Gender Relationships in Shakespeares Plays

Gender Relationships in Shakespeares Plays The subject of gender relationships within the work of Shakespeare became a matter of lively debate during the last quarter of the twentieth century and continues to be an area that attracts much scholarship and controversy. Perceptions that early modern society was antithetical to any exercise of power by women must be counterbalanced by the knowledge that, until 1603, a woman, Queen Elizabeth, held the ultimate power in England. Recent research has increasingly revealed that across this society a significant number of women held economic and social power and so the idea that Shakespeare reflects a society in which women area powerless and oppressed group is one which must be treated with somecaution. Shakespeares work presents a wide variety of female characters and the ways in which they have been perceived has altered over the four hundred years since the plays and poems were written. Play scripts areparticularly susceptible to re-interpretation and in many ways such interpretations reflect as much about their own historical period asabout the one in which the plays were originally written. Each age finds its own relationship with Shakespeare and so it could be arguedthat the question of whether Shakespeares women are regarded as strongor weak is inevitably influenced as much by the gender issues of the present time as by the time in which they were originally created. It is important not to assume that we can read Shakespeares women characters as examples of how women were treated in the period in which the work was written (Barker Kamps, 1995, 5), but rather to use the information that we have about the early modern period in order to see the characterisation of fictional ch aracters as they relate to the constraints which operated on real women of the period.It is also necessary to be aware that, with any dramatic texts, the interventions of actors, directors and current audience expectationscan radically alter the ways in which fictional characters are judged. It is the intention of this dissertation to give a brief introduction to the conventional views of women during the early modern period. Some scholars, such as Lisa Jardine (1989), Jean E. Howard (1988) and Juliet Dusinberre (1996), have argued that the way in which Shakespeare created women characters was in part determined by the fact that they were represented by boy players on the stage. However, it is hoped that by including a discussion of the narrative poem, The Rape of Lucrece, which was not intended for stage production, this dissertation will emphasise a continuity among Shakespeares female characters that goes beyond the necessities of the stage. The discussion will also focus on three of Shakespeares great tragedies, written during at the peak of his career, when his work had become popular amongst a large audience. The popularity of Hamlet, King Lear and Macbeth has enduredover four centuries and these plays continue to reach wide audiencesand have a significant influenc e on current views of Shakespeares women. In early modern England, notions about female gender roles tended to be constructed by two forms of discourse: the theological and themedical. Theological sermons and pamphlets emphasised the biblicalinjunctions that women should be silent and obedient and that they were subject to the authority of their husbands. Callaghan (1989, 9) arguesthat Renaissance society was profoundly hierarchical and that the chain of authority extended from God, via the monarch, to men and women who were expected to conduct their household relationships inconformity with the idea that women were subject the authority of their fathers and husbands. Belsey (1985, 9) emphasises that men and women are not symmetrically defined. Man, the centre and hero of liberal humanism, was produced in contradistinction to the objects of his knowledge, and in terms of the relations of power in the economy and the state. Woman was produced in contradistinction to man,and in terms of the relations of power in the family. These relationships were worked out in the public and private spheres in the requirement that, in terms of the economy and the state,women should be voiceless, and within the family they should be subjec tto their husbands, fathers and other male relatives. Thus, Newman (1991, 134) argues: Talk in women then is dangerous because it is perceived as ausurpation of multiple forms of authority, a threat to order and malesovereignty, to masculine control of commodity exchange, to a desiredhegemonic male sexuality. The extent of this perceived threat may begauged by the strict delegation of the talking woman to the carefullydefined and delimited spheres of private and domestic