The tragedy Romeo and Juliet has been criticized by many critics throughout the years. Most critics tend to agree that Shakespearean literature has strong gender roles. This means that the men will carry themselves with honor and pride. A typical man for the time period in which Shakespeare set his play was the head of the household; anything the man or also known as the head of the family wanted would be put into motion almost as soon as he finished saying the words. The strong males in the tragedy Romeo and Juliet are Juliet’s father Lord Capulet, Romeo, Mercutio, and Prince Escalus. A woman’s typical role of that time period was subservient, always holding her words when it came to decision making. Most women of the time were busy having children starting at or before the age of twelve and were married well before that. Juliet and the Nurse do the best job of portraying the female gender roles throughout the tragedy…
There are many reasons why boys would play the female roles throughout the 1800s during Shakespeare's influence over the theatre. Young boys would often play the parts of women in Shakespeare plays and an entrance into an acting career. Often there would be only around 4 actors performing in one production at a time therefore multi rolling was common and each actor had to be versatile. Audience members gave positive impressions of the quality of the acting of boy players.…
Since the Renaissance, when Shakespeare born and wrote his works, many of the plays and literature styles have gained wide popularity among the readers and influenced many of the readers and the critics. Furthermore, people often say, it is widely believed at this time that role of males stand completely opposite to that of females; however, through the play of Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays a complex representation of human beings including femininity in its protagonist and title character, prince Hamlet. The Women in Literature and Life Assembly states in one of their articles, “Defining masculine and feminine characteristics allowed writers like Shakespeare to draw males with certain ‘feminine’ characteristics and females with certain ‘masculine’…
In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the women have major influence in shaping Hamlet’s behavior. Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, and Ophelia, Hamlet’s girlfriend negatively affected Hamlet and his behavior and actions throughout the play.…
This essay talks about the role of love as it used in Shakespeare’s comedies. It directly talks about “Much Ado about Nothing” and “Twelfth Night”, and how they use love in their stories. “Shakespeare expects us to accept wonder as having some kind of value in itself and in its relations to the action that has gone before. We are presented with the wonderful as an incitement to knowledge and to pleasure; and we are asked also to consider the dramatic fact that those who participate in the happy ending must be ready to set aside their human confinement to the probable and accept an intrusion of the improbable into their lives.” (262-263) Wonder and love are on equal footing in Shakespeare. He expects us to accept that the characters fall in love with each other as well. Love is a vital part of every romantic comedy whether it’s a play written by Shakespeare or a movie like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”. The essay also makes a note of how the characters change through the plays and compares how it works in both stories. The author of the essay…
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the Montagues and the Capulets have very different relationships with their children. A major reason for this, as well as much of the conflict in the tale, comes from the gender roles that Romeo and Juliet are expected to play into. Adding to that conflict is the fact that both Romeo and Juliet push the boundaries of these roles and struggle to fit into them. Romeo plays the over emotional lover, while Juliet is clever and dominant. Throughout the play we can see that both Romeo and Juliet have to struggle with the people around them because they are not acting within their respective gender roles.…
First, a reader must understand the way gender was understood in Shakespeare’s time. “If we are going to insist in understanding the Elizabethan dramatic artifice, let us also insist in examining Othello according to the traditional values which Shakespeare has injected implicitly and explicitly into the play (Kirschbaum, 284).” This quote given by another author shows the importance of understanding the original texts. The original text, while maybe outdated, is still vital in understanding the culture and history behind the play. A student must understand the implications that Shakespeare originally intended to be understood by the audience. There are three main characters in the play. These women are Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. These women all show true, strong affection to the main men in their lives.…
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet resorts to conniving and shrewd ways in order to control her destiny and free herself from her confined existence. Contrary to the critics who view Juliet as innocent, childish and immature, Juliet’s habits of manipulating people–particularly the men in her life, expressly Romeo–through simulating maleness implies a parallel between the approaches falconers (mostly males) use to train their falcons (mostly females) (Radel). Juliet lures Romeo into taking their relationship to a deeper level, contriving him into professing love and proposing marriage. The gender role reversal becomes more apparent as Romeo slowly loses his independence and becomes increasingly “flighty”, and Juliet, grounded and sensible, assumes the role of “tamer”. In the event of another character Mercutio’s death, Romeo enters into a crisis of masculinity. Romeo comes in touch with his feminine side, which he attributes to his love for Juliet. Juliet is the dominant one in her relationship with Romeo, inverting the gender roles stereotypical to 16th century Elizabethan society.…
Shakespeare has had a lasting effect on society to this day, but he hasn't predicted society. In his play Much Ado About Nothing, which is still being performed today, he says many statements about society in a whole. One of those being about gender roles of old society. Although some will say that Shakespeare's gender roles hold up to today's society, they would be wrong because Beatrice being frowned upon , the way women are viewed as things in the play and role of honor.…
In Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Othello’, the audience experiences a definite sense of sexism which roots from numerous characters in the play.…
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.…
What is the ideal woman? The response to this by today’s society might differ to that of Renaissance society. In the Renaissance, women were seen as possessions. Their duty was to marry a man and show obedience and chastity. These expectations of women are shown in the play Othello, by William Shakespeare. In the play, the two prominent women, Desdemona and Emilia, both recognize the expectations of women at the time. However, the two women disagree in their views on the topic. Desdemona tries to be the ideal wife whereas Emilia takes a more feminist approach. In Othello, Desdemona and Emilia’s views on the role of women explains the traits of each character and are involved in major themes of the story.…
Canadian Social Science ISSN 1712-8056 Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture Http://www.cscanada.org Http://www.cscanada.net E-mail: css@cscanada.org; caooc@hotmail.com…
Othello, The Moor of Venice, by William Shakespeare, is one of Shakespeare's most well known tragedies. In the play, the many types of jealousy are explored through love hate and deceit. There are three main female characters, in Shakespeare's Othello. Each of these women, Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca, has a distinct symbolic role in the play. Desdemona is Othello's loving and dutiful wife. She symbolizes purity and fidelity. Iago's wife, Emilia, symbolizes frustration and assertiveness, and Bianca, a court prostitute, or courtesan symbolizes sin and ignorance. Shakespeare characterizes the three women through their words and actions and in turn develops what each woman symbolizes.…
Shakespeare’s play, Othello, represents women as victims of the patriarchal society in which they live. Early modern England, founded on Christian theology, viewed women, daughters of Eve, as sexual temptresses who needed to be ruled over by men in order to have their innate tendency of lasciviousness restrained (Marriot 10). Consequently, social expectations were placed on women to be chaste, silent and gentle in demeanor and submissive and obedient to male authority (Ranald 131). Othello portrays women in such a society as victims abused by men who take advantage of their position of authority, powerless to change the oppressive ideological structures, and forced to either conform to the ideal image of the perfect woman or face a tragic fate for challenging the system.…