Categories
argumentative essay example Literature

Women in Shakespeare

Many critics say that Shakespeare was a feminist. For instance Shapiro claims that Shakespeare was ‘the noblest feminist of them all”. I partly agree with McLuskie that Shakespeare mostly wrote for entertaining males, but I don’t think it is historically true to think of him as a feminist. To my mind, Shakespeare was an extraordinary talent in portraying human behavior, necessarily depicted the condition of women within a patriarchal system and created women characters, which in their richness transcend the limitations of his time.

In this essay I would like to point your attention to Shakespeare’s description of two women Portia and Rosalind and the way he depicted them is the most important part of his work.

When William Shakespeare wrote, The Merchant of Venice, he included a female character that influences the play dramatically. In most of Shakespeare’s plays, the women have little power and intelligence. In The Merchant of Venice, however, Portia is a woman that saves the life of a man with her wit and intelligence.

Another woman created by Shakespeare that posses qualities similar to Portia is Rosalind, from Much Ado about Nothing. Both women add to the main themes of the play because of their ability to use their intelligence and witty remarks as well as having a loving heart. The women share many similarities as well as many differences, which seem to be inevitable because Portia seems to be put on a pedestal that very few can reach.

Portia is one of Shakespeare’s great heroines, whose beauty, lively intelligence, quick wit, and high moral seriousness have blossomed in a society of wealth and freedom. She is known throughout the world for her beauty and virtue, and she is able to handle any situation with her sharp wit. In many of Shakespeare’s plays, he creates female characters that are presented to be clearly inferior to men. The one female, Shakespearean character that is most like Portia would be Rosalind, from Much Ado about Nothing. Both of the women are known for their wit and intelligence. Rosalind is able to defend her views in any situation, as does Portia.

Shakespeare gives each of them a sense of power by giving their minds the ability to change words around, use multiple meanings and answer wisely to the men surrounding them. By adding a loving heart to both of these women, Shakespeare makes their intelligence more appealing.

Even though Rosalind hides the loving side of her character for most of the play, she still expresses her kindness and love in other ways. Like Portia, she is a dear friend and an obedient daughter. In the fourth act, after Portia has saved the life of Antonio, she uses her wit, just as Rosalind does to test Benedict’s love, to convince Bassanio to surrender the ring that he vowed he would never part with.

After simply asking for it and being unsuccessful, she decides to use her intelligence and says, “I see sir, you are liberal in offers. / You taught me first to beg, and now methinks / You teach me how a beggar should be answered.” The only main difference between the two women is the way they are perceived by the other characters.

Portia is thought of as a perfect angel possessing no flaws, which is shown when Bassanio describes her to Antonio and says, “In Belmont is a lady richly left, / And she is fair and, fairer than that word, / Of wondrous virtues. Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth, / for the four winds blow in from every coast / Renowned suitors, and her sunny locks / Hang on her temples like a golden fleece, / Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchis’ strong, / And many Jasons come in quest of her”.

Portia displays all the graces of the perfect Renaissance lady. She is not ambitious, she is quiet rather than restrictive. She is modest in her self-estimation. Her generous spirit makes her wish she had more virtue, wealth, and friends so that she can better help those she loves. Rosalind, on the other hand, is not described as beautiful and even though she is well liked in her society, she is not thought of in the same godly way as Portia is.

Besides saving the life of Antonio, Portia is also used to convey the theme of deceptive appearances. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses his characters to show the audience that a person cannot be judged by how they appear to the eye and that a person can truly be identified by their inner soul. Bassanio chooses the lead casket and proves that even though the other caskets appeared to be beautiful and trustworthy, the treasure was found in the casket of lead.

Shakespeare foreshadows the theme of appearances when Portia says to her new husband, “You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand, / Such as I am┘ But the full sum of me / Is an unlesson’d girl, unschool’d, unpractic’d, / Happy in this, she is not yet so old / But she may learn; happier than this, / She is not bred so dull but she can learn”. After saying this to her husband, she later dresses up as a man and finds a way to release Antonio from his bond with Shylock, when no one else is able to. She proves to the audience and to her friends that even though she might have been perceived as an unschooled, unpracticed girl, her inner self, posses the strength, intelligence and experience that enables her to do what she did. When Shakespeare created Portia’s character, he contributed the likeness of Rosalind and added the elements of a perfect Renaissance woman. Even though Portia is a woman, she still posses the intelligence to use and manipulate words, the beauty to woo men, and the soul that stands above many others. Her appearance adds to her angelic reputation and her wisdom allows the audience of the play to acknowledge the theme of deceptive appearances.

Portia is one of Shakespeare’s best parts for an actress as, apart from being one of the central characters within the main plot of the play; she displays great wit and intelligence. These are assets which none of Shakespeare’s other female roles ever had as women who lived around the same time as Shakespeare, were not considered to have such honorable traits.