life in which thehusband was exhorted to rule. In early modern medical texts, the classical theories of Galen andAristotle, in which the female was regarded as in imperfect version of the male, predominated. Aughterson, (1995, 42) argues that the Galenictheories of the humours †¦ effectively continued to assign woman aninferior physiological state to that of man. Howard (2003, 419)observes that men and women were not assumed to be innately different,but rather were viewed as more perfect and less perfect versions of thesame prototype. From these constructions of physiological theory camethe idea that male and female were so intimately related that they werepotentially capable of transmutation: Stories exist from the early modern period recording cases in which,when women supposedly became overheated in running or jumping, malegenitalia would erupt from inside their bodies. (Howard, 2003, 419). That Shakespeare was aware of these ideas and utilised them in hischaracterisations of men and women is demonstrated when Hamlet isconcerned about his feminisation (Rose, 1995, 116), and when LadyMacbeth refutes her femininity: Come, you Spirits / That tend onmortal thoughts, unsex me here (Macbeth I.v.40-41). The term weaker vessel originates from the Bible and can beeffectively seen to straddle both theological and the physiologicaltheories about the relationships between women and men, as isillustrated from the following extract from a homily, dated 1562,designed to be the required reading at marriage ceremonies: St Peter giveth his precept saying: you husbands deal with yourwives according to knowledge, giving honour to the wife as unto theweaker vessel, and as unto them that are heirs also of the grace oflife, that your prayers be not hindered [1 Peter 3). †¦ For the womanis a weak creature, not endued with like strength and constancy ofmind, therefore they be the sooner disquieted, and they be the moreprone to all weak affections and dispositions of the mind, more thanmen be, and lighter they be, and more vain in their fancies andopinions. (An Homily of the State of Matrimony, 1562, from Aughterson, 1995, 23.) This essentially conservative and restrictive view of women was held,in spite of, or perhaps because of the upheaval and unrest of Englandat that time. Early modern England was a society in transition and thedisquiet that came with modernisation often led to reactive measuresdesigned to uphold the status quo. The sumptuary laws, in which modesof dress were prescribed in order to maintain class differences, can beread as an attempt to rein back an increasing level of socialmobility. Similarly, the discourse of gender difference has beeninterpreted as an essentially conservative reaction to social change: Time and again in these plays, we see crucial social problemspresented in relation to a central conflict involving genderopposition. Furthermore, since that opposition entails a fundamentalhierarchy (male superiority and female subordination), its function, interms of the dominant ideology is to reinforce the status quo. Yetthis function is problematic. Female inferiority was not an undebatedcultural given. It was fiercely contested†¦Callaghan (1989, p.11): Recent research supports this argument. The discourse of malesuperiority and female subordination must be seen in a historicalcontext in which a significant number of women had influence in thewider society. There were many wealthy women who wielded greateconomic power; some women participated in the workplace through guildmembership; a significant number of households were headed by women;and a number of women in various part of the country also participatedin parliamentary elections (Rackin, 19-20). It is necessary,therefore, to balance this kind of historical evidence against therhetorical evidence that we find in contemporary texts. The attempt toprescribe and define female roles and responsibilities reflects ananxious reaction to social change, an attempt to arrest progress andestablish a conservative status quo. These anxieties and the contestedground concerning the acceptable role of women in early modern societyinevitably affects the presentation of women in the plays and poe try ofthe period. In reading Shakespeares texts, it is possible to discoveraspects of the discourse of patriarchal authority as well as evidenceof womens power as agents in their own destinies. Whilst the notionof woman as the weaker vessel often informs the construction ofcharacter in Shakespeares work, I intend to argue that a closeexamination reveals that, in spite of the social restraints placed uponthem, these women often reveal a strength that goes beyond anythingthat may be expected. 