Student

British Literature

Mr. Maite

21 May 2001

Will and Women’s Lib

Just as fingerprints can so precisely identify a criminal and marks on a bullet the gun that shot it, an author’s personal opinions can be determined by careful analysis of his or her work. Sometimes an author’s hardest challenge is to be completely indifferent; even textbooks or news articles often have subtle shades of bias which can color even the driest topics. However, it can be considered a crime to infer too much about a person from his or her writing, especially when based on only one sample. No crime is solved with a single piece of evidence. This faulty induction must definitely be avoided when deciphering the life of William Shakespeare. We have little more than scattered dates and meager records from which to learn, so much of Shakespeare: the man must be derived from Shakespeare: the writer.

A study of the role of women in his tragedy, Hamlet: the Prince of Denmark, would seem to show a very low and suspicious opinion of the female population. When viewed in comparison with his other plays, however, this assumption is false. Hamlet is a deviation from Shakespeare’s plays as a whole; conversely, he must have had a rather high opinion of women, relative to the common ideas of his time. Furthermore, though many of his female characters have similar traits, he gives each one a more complex personality than any simple stereotype. The female characters of Hamlet (Hm) will be compared to those of another famous tragedy, Romeo and Juliet (RJ), and five comedies: As You Like It (AYL), The Merchant of Venice (MV), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (MSND), The Taming of the Shrew (TS), and Twelfth Night (12N). A list has been included following this text, grouping the women by play and by attribute(s).

One striking feature of Shakespeare’s plays, particularly the comedies, is the recurrence of themes and characters, both male and female. Among these are obedient and disobedient women, many of them daughters; lovesick women; powerful women and those in power, which are often but not necessarily the same; transvestites; and subordinate women, who are usually less important to the story but provide insight or comic relief. Not all of these characters are present in any one play, but several examples for each type can be found in the principal female characters—for example, Bianca, Helena, Hermia, Jessica, Juliet, Portia, and Viola are all characters who face an obstacle to being with their true lovers. It is important to remember, however, that although these women share some traits, they are not “stock” characters. In reading they should each be treated as unique individuals, just as Shakespeare did when he created them. The facets themselves can be similar in name or nature, but manifested in different ways. Several women are obedient, for example, but they have distinct motivations and manners of obedience. Ophelia displays her lack of personal strength when she tells her father “I shall obey, my lord,” (Hm I, iii). Portia, who is by no means weak, shows respect for her dead father by choosing a husband by the way he intended—because she cannot choose freely, “the will of a living daughter [is] curbed by the will of a dead father” (MV I, ii). Though she later proves to be disobedient, Juliet concedes to her mother when she says she will try to like Paris, her suitor, but “no more deep will I endart mine eye / Than your consent gives strength to make it fly” (RJ I, iv). Rosalind flees in obedience to Duke Frederick’s command that “If thou be’st found / So near our public court as twenty miles, / Thou diest” (AYL II, i) simply to save her life.

Characters may also display opposing traits throughout the course of the play. Titania is at first a strong, independent woman who refuses to bend to the will of her king, Oberon, not even “for thy fairy kingdom” (MSND II, ii). Later in the play, however, she becomes weak and doting when a love potion makes her fall for a bewitched man with the head of an ass. The proud, beautiful Olivia scorns the love of Orsino under the pretext of mourning for her lost brother, but she shamelessly falls in love with Viola, disguised as Cesario. Thus Shakespeare creates women who may share one or more traits, but display them in such ways as to make them more than simple stock characters. They become human. Other women are simply present as comic relief, such as the exuberant peasant Audrey or the ill-tempered wife of Hortensio. Many of the lesser women have slightly developed characters, but may serve to aid the main character, such as Portia’s maid Nerissa and Juliet’s nurse, or advance a minor plot, such as Maria the housekeeper or Lucentio’s Bianca.

