Shakespeare's Sister And Girls Against Boys Essay

“Grab them by the p***y,” states our now 45th president Donald Trump. In a lewd conversation, back in 2011, Trump degrades women by treating them unfairly and as objects. For a long period of time, women have not been held to the same standard as men, which is still prevalent in today’s society. In the sixteenth century, women are not seen as equal as men. Women were widely viewed as matriarchs of the domestic household, who were meek and submissive. Men were seen as masculine and powerful. Shakespeare heavily illustrates the sixteenth century stereotypical gender roles throughout his play, Twelfth Night. During Shakespearean times, women were prohibited from performing on stage, instead, men played their roles. In Twelfth Night, the imitation of the opposite gender originates from necessity and fear. Viola dressed as a man named Cesario to protect herself when she arrives upon foreign land. When Sebastian,her twin brother, arrives, Shakespeare utilizes the comical aspect of mistaken identity and confusion to show that it can be destructive. The plot in itself raises questions about gender, identity

In this essay I will be comparing two female characters from different texts and different time periods. We will be looking in depth at Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare 's play 'Macbeth ', and Sheila from J.B. Priestley 's 'An Inspector Calls '. We will be looking at their roles in their respective plays, and how their characters develop over time.

Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet, made by William Shakespeare, it is evident that during the Renaissance period, women had very little to no input. Women became less strong and didn’t find the courage to act on their own or solve problems on their own. Juliet may have ended her own life because she truly loved Romeo, or she didn’t want to face the tragedy on her own. In conclusion, women’s rights played a huge role in the play Romeo and Juliet and could be one of the deeper meanings within the

Shakespeare is often referred to as a man before his time, or even called a feminist. He revered amongst many audience members for his use of the woman in his plays. Others disagree, saying Ole Willy Shakes is a misogynist who hated women. Neither of the extremes is completely accurate, and neither have claims that could be taken very far. Shakespeare lives somewhere between being a feminist and being a misogynist, he uses female character radically; for his time at least. As explained by Bianca-Oana Petrut, “Despite the relative insignificance of women in Elizabethan social order, Shakespeare uses them in many significant ways. He seems to be extremely sensitive to the importance of women in society even though they are often overlooked. The idea that men are often a product of the women in their lives is indirectly suggested in the significant impact women have on the men in plays.” (Petrut) Stating the obvious; Petrut is saying that it is the women in Shakespeare who run the plays, not the men. It may seem like Shakespeare treats his female characters worse than his male characters, but it is his female characters that drive the plot

Throughout Hamlet, the thoughts, intentions, and actions of all of the characters can be explained through predisposed gender roles in the play. Hamlet is a tragedy in which the main character, Hamlet, attempts to seek vengeance for his father’s murder, while the relationships with him and around him begin to strain. In the play, gender plays a huge role in assuming the capability and worth of people. Women are most commonly depicted as being weak, powerless, and confused, while men are commonly shown as being strong, analytical, and intuitive. Hamlet features Ophelia and Gertrude as the only two female roles, and even then they show little independence from the males.

Throughout history, men have always dominated. They never let a woman rise to power or have the same rights. This sexism has been ingrained in society for thousands of years, so much so that it has defined some of the most famous works of literature, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This play was written during the Elizabethan Era, an era in which a woman had all the power imaginable (Queen Elizabeth), and yet, women were still severely discriminated against. Women had no say whatsoever in their society; they were not allowed to vote and they had very few legal rights (Papp, Joseph, Kirkland). They were could not enter the professions (lawyer, priest, doctor, etc.) and they by law, needed the permission of a husband, father, or any male-head

A world where men dominate women. This idea was the basis of many Renaissance era dramas. Writers always used to perceive certain genders as having distinctive qualities and traits. Men were held up to a higher respect and given more violent roles than women. Their tough archetypes were always present in many plays and reinforced the idea of male superiority. This fact held true, especially for a certain tragic classic by William Shakespeare. There was a misogynistic mentality towards women in Romeo and Juliet, evident through the way women were shown as objects, portrayed as weak, and made to seem unable to dictate their own lives.

In Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, women are portrayed as either pure angelic beings and jewels, or as whores who are impure. They are objectified and shown as something to be used. The only women in this play are Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca compared to the main 6 male characters, not to mention the minor characters, who are also all male. Their depicted purpose is to belong to a man; Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca’s lives revolve around being wives to Othello, Iago and Cassio. This fits into the idea of a perfect Elizabethan woman, who’s lives are subject to their husband’s rule across all aspects, to be disposed of as men wish. Each female character is treated by men as a possession. However, there are also moments when they are presented as confident and challenge a male authority. This would have been exiting for Shakespeare’s female Elizabethan audience as women

Equality between the sexes is a relatively new concept. Throughout most of history women have always been treated to less privilege and opportunity as their male counterparts. Beginning in the 19th century onward, women began to make the argument for themselves that they were deserving of more fair and balanced treatment in society. Woman writers, poets, and thinkers began to create the early foundations for feminist thought and logic during this time. One of the pioneering voices in this emerging feminist movement was Virginia Woolf. Woolf, in her essay A Room of One’s Own tries to address the question of creativity between the sexes, and under what conditions does creativity flourish.

William Shakespeare 's "Othello” can be analyzed from a feminist perspective.This criticism focuses on relationships between genders, like the patterns of thoughts, behavior, values, enfranchisement, and power in relations between and within sexes. A feminist examination of the play enables us to judge the distinctive social esteems and status of women and proposes that the male-female power connections that become an integral factor in scenes of Othello impact its comprehension. I believe that the critical lens that provides modern society with the most compelling view of literature is Feminist Criticism because it analyzes distrust and disloyalty among relationships, women being treated as possessions

Macbeth takes place in medieval Scotland, where gender barriers were very strict. Men were supposed to act as strong fighters, while women were locked in the domestic sphere. These gender roles are prominent in the character developments of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. At first, Macbeth is a strong, heroic solider that shows unbounded courage in battle and loyalty to his king. As the play progresses, he becomes cold, ruthless, and miserable. Lady Macbeth takes on a “manly” role, which is surprising because of how patriarchal the society is. However, she “gradually falls apart, consumed by guilt, and eventually commits suicide”. (Klett)

Feminism has gained a new definition a new understanding of female roles since the Elizabethan Era. Hamlet, a play written by William Shakespeare, is about a young prince, Hamlet, being visited by his father’s apparition urging him to avenge his death by murdering Prince Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. All the while, Hamlet is enraged by his mother’s hasty marriage to Claudius and is showering his supposed love, Ophelia, with gifts and words of affection. Queen Gertrude and Ophelia are blindly obedient to male authority due to the influence of the social standards that require women to be submissive to men. Queen Gertrude and Ophelia’s actions and outcomes as characters are affected by male influence, the social norms of this time, and the females’ consequences of following these norms.

Woolf takes us through several streams of consciousness, through fiction, through history, and through her own thoughts and experiences. She explores the differences between men’s spaces and women’s spaces by examining two made up colleges, one a men’s college and one a women’s, and what these two colleges do for her as a writer. As she’s exploring these ideas she is careful to never say that one sex is better than the other. However, she does show that women are, despite being equal, inferior.

Feminist literary criticism’s primary argument is that female characters have always been presented from a male’s viewpoint. According to Connell, in most literary works, female characters often play minor roles which emphasize their domestic roles, subservience and physical beauty while males are always the protagonists who are strong, heroic and dominant (qtd. in Woloshyn et al.150). This means that the women are perceived as weak and are supposed to be under the control of men. Gill and Sellers say that feminist literary criticism’s approach involves identifying with female characters in order to challenge any male centred outlook. It aims at resisting traditional assumptions of gender (3). In doing so, feminist literary criticism examines how works of literature perpetuate or challenge patriarchal attitudes. In feminism lens, The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins’ presents itself as a pro-feminist series It challenges gender stereotypes by presenting a female protagonist; Katniss Everdeen. The book has successfully challenged gender stereotypes by showing that men and women are equal. It is the societal constraints that do not provide a level playing field for both genders. Using Wollstonecraft’s book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to analyze the Hunger Games this essay demonstrates how men and women are equal.

In the essay “Shakespeare’s sister” Virginia Woolf asks and explores the basic question of “Why women did not write poetry in the Elizabethan age”. Woolf sheds light on the reality of women’s life during this time and illustrates the effects of social structures on the creative spirit of women. In the society they lived in, women were halted to explore and fulfill their talent the same way men were able to, due to the gender role conventions that prevailed during this era. Through a theoretical setting in which it is it is imagined that William Shakespeare had a sister (Judith), Virginia Woolf personifies women during the sixteenth century in order to reflect the hardships they had to overcome as aspiring writers.