Bibliography:

Lodge, Thomas. Play Rosalynde (1590). Oxford protege; Euphuist style

Munday, Anthony. The Merchant of Venice (1580). Oxford protege/secretary

Josephus Flavius, Antiquitates Judaicae in Greek (ed. B. Niese) and English

Gilbert, Sandra M.; Gubar, Susan. Shakespeare’s sisters, feminist essays on women poets.
Bloomington, London: Indiana University Press, 1979

Looser, Devoney. British women writers and the writing of history, 1670-1820. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000

William Richardson, Essays on Some of Shakespeare’s Dramatic Characters to which is added an Essay on the Faults of Shakespeare (London : J. Murray and S. Highley, 1797), 5th edition, pp. 338-363

Categories
Literature

25 Books that will blow your mind in 2021

Here is small list of best books in 2021 to read:

 

25 Books that will blow your mind in 2021
  1. 1984 by George Orwell
  2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  3. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
  4. The Trial – Franz Kafka
  5. Neuromancer by William Gibson
  6. The Things they carried – Tim obrien
  7. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  9. A Confederace of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
  10. In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
  11. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  12. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
  13. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
  14. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  15. A Clock Work Orange by Anthony Burgess
  16. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
  17. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
  18. The Stranger by Albert Camus
  19. Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
  20. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
  21. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
  22. Animal Farm by George Orwell
  23. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer
  24. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
  25. Flowers for Algeron by Daniel Keys
Categories
Literature

Vocabulary Power Plus for College and Career Readiness – Level 2, 13th Edition

Vocabulary Power Plus for College and Career Readiness – Level 2, 13th Edition – All pages

ISBN-13: 978-1620191439
ISBN-10: 1620191431

Table of Contents

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 347-Answers

Comp>

She reveals that she played a role in the deaths of Banquo and Lady Macduff.

The witches told Macbeth that “none of woman born” can harm him; he believes that Macduff falls into this category and therefore cannot hurt him.

As the act goes on, worries of Lady Macbeth’s mental state rise; she has revealed her guilt during a sleepwalking episode and begins to descend into madness. The English and Scottish armies plan to join forces against Macbeth, who is confident that he will be fine. The army agrees to use tree branches from the forest to disguise themselves as they approach the castle that Macbeth is occupying. Lady Macbeth dies, and the battle begins shortly after her death. Macbeth is confident during the battle that he cannot be hurt because of the witches’ prophecy that “none of woman born” can harm him, but is defeated by Macduff, who was removed from the womb via C-section. Malcom becomes king of Scotland.

Free homework solutions to page 347 of textbook My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One (9780133339635) – EssayFabric Homework answers

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 349-Answers

Practice

See full solution for chart listing Macbeth’s tragic flaws + the actions that reveal these flaws.

In this scene, the audience is aware that Lady Macbeth is “ill” because of her guilt over her hand in the recent murders. Macbeth is also aware that this is the reason for her illness. The doctor does not know this, so is therefore unable to effectively treat her, yet Macbeth expects him to “cure” her somehow.

Free homework solutions to page 349 of textbook My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One (9780133339635) – EssayFabric Homework answers

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 350-Answers

Why These Words

Perturbation (anxiety), agitation (the act of disturbance), and usurp>Antidote (a cure; something that counteracts a poison), pristine (in perfect order), and purge (the removal of undesired qualities/individuals) all refer to the return to order. They each refer to the removal of disturbances.

Words relating to disorder: disease (p>Words relating to the return to order: undone (pg 337), cure (pg 339), cleanse (pg 340)

Practice

Perturbation: The nurse tried to ease Aaron’s p>
Antidote: Lisa was always careful to carry an antidote with her on hikes in case she was bitten by a venomous snake.

Agitation: Though she insisted she was calm, Henry could sense the agitation in his mother’s voice.

Pristine: The freshly cleaned hotel room was in p>
Purge: The drink was said to p>
Usurper: The town was distrustful of the new king, a usurper who had forcefully taken the throne.

Free homework solutions to page 350 of textbook My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One (9780133339635) – EssayFabric Homework answers

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 351-Answers

Read It

a) lily-livered (p>whey-face (p>b) Both adjectives refer to the servant that Macbeth is arguing with. These compound adjectives make the servant seem weak and fearful.

Free homework solutions to page 351 of textbook My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One (9780133339635) – EssayFabric Homework answers

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 356-Answers

Comp>

The LA Theatre works production contains a low, resonant note, similar to tones one might hear during a tense part of a horror movie. The Doctor then begins to speak.

The dialogue in the LA Theatre Works production is much more natural than the Librivox dialogue.

Stage directions are included in the Librivox production.

The LA Theatre Works production contains sound effects.

The main difference between the two productions is that the LA Theatre Works audio is more immersive and feels more theatrical. The characters in this version display more emotion in their voice and are more believable overall; it seems like this version has higher production value than the Librivox production.

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 357-Answers

Media Vocabulary

The librivox audio is very clear, and its quick pacing makes it a good listening choice for someone who is already familiar with Macbeth but wants to review parts of it.

The mood is established both through the ominous, ambient sound effects and the emotions of the actors delivering the dialogue.