One very noticeable difference between Hamlet and his other plays is the lack of a strong, central female character. The closest approximation to this person is Gertrude, but she is presented in such a light as to make her not a strong woman but a weak and immoral one, only indirectly important through her marriage and dotage on the new king. Unlike the plays in which Portia, Titania, Viola, Katharina, Rosalind, and Juliet are key, Hamlet hardly takes in account the feminine perspective of the events, mainly because it focuses on Hamlet’s perception.

Most of Shakespeare’s plays indicate a high regard for the feminine sex. This high regard is relative to the customs of the time, however. Some of his characters are admittedly weak and shallow, but others are very strong and independent thinkers. One of his greatest talents was his realistic portrayal of humanity, incorporating people of all types in his literature. He certainly gives a great deal of power to the women in many of his plays; this power, however, is often derived from a masculine disguise. Jessica, Nerissa, Portia, Rosalind, and Viola, five very strong Shakespearian characters, all dress as men in order to achieve their goals. This could be the reflection of the playwright’s efforts to express his views in a manner acceptable to a conservative public. In a society where women were expected to be docile, silent creatures, such independence—even on the stage—would have been greatly upsetting. No matter what his personal beliefs may have been, he was paid according to the approval of his audience, who would have taken offense to the positive portrayal of a woman with so much control over a man. The idea of cross-dressing, in contrast, was more acceptable, and even paralleled true stories of women in history gaining greater freedom and respect by disguising their gender. This situation was also humorous to the audience, due to the custom of male actors playing women’s roles. Seeing a man dressed as a woman pretending to be a man provides a very comic situation.

Furthermore, all of these plays raise questions about gender roles and relations in some way or another, and all of them make statements about women in various respects. Helena, frustrated after chasing Demetrius, laments that “[Women] should be wooed, and were not made to woo” (MSND II, ii). Viola is dismayed by Olivia’s feelings for Cesario—”How easy is it for the proper-false / In women’s waxen hearts to set their forms!” (12N II, ii). Rosalind as Ganymede says ironically, “Thank God I am not a woman, to be touched with so many giddy offenses as he hath generally taxed their sex withal” (AYL III, ii). Katharina the shrew surprises everyone when she obediently states that “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, / Thy head, thy sovereign” (TS V, ii). In all these plays, however, negative or condescending remarks about women are disproved by the presence of the strong, intelligent characters in them. Lorenzo calls women, in particular his Jessica, “wise, fair, and true” (MV II, vi). What is said cannot be viewed without examining those who say it. None of the plays portray women in completely favorable ways—just as real women cannot be called perfect by any means—but none are so harsh and one-dimensional as Hamlet. It is the sole play of the seven which shows only the bad sides of feminine (and human) nature: infidelity, weakness, lust, ignorance, and inconstancy. In it there is no paradox of praise and censure to lessen the severe comments, because Ophelia and Gertrude do everything to prove them correct. Hamlet speaks repeatedly of women as whores and says “if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know what monsters [cuckolds] you make of them” (Hm III, i). He continues: “I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God has given you one face and you make yourselves another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nickname God’s creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance” (Hm III, i). When Ophelia says, “ ’Tis brief, my lord,” he replies, “As woman’s love” (Hm III, ii). “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (Hm I, ii) is a major theme.

The ideas of strong and weak women may have been a manifestation of Shakespeare’s personal feelings toward women in his life. Hamlet could simply have been written at a time when he was angry at his wife or at women in general. A more positive example involving strong characters (unlike those in Hamlet) is his, and England’s, admiration for Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth was a very intelligent, independent, and unusual woman for her time; though her personality alone did not serve to elevate the status of women in general, she was a strong, shrewd leader with a reign that is impressive even without regard to her gender. Like many of her subjects, Shakespeare greatly admired his queen for her strength and perhaps honored her through his characters.

