Shakespeare's Women
... maturity beyond her years. He establishes for the theater audience and the reader a love which, for Juliet, requires commitment to vulnerable love for each other and commitment as a sign to the community of their love through marriage. Also, we are stuck by the courage Juliet displays in her initial decision to defy her parents in their choosing Paris as a suitable husband for her. At this time in history her outspoken attitude would have caused her great pain at the minimum. Shakespeare paints a vivid portrait of the incredible guilt and despair that Juliet has to endure in Act 3 Scene 5 from her Father, Mother, the Nurse and her God who have all deserted her. In the end she says, “I’ll to the friar, to know his remedy./ If all else fail, myself have power to die.”, and therefore she creates control once again in her own destiny. Another character within the play that demonstrates Shakespeare’s creative genius is the nurse. He portrays her as an uneducated comical accent to the Capulet family. By description and dialogue she has a closer bond to Juliet than her own mother and on many occasions is consulted by Juliet in the matters of relationships. It appears as though, when she ceases the knife from the suicidal hand of Romeo in Friar Lawrence’s chamber, Shakespeare is reversing the gender roles of male and female. Also, we can understand from her saying, “’An honour’! Were not I thine only nurse,/ I would say thou hadst sucked wisdom from thy teat.”, that Shakespeare choice this dynamic character from other nurses for the plain bluntness with which she approached life. When she finds Romeo and his friends to inform him of Juliet’s wishes, she tries to display the manner of behavior high than her class. But with Mercutio’s persistent ridicule, her true personality surfaces. We can presume that she is uneducated, because of the mispronunciation of many words. And the way she treats her man, Peter, would seem more like a relationship between a henpecked husband and wife than The Lady and servant. Shakespeare stretches her comical farce when she finds it necessary to inquire as to the loyalty of Romeo’s man servant. In the tragedy of Hamlet we will find a very different portrayal of victimized women. Shakespeare paints a very sober picture to the audience of women who follow tradition to an extreme and end up themselves the real tragedy. We gather from the initial conversations with her brother, Laertes and her father, Polonius, that Ophelia was reared in a very oppressive household. Before Laertees leaves for the University, he cunningly plants a seed in Ophelia’s mind that Hamlet’s attentions are far from genuine and must be ignored. When in Act 1 scene 3 he states, “Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain/ If with too credent ear you list his songs,/ Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open/ To his unmastered importunity.”, he is intentionally creating a fear in her over a possible harsh judge by the community in her affairs with an inexperienced innocent Hamlet. Shakespeare created a woman who, because of her lack of self thought, under the right conditions would crumble. The only sign we get of her own thought is when she responds to Laerte’s moral lecture, “ Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,/ Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven/ Whilst like a puffed and reckless libertine/ Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads/And reckons not his own rede.”, which could be seen as a shield from the accuser to the accused. Shakespeare forces the manipulative characters of Laertes and Polonius at us in order to see the real tragedy of the treatment of this woman and to what depths we can drive a soul. After Polonius has instructed her to return Hamlet’s letters and affections, he betrays her fragile emotions by informing her that her actions are the cause for his illness and must be reported to the King. Ophelia would not only have seen this as an attack on her personal character but now, for him to be so bold as to degrade her through others is unforgivable. Ironically, her father’s murder at the hands of someone she loved, driven by her rejection, is more than she can bear. In an odd sort of way, her escape of insanity would almost seem fitting for her to be released from the burden of other’s responsibilities. Bent on revenge at any cost, Hamlet becomes the principle tool in the persecution of his mother, Queen Gertrude. When he says in Act3 scene 4, “You are the Queen, your husband’s brother’s wife,/ But-would you were not so-you are my mother.”, he effectively fixes his blame for her part in the death of his father. And after further humiliating and ridiculing her, she accepts his ,as well as her own guilt and is dragged into further despair. He has set the stage for her ruinous end. The audience is encouraged to consider the genuine question of tragedy in a patriarchic society that would seek so desperately to place blame on the innocent women of the period whose only offense was to be obedient and subservient to these same men. So we realize as Shakespeare did through each tragedy that misfortune lies rather within ourselves and how we choose to perceive others and act upon them. Within Shakespeare’s women of the comedy Merchant of Venice we will be presented with women who have accepted their traditional role within the society but utilize it as a strength in their pursuit of achieving some measure of satisfaction and sanity. Portia and Jessica are given very instrumental roles by Shakespeare within the Merchant of Venice to accentuate the critical key women’s lives play in the balance of true value. Initially, we are aware of the traditionally bound daughter, Portia who is controlled even from the grave by her father’s decree to wed someone of his choosing through the absurd random pick of caskets. But we will find that Shakespeare appeared to leave a loophole for his daughter in what might seem to be a cruel oppressive act. His intention may have been to weed the chaff from the flower. Evidence of this could be found in Nerissa’s comment that, “Your father was ever virtuous, and holy men at their death have good inspirations:…..will no doubt never be chosen by any rightly but one who you shall rightly love.”. Therefore, it is quite clear with her characterizations of her suitors that Portia has keen sense of her own desires and a knowledge of the failings of men. Her only real sign of lack of control is when she shows her true love for Bassanio when she says in Act 3 scene 2, “Pause a day or two/ Before you hazard, for in choosing wrong/ I lose your company…”. Understanding the position of her class, she addresses the Prince of Morocco graciously and informs him that she is unmoved by outward appearances and his chances of winning her are as great as any other. He is unaware of the fact she did not see any reasonable chance for all the others before him to succeed in their attempts to win her. Yet, with each suitor, she addresses them properly each with the respect befitting their stature. After her marriage to Bassanio there is a sure sign that she is very much aware of her control over Antonio, when she commends him to return to his friend under the guise she is touched by his concern for a dear friend. Her true intention is to show Antonio that she is now his rightful destiny. When Portia disguises herself as the ...