- Midsummer Night's Dream
- Othello
- Taming of the Shrew
- King Lear
- Macbeth
- Romeo & Juliet
- Hamlet
On one argument, you could say that he is because of the obvious negative personalities he gives his female characters (or negative ends).
Another, you could say that Shakespeare made most of his male characters dead or insane or, in Midsummer Night's Dream, permanently under a spell and therefore a loss of free-will, and that no one in a Shakespeare is given better treatment over another.
I personally think Shakespeare was only interested in making his characters interesting even when most of them were meant to be plot-devices rather than complex and dimensional.
Maybe it's because he inspired some archetypes so these characters have been repeated, but that the very reason why characters like Lady Macbeth and Katharina don't particularly interest me like Juliet and Ophelia. It just feels like there's more to them in the plays then the plot they work in.
Or maybe Shakespeare does not stand for feminism in his writing because he shows time and time again that when you give women the power whether it's manipulation or etc., disasters will occur for men. He either shows that giving women any amount of power will turn men upon themselves. I think he's making fun of women to say they are selfish and are not fit to be given more freedom or power but that is just my interpretation.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Micheala. I still feel Shakespeare was ahead of his time despite the argument of his opposition towards feminism. I feel like in tragedies, he's probably incorporating that tragic flaw to the female characters as well by creating these complex personalities and making their best attributes their downfall.
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