Woman, a critical actor on the stage of life, is pressed to portray many roles—mother, wife, and caregiver. On the stage of Shakespeare, expectations are no different, save the added roles of trophy and sexual object, and when examined through a critical, modern lens, these stage roles become gender roles. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Othello, women are portrayed as the weaker sex through their characteristics and by the murderous ending of the tragedy. Alexander Pope said, “Most women have no character at all,” (Pechter 372). Shakespeare, however, emphasized lack of character as a grace for his female characters (Pechter 372).…
Often the most important themes in literature are developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, the death of the character Desdemona serves as the climatic breaking point where pervasive racism and sexism can no longer exist without resulting in detrimental harm to the involved parties. It is Othello’s prideful hamartia that, combined with sexism, is the catalyst that ultimately destroys both his and Desdemona’s life. In Othello, the cast of characters is subjected to the mounting pressures of sexism and racism without even realizing the detrimental effects it has on their lives.…
Discoveries can only occur if one is willing to take a journey, a leap of faith, while maintaining an open mind. Discoveries often involve introspection and learning about people, places, events and relationships that can challenge previously held values and attitudes. Through William Shakespeare’s 1611 play, ‘The Tempest’, and Gweyneth Lewis’ short poem, ‘Peripheral Vision’, readers gain a deep understanding of the concept discovery, and how discoveries, by their very nature, change our ways of thinking and our values. Shakespeare’s, The Tempest, presents several discoveries, which come about through ideas of revenge, love, renewal and usurpation. These thematic concerns all question established power structures and hierarchies between the…
In Act I of The Tempest, Prospero abuses his power to manipulate the sea and create a storm that causes a shipwreck for the king and his men. Prospero knows what he is doing is wrong, and his daughter, Miranda, tries to act as the voice of reason when she says to him, “O, I have suffered / With those that I saw suffer” (1.2.5-6). This compares to how cops abuse their power. Prince Jones was killed by a cop for no reason and the cop got away with it. Coates is like Miranda because he sees how the Prince family suffers and he suffers with them.…
Therefore, there is more value in vengeance than virtue. In The Tempest Prospero aspires revenge against his antagonists. The whole story line of the play is Prospero seeking revenge on his brother for deserting him and his three year old daughter, Miranda, on an island. In the play it reads: "Let them be haunted soundly.…
1. Although presented as amusing, Iago’s argument with Desdemona and Emilie on his criticism of women reveals the misogynistic attitudes against women at the time. 2. Othello’s honor as a military man leads to his downfall as Iago uses Othello’s desire to maintain his status to convince him of his wife’s adultery with Cassio and the plot to murder the alleged lovers.…
Women during the Renaissance were to be chaste, meaning that they couldn’t have had sex before marriage. To make sure that the women are chaste, there would be a white bed sheet that would be stained red if the women was still chaste. Desdemona cherishes the stained wedding sheets that she has from Othello. During her accusations that she is a whore and cheating with Cassio she asked Emilia to bring them to her in order to prove to Othello that she is chaste still chaste, “prithee, tonight lay on my be my wedding sheets, remember; and call thy husband hither” (Othello, pg. 136, ln 109-110). Since during the Renaissance, it was the custom to have a stained red sheet in order to prove that the women was chaste till the consummation of the marriage.…
Some critics argue that the women are in the play are represented by Shakespeare as proto-feminist, but this is proven not true when the women feel the need to rationalize all their decisions. This is shown when Desdemona raises her voice to back to Othello. It was stated that “women who raised their voices in public were considered to draw attention to themselves and make themselves sexually available” (Corporaal 99). Although Desdemona did fight back and speak her mind, Othello still punishes her by slapping her across the face. “Othello’s behaviour [is] “typical,” that is, as normal husbandly, manly behaviour” (Vanita 342), as no one knows any different.…
Gloria Steinem once said, “Men should think twice before making widowhood women’s only path to power.” In other words, Gloria Steinem simply meant that in a society that have hindered women from realizing their true essence and their power that they hold equal to men, a man’s death should not be the only reason why society view women as equal and powerful as a man. People all over the world and throughout history have proven this quote to be true due to the fact that in modern society feminism was established in which women have been granted equality even without the death of a man being the solely reason. Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic and social rights…
In Shakespeare’s Othello women are clearly portrayed as inferior to men. The character of Desdemona clearly embodies this idea. Throughout the play she routinely submits to the will of her husband Othello, and is portrayed as mentally subservient, as a sexual object, and as a possession. These 17th century societal beliefs can still be observed working against women today in the mainstream media and in the workplace. Othello consistently dismisses everything Desdemona has to say, because he believes himself to be above the trivial thoughts of a woman.…
Scene two of the plays in “A Tempest (Une Tempete)” by the author Aime Cesaire, has the same characters as The Tempest in Shakespeare 's play. It starts by telling us about the questions which Miranda asks her father because the ship is sinking, she believes that the person behind this disaster is her father, who is Prospero because he has the power to cause anything because of the magic which he holds. Prospero admits that he causes that, but no one in the ship is in danger. He does that on purpose because he wants to show her the power which her family owns. As he states, “I cannot leave you in ignorance any longer”, he does not want her to be blind from the truth anymore.…
Moral ambiguity, a phrase often used to describe the character of Caliban from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, meaning that he is neither good nor bad when it comes to ethical decision making. This essay aims to show that Calibans’ moral ambiguity may be a result of Shakespeare using him as a representative of the injured party of colonialism, indicating that he is a victim of the era and does not fully comprehend the western clarification of moral decision making. The Renaissance began with the Romans, who at the time were very influential in the development of western ideologies and cultures. The British followed suit and also coined the term, as Renaissance can be defined as rebirth or renewal, to represent the constant changes occurring…
Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, mentioned in Chapter 8, gives an important parallel to Brave New World. In The Tempest, Prospero and his daughter Miranda are exiled to an island where the only other person is a native named Caliban. Prospero takes control of the island and raises Caliban as a slave with an intent to civilize him. When liquor is introduced to Caliban, the liquor becomes his “God,” like soma is to those in the New World. Caliban resents Prospero for taking his home from him, but Prospero sees it as dumb and points to it as his bestial nature, which makes him treat Caliban even more harshly.…
The play, The Tempest is one of the many texts which allegorically represents various aspects of colonial oppression. The Tempest resonates with unusual power and variety. Prospero’s supreme control over the island and over the spirits of the island symbolizes his imperialistic nature within the play. Shakespeare presents the issue of imperialism through the character, Prospero as he has dominant power and control over the island and the original inhabitants. Parteni defines imperialism as “the process whereby the dominant political-economic interest of one nation controls other peoples’ land and goods for their own enrichment” (2005) and this can be seen in the tempest as Prospero uses his language and power to imperialize the original inhabitants…
William Shakespeare never ceases to communicate messages through his works, and The Tempest is no exception. There are many lessons and morals taught throughout the course of the play that have both positive and negative impacts. The themes of those who abuse power damaging others, and those that manipulate others for their own benefit are shown to be negative themes that pertain to the dark side of the story, while forgiveness being worth more than revenge teaches a more positive, valuable lesson. For instance, in the play, Prospero abuses the power that he possesses on the island and makes Caliban, the shipwrecked and Ariel suffer, showing one of the dark themes seen throughout the play. When Prospero and Miranda first arrive on the…