Dynamics

In one of my earlier posts I was examining an interesting switch of gender traits in Antony and Cleopatra.  Antony, who should be a very masculine, strong hero actually seems more dependent and emotional than Cleopatra.  In the play Cleopatra constantly tries to excuse herself for her 'womanly' flaws, but she acts more rationally and logiacally than Antony most of the time.

Lindsay commented on the blog and suggested I do a follow up looking at this more closely.  We also talked about the different roles women play in Shakespeare's plays in class the other day.  I think it was Cara who was saying how woman's characters were strong and dynamic when Queen Elizabeth was the monarch, but then changed drastically (into weaker, suicidal characters) once King James took the throne. 



To start off, obviously, with Shakespeare the gender roles and characters are going to have a big part to play.  Gender is part of life, so it's going to be in the plays, but Shakespeare's cast was also all male, which adds another twist.  This is why so many of his comedies deal with girls dressing up as guys (who are really guys to begin with) - besides the fact that it is impossible to have marriages without women to marry.

For just a second I want to start by comparing Cleopatra to Ophelia and Lady Macbeth.  The characterization for all these women is very different.  Cleopatra is a leader, just like Queen Elizabeth, she is powerful and perfectly capable of ruling.  On the other hand, Ophelia ends up drowning herself in a river (after she has lost her mind).  Lady Macbeth is a very twisted, complicated character.  After convincing her husband to murder the king, she goes crazy because of the murder.  In some ways this shows she (or women in general) is more tender then men.  Lady Macbeth also ends up dieing.  Another interesting comparison of women would be from Much Ado About Nothing.  Hero is a traditional women, she is soft and kind and beautiful - Beatrice is . . .  not.  It would be an interesting comparison to look at those two together and see what Shakespeare might be getting at.

Anyways, back to the topic of male-female roles.  For my play this week I decided to read The Tempest, I'm going to try and analyze that play a little bit.  Marina is not a 'powerful' character that necessarily pops out at you from the play, but she is strong.  She presents a beautiful, girl who has standards and knows how to keep them.  On the other hand I think a good opposite for this would be Caliban.

Caliban is a very weak character.  He is always whining and complaining.  He believes that what should be rightfully his has been wrongfully taken from him, but he doesn't really do anything about it.  - Why does Shakespeare do that?  He likes to toy with our minds.

What can we learn from strong women and, not weak, but more emotional men?

In the world we live in today there is a lot to be said about the 'images' we set up for ourselves.   Women have to be thin, blond (and usually scatterbrained) to be acceptable.  Men have to be strong and emotionless.  Maybe Shakespeare was making a comment on society in general.  Maybe if Antony hadn't been so afraid of showing his feelings, things would have been different.  In so many ways Antony's downfall was his inability to accept what he was feeling, make a decisions, and then act on that decision.

Hamlet has the same struggle.  He doesn't seem to know how to feel.  He is extremely upset about his mother's marriage, his father's death, his uncles . . . everything.  But what does he do about it?  And, what is Shakespeare trying to say differently when he matches Hamlet up with Ophelia?  Both of them seem to be weaker characters by the end of the book.  Ophelia never makes a comeback, but Hamlet tries.  When he finally realizes he's dying he makes that final stand and stops holding back about what he knows is right and wrong.

So, now the question is: What are we learning from all of this?