Finally, Hamlet is unlike the other six plays in its finale—in the others, women and men have approximately equal stature by the end of the play. Though Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy in which there is no truly happy ending, Juliet dies because she is as equally committed to Romeo as he to her. The comedies find Viola reunited with her brother and the glad recipient of Orsino’s love; Katharina the shrew finds peace with Petruchio because they have in essence tamed each other; Rosalind makes all well by untangling the romantic mess she created, and happy with Orlando; Titania reconciles with Oberon, Helena has Demetrius, and Hermia Lysander; Jessica and Lorenzo receive their fortune, and Portia and Nerissa properly humble their husbands. Sometimes man gains a slight advantage over woman; other times, as in the latter example, woman is triumphant. In Hamlet, however, the two female characters have not won in the end. They are only to be pitied or loathed, depending on one’s opinion of them. It is easy to believe that Shakespeare was a misogynist by reading only this play; however, it should be only one sample in a larger, more complete volume of work.

Each author treats his or her subjects differently, depending on personal bias. Shakespeare was certainly not by any means a radical supporter of women’s rights, but to judge his views based solely on Hamlet or any individual play would be unjust. Although Gertrude and Ophelia are weak and shallow people, many of his characters are quite the opposite. Even his comments against women are negated by his strong characters and their very human personalities. By disguising some of their power in the form of masculine garb, Shakespeare was able to (and possibly intended to) suggest the full scope of female potential without directly challenging the norms of the day. Far from being sexist, as Hamlet suggests, Shakespeare could have been a moderate feminist in disguise.

Female Characters by Play

Hamlet: Prince of Denmark

Gertrude - queen of Denmark, wife of Claudius, mother to Hamlet

Ophelia - daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, lover to Hamlet

Twelfth Night

Maria - housekeeper to Olivia, friend of Sir Toby Belch

Olivia - noblewoman in mourning, loves Cesario, marries Sebastian

Viola - “Cesario,” servant to Orsino, mistakenly loved by Olivia

The Taming of the Shrew

Bianca - young sister of Katharina, daughter of Baptista, wife of Lucentio

Katharina - shrew, daughter of Baptista, wife of Petruchio

As You Like It

Celia - “Aliena,” daughter to Frederick, cousin to Rosalind

Audrey - lusty peasantwoman, marries Touchstone

Phebe - peasant girl, loves “Ganymede,” loved by Silvius

Rosalind - “Ganymede,” daughter to the Duke, loved by Orlando

Romeo and Juliet

Juliet - young Capulet, loved by Romeo

Lady Capulet \__ ladies of their

Lady Montague, / respective houses

Nurse - nurse to Juliet

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Helena - daughter of Nedar, loves Demetrius

Hermia - daughter of Egeus, loves Lysander

Hippolyta - queen of the Amazons, bride of Theseus

Titania - queen of the fairies, loves Bottom

The Merchant of Venice

Jessica - daughter to Shylock, loved by Lorenzo

Nerissa - handmaiden to Portia, loved by Gratiano, disguised as a clerk

Portia - wealthy heiress, loved by Bassanio, disguised as a judge

Female Characters by Attribute

Disobedient - Celia, Helena, Hermia, Jessica, Juliet, Katharina, Olivia, Titania

Obedient - Bianca, Gertrude, Juliet, Nurse, Ophelia, Phebe, Portia, Rosalind, Viola

Weak - Bianca, Gertrude, Hermia, Olivia, Ophelia, Phebe

Strong - Celia, Helena, Jessica, Juliet, Katharina, Rosalind, Titania, Viola

Royal/Noble - Celia, Gertrude, Hippolyta, Lady Capulet, Lady Montague, Olivia, Portia,

Rosalind, Titania

In Love - Audrey, Bianca, Celia, Helena, Hermia, Jessica, Juliet, Nerissa, Olivia, Ophelia, Phebe,

Portia, Rosalind, Titania, Viola

Comedic - Audrey, Helena, Hermia, Katharina, Maria, Nurse, Olivia, Phebe, Rosalind, Viola

Subordinate - Audrey, Maria, Nerissa, Nurse, Ophelia, Phebe

Transvestite - Jessica, Nerissa, Portia, Rosalind, Viola