2 The Rape of Lucrece Shakespeares narrative poem, The Rape of Lucrece, is based onclassical sources in Livy and Ovid and so there are some necessaryconstraints upon the actual plot of the poem. For example, Lucrecessuicide derives from the source materials and, in the context of LivysThe History of Rome from Its Foundation, this event is instrumental inending the reign of kings and instituting the Roman Republic. It isnecessary, therefore, to understand that the classical story primarilyexemplifies the abuse of tyrannical rulers and has a deeply politicalsignificance. While St Augustine later argued that the suicide ofLucrece was, from a Christian theological standpoint, culpable,nonetheless in the classical world Lucreces death was celebrated asboth tragic and heroic (Hendricks, 2000). We must, therefore,distinguish between the story that Shakespeare inherited and what hehas done with it as a narrative: to discuss Lucreces suicide as thoughit were an optional plot device is to misunderstand the nature o f thesource material. It is a given that Lucrece will commit suicide, butthe way in which Shakespeare has constructed the narrative and the waythat he has characterised the participants in this story carries aweight of significance. The poem concentrates not so much on theexternal events of the story, but on the internal experience of thecharacters or, as Maus (1986, 67) comments, the poem concentrates notupon action but upon what happens in the interstices between theâ€Å"important† moments when two people [make] important decisions. There are two significant tropes within this poem that are crucial tothe portrayal of Lucreces character and are pertinent to the questionof her strength. One of these tropes has been discussed by CoppeliaKahn (1995, 42) where she argues that Shakespeare clearly blames menfor exercising several kinds of unfair advantages over women and thathe leans heavily on the traditional conception of womans physical,moral and intellectual inferiority to ma n. She is referring to thepassage in which men are compared with marble and women with wax: For men have marble, women waxen minds, And therefore are they formed as marble will. The weak oppressed, thimpression of strange kinds Is formed in them by force, by fraud, or skill. Then call them not the authors of their ill, No more than wax shall be accounted evil Wherein is stamped the semblance of a devil. (1240-1246) Kahn (1995, 23) argues that Lucrece is the victim of a patriarchalsystem and that Shakespeare uses the patriarchy of the classical worldto mirror his contemporary society. The trope of the marble and thewax therefore emphasises the pliability of women and their inability tohave any control over their destiny in a patriarchal society that soseverely restricts their power to act, or even to take moralresponsibility for themselves. In Kahns reading, Lucrece does,indeed, seem to have taken a waxlike impression of societys valueswith respect to her status as her husbands possession and the way inwhich she sees herself as a de-valued object when she is tainted orstained by rape. However, the poem also proposes an alternativetrope that seems crucial to an understanding of the nature of women.At the pivotal moment when Tarquin has entered Lucreces bedroom anddisclosed his intention to rape her, Shakespeare introduces a picturethat may call into question the comparable strengths of men and wo men:that of the marble and the water. Until this moment, the poem is constructed to show the readerTarquins point of view. One stanza particularly creates a directidentification between the reader and Tarquin: So that in ventring ill we leave to be The things we are for that which we expect; And this ambitious foul infirmity, In having much, torments us with defect Of that we have: so we do neglect The thing we have; and all, for want of wit, Make something nothing by augmenting it. (148-154) By using we †¦ we †¦ we †¦ us †¦ we †¦we †¦ we, Shakespeare removes thespace between Tarquin and the reader, implicating the reader in thekind of rash risk-taking action where Tarquin is shown pawning hishonour to obtain his lust (156). Similarly, in Tarquins inner debateregarding whether he should carry out his intention to rape Lucrece(181-301) and in his reaction when he sees her asleep (365-441), thereader has full access to his thoughts and emotions, while Lucrece ispresented as an object whose external attributes are described inextensive detail yet to whose inner experience there is no access.The blazon description of Lucrece as she sleeps does indeed bear outNancy Vickerss (1985, 96) assertion that the canonical legacy ofdescription in praise of beauty is, after all, a legacy shapedpredominantly by male imagination for the male imagination; it is, inlarge part, the product of men talking to men about women. The firstthird of the poem does, indeed , present Lucrece as a silent presence, athing talked about, but apparently without a voice of her own. Yet the crucial turning point of the poem occurs when she is awoken byTarquin. This act of awakening coincides with the sudden access thatis given to the reader to Lucreces inner experience and her voice inthe poem. Until this point, the poem attributes some reported speechto her, but the first time when her words are recorded as direct speechoccurs in the stanza which begins Quoth she†¦ (575). From this pointonward, the narrative becomes intensely concerned with Lucreces innerexperience, in her perception of the harm done to herself and herhusband as well as in her decision to commit suicide. Hercontemplation of a painting of the siege of Troy similarly enables thereader to identify with her as a person who is imaginatively engagedwith a work of art and as a person who is able to argue about moral andphilosophical issues in her own mind. It is at this point of apparent trans formation in the readersperception of Lucrece when Shakespeare introduces his second tropewhich, I believe, is crucial to the portrayal of Lucrece, when thepoems narrator comments: Tears harden lust, though marble wear withraining (560). Although this is ostensibly a comment on Lucrecesinability to deflect Tarquin from his course by her tears and pleas, itsimultaneously proposes that even the hardness and permanence of marblecan be worn down by something as seemingly soft as water. The Galenichumoural system opposed the wet, female humour with the dry, malehumour and so this picture of water that eventually erodes marble canbe seen not just as an inversion of the hard = strong / soft = weakequation, but also as a specific reference to the wet and dry humoursof men and women. When viewed in the long term, water is stronger thanmarble and this image is re-iterated, when Lucrece herself takes up theimage: For stones dissolved to water do convert (592). AlthoughLucreces pleas for mercy are ineffective in this moment, her wordsnevertheless alert the reader to the relative strengths of stone andwater in the longer term and later her realisation that Time can wastehuge stones with little water drops (959) leads her to curse Tarquin: Disturb his hours of rest with restless trances; Afflict him in his bed with bedrid groans; Let there bechance him pitiful mischances To make him moan, but pity not his moans. Stone him with hardned hearts harder than stones, And let mild women to him lose their mildness, Wilder to him than tigers in their wildness. (967-973) . Atthis point, then, Lucreces line of thought has linked the image ofhearts harder than stones with the reversal of mild women who are nolonger helpless prey, but instead predatory tigers. In the early partof the poem, Lucrece is persistently depicted as a passive victim andthis is emphasised by twin images of predator and prey, such as thenight owl and the dove (360), a serpent and a sleeping woman (362-3), afalcon and a fowl (506-7), a cockatrice and a hind (540-3), a cat and amouse (554-5), a wolf and a lamb (679). Although Lucrece is physicallyunable to protect herself from Tarquin, after he leaves, this imageryis no longer used and Lucrece gains an active voice and a moralpresence that eventually lead her to the act of suicide. Henricks(2000, 115), comments that Shakespeare gives Lucrece a psychologicalcomplexity, interiority and self-awareness. The presentation of Lucreces moral complexity seems to be at oddswith the men in the narrative. Her husband is depicted as a man who isat fault from his initial boasting of his wife as a materialpossession, thereby exposing her to thieves (29-35), and he is laterdescribed as the hopeless merchant of this loss (1659). His finalignominy is the ridiculous squabble with Lucretius over ownership: The one doth call her his, the other his; Yet neither may possess the claim they lay. The father says, Shes mine. O mine she is, Replies her husband: do not take away My sorrows interest; let no mourner say He weeps for her, for she was only mine, And only must be wailed by Collatine. (1793-1799) Brutus takes the knife from Lucreces side and burying in Lucrecewound his follys show (1810), he begins to admonish Collatine andLucretius. In this way, her death is presented as having a redemptivesignificance, not only for Brutus, but also for Rome itself. Although,within the Christian theological tradition, suicide is condemned,nonetheless Shakespeare deliberately chose as his theme a story inwhich a suicide has a positive political effect and is placed within aheroic tradition. The Rape of Lucrece depicts a woman in her most vulnerable moment whois unable to resist her enemy. Yet it could be argued that she trulyfinds a way of fulfilling her assertion that I am the mistress of myfate (1069). Lucrece, though she is entirely situated within apatriarchal discourse that constructs her as her husbands possession,is neither silent nor weak. Finally, like water on marble, she has asubtle strength. 