigates and challenges the common gender roles of the time. Through defying the natural gender roles, he shows how people can accomplish their goals. He challenges the stereotypical Elizabethan woman through Lady Macbeth and the Weïrd Sisters, and he investigates how the stereotypes for men are used for manipulation.
Even upon the first introduction of the Macbeths, it is evident that they do not represent the stereotypical men and women of Shakespeare’s day. In public, Lady Macbeth plays the traditional housewife and hostess while Macbeth is acknowledged by his colleagues as a fierce and loyal warrior; however, the Macbeths behave quite the opposite when in only each other’s company. Lady Macbeth blatantly distinguishes herself as the dominant force in the relationship. For instance, when Macbeth is unsure of how to manage Duncan’s visit to Inverness, Lady Macbeth instantaneously seizes control of the situation, demanding that Macbeth “put/This night’s great business into my dispatch” (1.6. 79-80). This type of behavior from a woman was unheard of in Shakespeare’s time according to Roland Muschat Frye, who states, “This evil consists in Lady Macbeth’s usurping, as a wife, that conjugal authority which Shakespeare’s age regarded as naturally and irrevocably assigned to the husband” (102). Macbeth, however, displays no interest in assuming command and is portrayed as subservient to his overbearing wife, as Frye confirms, “While Lady Macbeth ‘unsexed’ herself, Macbeth profaned his sex by submission to her” (104). Hence, even from the start, the Macbeths’ personalities reflect the inverse of the social standard of that time. As the play proceeds, however, the balance of this relation will reverse.
... comedies rather than tragedies in their source form the original characters from the source plays are revealed. Strong, ‘masculine’ women of the source are only revealed through the intertextuality of genre and the reassigned direct quotes from Shakespeare’s iconic plays. The feminist perspective of Shakespeare’s plays, which was there all along, could only be revealed by the strong use of intertextuality in MacDonald’s play. MacDonald relies on the iconic meta-theatre and intertextuality to magnify the feminist perspective within the Shakespearean plays. When turned in upon itself, Shakespeare’s plays reveal their distinct feminist perspective that could not be uncovered without the extensive and brilliant use of intertextuality such as that of Ann Marie MacDonald. Therefore the metatheatre’s intertextuality reinforces and supports the traits of the feminine.
Erickson, Peter. Patriarchal Structures in Shakespeare's Drama. Paraphrased in Philip Kolin, Shakespeare and Feminist Criticism: An Annotated Bibliography and Commentary. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991.
Throughout history women have fought for the same rights of men. In the time of William Shakespeare they were seen in society as weak and vulnerable. They were seen to be good, caring and not as powerful as men. Men were the superior and ruled the land. Shakespeare has taken the stereotypical image of the women of the time and turned it on its head in ‘Macbeth’. Lady Macbeth is shown as a very powerful, strong woman. She has an evil about her that Shakespeare has used to make ‘Macbeth’ a supernatural play. Women were seen to be good and not as powerful as men, in ‘Macbeth’ Lady Macbeth is the dominate character and commands and persuades Macbeth to commit the murders and crimes that he does.
Shakespeare is known for strong male heroes, but they are not laying around in this play, not that Macbeth is full of strong female heroines, either. The women in the play, Lady Macbeth and the witches have very uncommon gender belief, and act as inhumane as the men. While the men engage in direct violence, the women use manipulation to achieve their desires. As Lady Macbeth impels Macbeth to kill King Duncan, she indicated that she must take on some sort of masculine characteristic in order to process the murder. “Come, you spirits/ that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ of direst cruelty.” (i v 31-34) This speech is made after she reads Macbeth’s letter. Macbeth, she has shown her desire to lose her feminine qualities and gain masculine ones. Lady Macbeth's seizure of the dominant role in the Macbeth's marriage, on many occasions, she rules her husband and dictates his actions. Her speeches in the first part of the book give the readers a clear impression. “You shall put this night’s great business into my dispatch, which shall […] gi...
Angela Carter’s attitude towards her work has always been one with intrinsic feminism at its roots. Carter’s feminist attitude within her novel Wise Children has given the reader a much more realistic and intuitive approach to Shakespeare. Carter conveys ideas of feminism through matriarchy and the power of womanhood, or rather new family structures of an acceptance of an absentee father. In some aspects, her work is an invitation to criticisms towards Shakespeare’s lack of matriarchal concentration and sometimes all together absentation, and realistic approaches towards female characters. However, in other aspects it appears to be more of a praise towards him, meticulously alluding to countless amounts of Shakespeare’s works. Angela Carter uses Wise Children as her invitation for her own feminist criticism as well as paying homage by tempting the reader into comparing herself and Shakespeare, to hold them in the same high regard.
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
Macbeth rejects conformation to traditional gender roles in its portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s relationship with her husband, her morals and their effect on her actions, and her hunger for power. Her regard for Macbeth is one of low respect and beratement, an uncommon and most likely socially unacceptable attitude for a wife to have towards her spouse at the time. She often ignores morality and acts for the benefit of her husband, and subsequently herself. She is also very power-hungry and lets nothing stand in the way of her success. Lady Macbeth was a character which challenged expectations of women and feminism when it was written in the seventeenth century.
In Shakespeare’s time, women had very limited rights. They were expected to be submissive to any man no matter the relationship. Women were supposed to do domestic services while the higher-class women were taken to nunneries to like. They were not allowed in any decision-making. If a husband said no, that was the end of the conversation. Women were required to respect their husband’s word and consider it law.
"A woman is human. She is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent, more creative, or more responsible than a man. Likewise, she is never less. Equality is a given. A woman is human.” Vera Nazarian said. Nowadays, gender equality becomes a popular topic; however, the rootstock of inequality between men and women took root since several years ago even in fiction. Shakespeare’s sister, by the name of Judith, is a fictional character that created by Virginia Woolf. Did Shakespeare have a sister? We do not know; however, if she did exist, she would be unnoticed. She definitely existed in fiction that Virginia Woolf describes a story about Shakespeare and what if he had a sister. What kind of life would she have? Would she get high level of education as same as her brother? Would she be a playwright like her brother if they had same talent? Virginia Woolf imagined Judith in “Shakespeare’s Sister” which is a story about how women are treated and what types of opportunities they have in the Elizabethan Age compared to men.
Shakespeare’s tragedies have been assiduously studied by scholars and drama enthusiasts for centuries. A fundamental aspect that adds to the high level of praise that has been bestowed upon his plays is the role of women. Although the primary protagonists in Shakespeare’s plays were men, female characters held dominant supporting roles. For Shakespeare the roles of women served to generally control the actions of the play while the male protagonists were left to be subjected by their wild emotional swings and grandiose displays of love. These dramatic and sometimes conniving exhibits of emotion were often spoken through long soliloquys that further added to the depth of the female character. The roles of women in Shakespeare’s tragedies still prove to be enigmatic even to the most adept scholar; there motives and actions provide necessary rising actions and prove to be essential to the plot. Shakespeare’s shrewd use of assigning the ability to conjure powerful emotions in their male counterparts truly testifies to the high level of complexity and female prowess that characterize the women of Shakespeare’s tragedies.