Female Characters in “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Ah Min Hawaa”
Background
Shakespeare lived during the Elizabethan age. At this age England became a center of commerce and culture where art and education thrived. Queen Elisabeth was interested in art and theater. Due to that, many writers became active during her reign including Shakespeare. Many professional theater where built with her permission for the first time in England where many of Shakespeare's masterpieces where performed. After Queen Elisabeth death, King James I had a great power in England. He was a writer himself so he paid great attention to art and literature. Due to that, Shakespeare Theater produced more work under his patronage at this age. As a result of the protection provided by King James I to theaters, the time that Shakespeare lived in was a time of literary and technical invention in the theaters. Innovation took place as. Artificial effects such as thunder squibs could be made which helped enriching the atmosphere of plays and attract more audience. At the Elizabethan age education became important. Boys started education at the age of six or seven as they were taught to have an important role in society. On the other hand, girl's education was not encouraged unless they were girls of
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On the other hand, Shakespeare focused on the upper class women in the play. The upper class Elizabethan women were submissive to men. They relied on males to support them and provide protection. Elizabethan women were raised to think that they are inferior to men and they were only there to serve men in the family. Rebellion or disobedient of men orders was considered a crime and a sin. This idea was supported by the church that relied on quotes of the Bible that claimed that women must be obedient to
Girls learned their strict gender roles from their mothers, and a book called The Primer ultimately outlined what actions were good and bad for them to do. The girls were expected to do everything that the adult women did at the age of thirteen. This was possible because the women did not get any sort of education, they were expected to stay home and maintain order by taking care of the children, buying and preparing food, directing the servants or slaves, and they did most of the chores. The women were also expected to pass faith down to their children and to be obedient to her father or her husband. Before being married, the women were to be subordinate to their father; likewise, when she was married, her identity and property was transferred to her husband.
Attending church is mandatory and expected from everyone, in order to be accepted. The women were involuntary secondary to the men of this
Olivia Lynch Mrs. Butterfield AP Lit 5/1/16 When you are ready to dive into the vast world of Shakespeare, you can begin by using what is known as a critical lens. The lens that may help you understand the background details of one of Shakespeare’s plays would be the Historical lens. Although there are many different lens that you can use to interpret a story, the Historical Lens is a great lens to dive into to find what really influenced the great ideas of William Shakespeare as he wrote Hamlet including the role gender plays, the comparison of Elizabeth Tudor, and the religious incorporation throughout the play. First, we can take the Historical Lens and dive into the idea of how gender roles were highly represented in Hamlet
It can be hypothesised that Shakespeare was testing the waters to break gender norms and perceiving women as independent, dominant and powerful beings through his
Women were held responsible for the first original sin or sometimes known as the fall of mankind. Since Eve took the apple from the snake the church felt it was necessary to punish all women for her mistakes. In the book of Genesis, God tells Eve “Your Desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Hopkins 5-6). People during the Medieval Society took this as an order that women should at all times be obedient to their Summerlin 2 husbands. The church got rich off of peoples fear of the devil and again, women were the subject of
Shakespeare’s plays are often associated with great love stories. Love is a subject which is omnipresent in both his tragedies and comedies. In comedies, love is even a requirement that “is always fulfilled despite all of the blocking complications” (Charney 27). These complications are often the main plot of the plays, the reason why the story unfolds the way it does. It is these complications that give depth to the characters, their relationships and their love.
There is some speculation of women pretending to be men in these times to play female characters as that was the only way they could be on stage. This, however, can’t be proven. The perception in society was that the theater was better suited for men. The roles of women in English drama were all roles conceived by men, because all the ancient playwrights were men. It is a testament to how great theater of the time was that it became so popular with men speaking love soliloquies to each other.
The Taming of the Shrew is a romantic comedy. If comedic devices were not there The Taming of the Shrew would be just a normal romance. Comedic devices do work to develop the plot in The Taming of the Shrew. The are several comedic devices in this story: unexpected plot twists, witty language, disguises or costumes, young love with a struggle, and unity and harmony. These all contribute different comedic aspects to the plot and push the plot forward.
Although the perspective of women in the Elizabethan era was much different from the perspective of manhood, it was also similar in a sense that manhood and womanhood both played an essential role during their era. The thought of men being the ones to do things such as commit murder and be ambitious is still prevalent today. In our society we view women as people who are soft and not quite as ambitious as the opposite sex. The notion that women are incapable of committing murder is obscure as they are physically capable of doing harm to any human body as well as being able to have ambition such as
Women’s Depiction in Shakespeare 's 'The Tempest ' William Shakespeare developed his work “The Tempest” in a time when a woman was the most powerful human in his society—the era of Queen Elizabeth. To rise to such a position in any culture, a woman is required to be very influential, respected and trusted in the community. In this regard, with Queen Elizabeth on the throne, any reader of the tempest would expect that a woman had a good reputation and important role in the society. However, in “The Tempest,” it is totally the opposite and one would even wonder seriously how Queen Elizabeth made it to the throne.
In conclusion understanding these two films was a challenge because they see everything in a completely different perspective. Money is valuable but is it really considered the most valuable thing in the world and is it the thing that sets you apart from everyone I believe not. Love it’s beautiful it’s the one thing that affects your actions and you as a person but you're not the only one that experiences this.
In the Taming of the Shrew there was many plot structures. There was the framing plot, and the triple action play that included the induction: Christopher Sly and the trick played on him, Lucentio/Bianca which is the romantic play, and Petruchio/Kate which is a romantic play as well. The genre includes a comedy genre. In this play there is a beginning but there is no end. When Christopher is mentioned, we don't know what happens to him.
Jane Eyre shows a better portrayal of women, exploring Jane’s female relationships and providing a variety of characters that don’t quite fall into typical tropes, such as the pure maiden or the old hag. The Merchant of Venice proves to be more complicated; although Shakespeare often acknowledges the Elizabethan expectations for women, that they be docile and submissive, he rarely challenges societal norms in a way that inspires drastic changes, both inside his writing and outside in the real world. However, by writing realistic and fully human characters, Shakespeare created unique and varied women in his plays, which was a progressive act in and of
Role of women in The Merchant of Venice Women during 16th century had no individual freedom. Despite the fact that a single woman ruled England at the time of Shakespeare, the Elizabethan society was patriarchal. Women were considered the weaker gender and always in need of being protected. Wealthy woman were highly educated but they had no right to have professions while poor women sometimes would turn to prostitution or become servants to survive. The book The Merchant of Venice was settled in Venice because Shakespeare wanted to show that even in the foundation place of Renaissance were prejudicial ideas and woman was considered as a weak character.
Despite the government having a rather equal relationship in terms of class since the commoners are involved, the Elizabethan society was patriarchal; men were superior to women because they were the weaker sex, physically and emotionally. Regardless of social class, women were not allowed to vote, not allowed to go to a university, not allowed to have professions such as being lawyers or doctors; only domestic service, not allowed to act in theatres, and most certainly not allowed to inherit any of her father’s titles, except for the crown of course, and if the woman is the only heir of her father. Aside from all these limitations, women are expected to be fully obedient to their husbands, meaning never to question them; only obedience, for disobedience would mean punishment, to be dependent on their male relatives especially if they were single, to bear children as much as possible to keep the lineage alive, to maintain the household and manage everything, and still be presentable in terms of appearance, especially the women of the high social class. But, compared to the women of other societies, Elizabethan women exercise far more freedom than any women in world history. Especially those of the noble class, women were allowed education (from tutors) in subjects other than housewifery.