3. Hamlet In the play, Hamlet, Shakespeare presents the audience with two femalecharacters who are quite unlike Lucrece. It has been noted thatLucrece undergoes a transition from her initial silence and is given avoice and an interior life that dominates more than half of the poem.Yet Gertrude and Ophelia, in contrast, are chiefly characterised byhaving very little to say. Showalter (1985, 78) says of Ophelia: She appears in only five of the plays twenty scenes; the pre-playcourse of her love story with Hamlet is known only by a few ambiguousflashbacks. Her tragedy is subordinated in the play; unlike Hamlet,she does not struggle with moral choices or alternatives. Lisa Jardine (1995, 316) makes a similar point about Gertrude, thatshe speaks fewer lines than any other major character in the play.It is therefore incumbent upon the audience or reader to fill in thegaps for these characters, who say so little for themselves. It may beargued that both Gertrude and Ophelia are presented as conforming to anearly modern stereotype of correct feminine behaviour and that theirpresence within a patriarchal society has had the effect of deprivingthem of the opportunity for either action or speech. It seems that Ophelia is the character who most epitomises theposition of a woman who is controlled by the patriarchal structuresaround her. She is presented as a woman of virtue who is obedient toher father and brother. Her reticence in the first scene in which shespeaks is effectively demonstrated by an extreme economy of words.When Laertes departs for France, her speeches are limited to halflines, single lines and pairs of lines as she receives instructionsf rom Polonius and Laertes regarding her behaviour. Although PhyllisRackin (2000, 22) has recently questioned the scholarly consensus thatrespectable women were expected to stay at home, that they wereeconomically dependent on fathers and husbands, and that they weresubjected to constant surveillance by jealous men, obsessively anxiousabout their sexual fidelity, it is nonetheless true that both fatherand brother are preoccupied by the risk of Ophelia losing her virginityand thus ruining herself and bringing dishonour to her male relatives.Ophelia has only one speech of longer than two lines in which toexpress her reaction to these instructions, but her initial obedienceturns into a comment upon male hypocrisy: I shall theffect of this good lesson keep As watchman to my heart. But good my brother, Do not as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles like a puffd and reckless libertine Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And recks not his own rede. (I.iii.45-51) Poloniuss subsequent conversation with Ophelia confirms this view,but he is plain about her responsibilities to him and unapologeticabout the double standards that operate in this society. He begins byreferring to the need for Ophelia to protect her own honour (I.iii.97),but he then moves on to his real concern: Tender yourself more dearly/ Or †¦ youll tender me a fool (I.iii107-109). Shortly afterwards hestates: For the Lord Hamlet, Believe so much in him that he is young, And with a larger tether may he walk Than may be given you. (I.iii.122-126) Ophelia has the last line in this scene and it is at least outwardly- an expression of compliance: I shall obey, my lord (I.iii.136).However, her conversation with Polonius makes it clear that she hasbeen conducting a relationship with Hamlet for which she had not soughther fathers prior permission. This is perhaps an example of thecomplexities of courtship and marriage that existed in early modernEngland. On one hand, there is evidence that arranged marriage wasprobably still the norm in practice, even though marrying for lovebecomes the ideal on stage (Belsey, 2002, 129); but on the other handthere is also evidence that a more uncertain situation existed wherepreliminary decisions were made by the young people; the parents wereusually brought into the discussion only later'(Amussen, 1999, 94) .Ophelias behaviour suggests that the latter was a more accuratedescription of her situation. Ophelias ability to express herself continues to be severelyrestricted throughout the scene in w hich she is confronted by Hamlet(III.i) and in the Mouse Trap scene (III.ii). However, she doeseventually find a voice, and it is through her madness that she isfinally able to confront the ultimate embodiment of male authority: theking. Ophelias use of folk songs as a way of expressing a sexualisedsensibility is in stark contrast to the