The LA Theatre Works audio had better pacing. Unlike the Librivox recording, the actors delivered their lines with variations in the pace of their speech as well as pauses where natural. This helps the reader better understand the atmosphere of the situation and how the characters are feeling.

Free homework solutions to page 357 of textbook My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One (9780133339635) – EssayFabric Homework answers

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 358-Answers

Notebook

The LA Theatre Works help>
The Librivox recording is not as easy to understand intuitively. This information is given only through words (stage direction and dialogue), which are mostly unvaried. One must listen closely to understand the atmosphere of the situation.

The LA Theatre Works version is different than reading the play in that it does not include stage directions; it also includes more intense emotion than one might experience when reading the work. The Librivox recording is more similar to the text itself, but is perhaps a little faster-paced and flatter than one might read the scene.

Free homework solutions to page 358 of textbook My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One (9780133339635) – EssayFabric Homework answers

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 378-Answers

Sonnet 12

He says that as the seasons change, time passes, and that as time passes, we all age. With age comes the loss of beauty; just as leaves fall and beautiful trees become bare, our hair becomes white and wrinkles form, etc.

The speaker says that the only defense against time is to have children, who will live on and continue your legacy after you’ve passed away.

Sonnet 60

He compares the passage of minutes to the movement of waves toward the shore.

He says that even though all lives are eventually lost to time, his poem will exist long after his death.

Sonnet 73

The speaker in the poem is nearing the end of his life.

The speaker advises that the reader takes time to love what they know they may soon lose.

Free homework solutions to page 378 of textbook My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One (9780133339635) – EssayFabric Homework answers

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 379-Answers

Sonnet 32

Time hurries when we are in love or experiencing joy, and slows down when we are heartbroken or in despair.

The speaker asks time to slow down when she is experiencing love rather than speeding up.

Sonnet 75

The name written in the sand is erased by the tide.

She says that, like a name written in the sand, she too will eventually cease to exist; neither she nor her name can be immortalized.

The speaker says that though no one can escape death, he and his love can be comforted by the fact that their love will live on.

Free homework solutions to page 379 of textbook My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One (9780133339635) – EssayFabric Homework answers

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 380-Answers

Why These Words

It will help>toil (noun): effort/work
assay (verb): to attemp>devise (verb): to p>
When looking at these definitions together, it seems that they share a common relation to effort/p>
Many of the poems relate to the idea of time being outside of our control. Because these words are tied to the idea of wanting to control something, they are in contrast with the poems’ themes.

Practice

Training to run a marathon, building a house, staying up all night to work on an essay

No; to assay simply means to attempt. Though you may do your best to complete the task, you may or may not actually be able to.

Yes; if you devise to do a task, your are planning to complete that task.

Word Study

mole: can either refer to a small mammal that lives underground, or to a scientific unit used for measuring molecules

culture: can refer to the customs/arts of a p>
medium: can refer either to something’s size, or to the liquid in which bacterial cells are cultured in labs

cell: can refer either to a small room for a prisoner, or to a small biological unit that makes up an organism

Free homework solutions to page 380 of textbook My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One (9780133339635) – EssayFabric Homework answers

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 382-Answers

Read It

See solution for chart featuring type of figure of speech and analysis for passage excerpts.

Write It

1. …is like a tree’s green leaves in the sp>2. …always hurrying when it should be taking its time.
3. …is fame.

Free homework solutions to page 382 of textbook My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One (9780133339635) – EssayFabric Homework answers

Categories
Literature

My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One-page 395-Answers

Comp>

Macbeth’s return to the Weird Sisters was ironic because he was returning to them with the intent of finding clarity and rationality in a situation that is inherently irrational.

Brooks writes that the child symbolizes the future, specifically a future that one cannot necessarily control. He also writes about how the child symbolizes what makes life meaningful and what makes us human.

brooks says that in the last prophecy Macduff represents the naked babe and when he told Macbeth that he was from “his mother womb/ untimely ripp’d” and then Macbeth had to confront his future and face his doom

Comp>

The “interim” refers to the time at which a violent act is decided upon and the time at which it actually takes place (e.g. one of the many murders in Macbeth).

Kermode points to thunder and lightning, won and lost battles, and “hurlies and burlies” as examples of “false antitheses” present in Macbeth.

When talking about the patterns present in Shakespeare’s work, Kermode emphasizes the characteristic rhythm with which his words flow (describing it as “hypnotic”) as well as his frequent use of contrasting words (lost and won, men or women, him and me, grow or not…). This frequent reference to these “opposite” words serve to highlight the play’s focus on the contrast between the present and the future.

Passage 1 (Brooks): Brooks’s essay focuses on analysing and ap>
Passage 2 (Kermode):
In Kermode’s essay, he discusses the specific characteristics of Shakespeare’s language and how his writing choices shape Macbeth. He talks specifically about how Shakespeare uses rhythm and contrasting words to drive home the main ideas of the play. He also analyzes the play’s focus on time, specifically about how the play centers around concerns about the future.

Free homework solutions to page 395 of textbook My Perspectives: British and World Literature Grade 12, Volume One (9780133339635) – EssayFabric Homework answers