Masculinity is the dangerous conceit and underlying root of all complications in Shakespeare's "Othello." ... Iago goes as far as to say, "Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul" (1.1.87). ... Much like the box office thriller Inception, Iago has the task of presenting a false reality, simply planting a seed. ... If Othello has failed to capture and contain Desdemona's sexuality, much like her father, then he has failed to secure his masculinity. ... Masculinity lurks in the shadows of all the conflict through the play and is very important to understanding t...

• Word Count: 775
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

William Shakespeare - (excerpted from Hamlet, Act I, scene 2) This quote made by Stanton in 1890 shows many of the feministic beliefs held by the women of today. And the quote made by Shakespeare holds many of the same thoughts shared by men. ... They [men] know the statistics are more favorable to them and they would like to keep it that way. ... "Just because you can't take this course, why do you want to ruin it for the rest of us?" ... The fact that she is a she and they do not like that a woman would be on the same level. ...

• Word Count: 724
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

William Shakespeare's, The Merchant of Venice, is an abiding play in terms of the values and ideas. ... Shylock's anger is expressed when he highlights the fact that he will be seeking revenge upon the Christians when he says 'the villainy you teach me I will execute', and declares he will do it better than they have, when he claims 'I will better the instruction'. ... Women were underestimated and weren't expected to be independent like men, which link the values and ideas of gender equality to both the Shakespearian and modern society. ... This perhaps in...

• Word Count: 927
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Look to 't, I charge you. ... Her clothes spread wide, and, mermaid-like awhile they bore her up, Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds, as one incapable of her own distress or like a creature native and endued unto that element. ... This shows as Hamlet speaks to Ophelia, "Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. ... Gertrude and Ophelia are minor but powerful characters in the play that Shakespeare focuses on. ... Evidently this image Shakespeare displays of women has gone a long way. ...

• Word Count: 1097
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

To what extent do Katherina and Bianca conform to the ideal of women and marriage in Shakespeare as time? ... The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, and has weathered well into our modern era with adaptations into popular films such as ëten things I hate about you. ... The reason for Katherine's shrewish demeanor is never given in the play, though many directors have interpreted it as an act to discourage suitors, much like Hamlet's feigned madness. ... Yet they share the same characteristics that Shakespeare imparted onto many of his heroines...

• Word Count: 1381
• Approx Pages: 6

MacBeth commands them to "answer me, / To what I ask you" (4.1.63-64). ... The witches represent a feminized other, in that their prophecies are like seeds of evil planted in MacBeth's head. ... Their statements about the future carry evil implications, like subliminal messages behind a tape recording. ... Shakespeare utilizes the notion that these characteristics are typically gendered female. ... Shakespeare clearly sets up a patriarchal structure in MacBeth. ...

• Word Count: 840
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Beatrice in "Much Ado About Nothing," by William Shakespeare, is unlike any other women in the play, especially Hero. ... Shakespeare allows Beatrice to be so outspoken to show how few women were like her. ... Reminding Hero, Leonato says: "Daughter, remember what I told you, if the prince do solicit you in that kind, you know your answer" (2.1.65-67). Hero silently agrees with her father's wishes because she looks at this situation like it is an order she must obey. ... Shakespeare's idea of putting feminist ideals into this character was greatly achieved and inspiring to ...

• Word Count: 1243
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Shakespeare broke new ground in the late 1500s by playing with the unheard idea of the reversal of gender roles. ... In Macbeth, the author, William Shakespeare, uses the reversal of gender roles to show the demise of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. ... Lady Macbeth knows that she has an influence over her husband, so in order for them to gain power, she plans to, "chastise" him, "with the valor of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal"(I, V, 16-20) so eventually he will take action like ...

• Word Count: 1246
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Hemingway was man's man; like Wilson he hunted big game, he drank heavily and he was a womanizer of sorts. ... Wilson is fearless because the "Worst one can do is kill you.... Wilson even quotes a line of Shakespeare about not fearing death. ... Wilson, like most "macho" men, enjoys sex and does not attach any emotion to it. ... Wilson is a drinker like most gentlemen of the time and the fact that he has a red face might suggest that he is a heavy one. ...

• Word Count: 639
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Rich goes on to say that a woman "knows" more than Shakespeare in terms of female characterization, which is undeniably true. ... In other words, even if you"re on my side, I"m against you because you have a penis. This sounds suspiciously like Rich's complaints against men's demeanor in reverse. ...

• Word Count: 1359
• Approx Pages: 5

In one of theaters most dramatic and well-known plays, "Macbeth," William Shakespeare uses reversed gender roles as a significant part of the drama's explicitly violent content. ... In a soliloquy, Lady Macbeth says, "Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And fill me, from the crown to the toe, topfull/Of direst cruelty!"" ... Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting I dare not" wait upon I would, " Like the poor cat i' the adage? ... The whole play is about the reverse gender ro...

• Word Count: 940
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School