verbal control of her earlierscenes, yet the meaning of her words carries the same message, asHattaway (2002, 114) comments: what is significant is its exposure ofthe double standard: a man gains honour among his own sex by virtue ofsexual conquests, while by the same activity a woman loses hers. Thiscontradiction can be seen as central to the character of Ophelia and itultimately destroys her. Showalter (1985, 91) comments that somefeminists have regarded Ophelias madness as a form of protest andrebellion. For many feminist theorists, she states, the madwomanis a heroine, a powerful figure who rebels against the family and thesocial order. It is al so possible, however, to argue that Opheliascryptic comments on her plight are contained by her madness and thatany attempt to operate outside of the strictures of patriarchy isforeclosed by her death. Ophelias madness has proved to be apowerful symbol of female insanity over the last four centuries: wecould provide a manual of female insanity by chronicling illustrationsof Ophelia; this is so because the illustrations of Ophelia have playeda major role in the theoretical construction of female insanity'(Showalter, 1985, 80). With the benefit of four hundred years ofhindsight, therefore, Ophelias madness has attained a symbolicsignificance which is a contested site of meaning. Gertrudes part in the play has also provoked a great deal of commentand controversy. Jardine (1995, 316) comments upon the phenomenon ofblame that has become attached to Gertrude. Hamlets apparentobsession with her behaviour has been the subject of muchpsychoanalytical interpretation. However, the recent empha sis onviewing early modern literature within a historicist framework haspresented an alternative to the essentially anachronistic process ofapplying a nineteenth century theoretical framework to a seventeenthcentury play. With a greater historical awareness, it is possible toview Hamlets concerns in a different way: the anxiety about hismothers behaviour that preoccupies him and distracts him from hisostensible duty to avenge the death of his father can be explained byhis mothers apparently unfeminine and inappropriate sexuality.Hamlet describes Gertrudes relationship with Claudius as hot, lustfuland bestial: Nay, but to live In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, Stewd in corruption, honeying and making love Over the nasty sty! (III.iv.91-94) Disgusted by the physical evidence Gertrudes sexuality, Hamlet hasthree issues with his mothers behaviour: he has identified that she ishot (a sign of masculinity in Galens humoural system), he is concernedat the speed with which she has transferred her affiliation from oldHamlet to Claudius (thus refuting the requirement that women should beconstant); and she also seems to behave with too much liberty. As isclear from Poloniuss rebuke to Ophelia, men could be permitted agreater freedom, but a womans freedom to act was severelycircumscribed. Gertrudes lack of restraint is seen by Hamlet asdangerous, both socially and politically. Hamlet is therefore dismayedby the fact that his mother is behaving in such a way as to go beyondthe conventional requirements of feminine behaviour and that she is, inhis eyes, encroaching onto male territory. Though it is true thatGertrude does not have many lines, her role is crucial to Hamletsstate of mind and to his ability to act in a way that he perce ives asmanly. In marrying Claudius, Gertrude has also retained politicalpower as queen and this has almost certainly had the effect of barringHamlet from inheriting the throne from his dead father. It can beargued, then, that in her relationship with Hamlet she has a level ofpersonal and political power that is the cause of his inability to takethe action that feels is necessary to avenge the death of his father. Gertrude and Ophelia, though they have relatively few lines, both havepivotal roles to play in Hamlet. Their influence over the outcome ofthe play is far in excess of the number of lines spoken by them. Bothof them are seen to go beyond what was the conventionally idealisedfeminine roles ascribed to them by early modern society. That theirbehaviour causes anxiety in the male characters in the play is clear:Laertes, Polonius, Claudius and Hamlet are all preoccupied by theirbehaviour, yet are unable to exert the necessary control thatpatriarchal power structures require of th em. Although the socialnorms of patriarchy are clearly inscribed into this play, the womencharacters display a level of non-conformity that enables them tosubvert the power structures that seek to restrain them. Shakespearehas inscribed into this play a complexity of characterisation in bothGertrude and Ophelia that denies the simplistic category of femaleweakness into which their society might have tried to fit them. 4. King Lear Ann Thompson (1991, 125) has commented on the difficulties thatthis play creates in that too much critical attention has turned KingLear into a play exclusively or primarily about male power, butKathleen McLuskie (1985, 103) argues that the text containspossibilities for subverting these meanings and the potential forreconstructing them in feminist terms. In the opening scene of theplay, we are presented with what McLuskie refers to as a love test,based on the structure of a folk tale. The King creates a situationwhereby the fate of his kingdom and his daughters depends upon theirverbal declarations of love. However, if the ideal type of womanhood,as defined in early modern society, lies in its silence and modestrestraint, is could be argued that Lear is tempting his daughters intoerror by requiring such public verbal displays. He exposes hisdaughters to the unseemliness of a living woman conveying her feelingsin a public format (Barker Kamps, 1995, 4). Shakespeare is thusproblemati sing Lears behaviour from the outset: he embarks upon acourse that demands that his daughters prove their love by floutingpatriarchal conventions. The women are thus trapped: whatever they sayor do not say, they run the risk of disobedience, either to theirfather or to the wider requirements of proper feminine behaviour. In Lears three daughters and their responses to this situation, weare presented with alternative types of female behaviour and the playalso focuses attention on their agency as it relates to the patriarchalstructures within which they operate. The play could be said to be anillustration of the weakness and folly of two old men Lear andGloucester who, as their physical powers diminish, lose their socialand political powers as well. Just as the source of womens weaknesscan be traced to their bodies, so it might be argued that a bodilydecline in old men renders them weak and vulnerable. In the subsequentpower struggle, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia all make choices tha tgovern their future and that determine the course of the subsequentdrama. Although this leads to the depiction of Goneril and Regan aspredatory adulteresses, whilst Cordelia ultimately becomes a victim whois unable to survive, it is nonetheless true to say that all three ofthese women seize opportunities to make their own choices anddecisions. From the outset, Cordelia is characterised as the pictureof modest womanly constraint, as she punctuates her sisters smoothrendition of filial loyalty with comments such as: What shall Cordeliaspeak? Love and be silent (I.i.61) and Then poor Cordelia! / And yetnot so; since I am sure my loves / More ponderous than my tongue'(I.i.75-77). Cordelias virtue lies in her observation of duty andobedience and she is aware that every adult woman must divide her dutyand obedience between her husband and her father. Though this stanceis shown to place her in a double bind that leads to exile and thendeath, yet she has exercised her own choice and has re sisted pressurefrom her father to take another course. In choosing the path of truthto herself, she has become her own moral arbiter and is the first ofthe three daughters to openly rebel against her father

Human Landscapes from My Country by Nazim Hikmet Essay

Introduction In the Epic novel, Human Landscapes from My Country, Nazim Hikmet used the comparison between technology and nature very often. The imagery of technology that is portrayed in this novel seems to clash with nature. Through the use of many different images such as the train and plane, Hikmet seems to portray technology as the antagonist of nature. These imageries suggest how technology would destroy and would annihilate nature with its surroundings as technology progresses. However, after a closer reading into the novel, Hikmet actually suggest that technology as a positive aspect that will ultimately improve human lives. Perhaps sacrifices and mistakes are necessary as these are natural occurrences that are expected to happen as technology progresses. Although the cost of technology may seem to be dreadful, it is a necessary step for the better future of human lives. Literature Contemporary history on a panoramic scale is taken up in Human Landscapes, which was written during the author’s prison years but was only published several years after his death. Beginning with the project for an epic study of Turkish history during the twentieth century, at intervals the poet’s narrative also turns to major events in adjoining regions, notably naval action of World War II in the Mediterranean and the work of Soviet forces against Nazi invaders. His commentary on the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1922) stands in stark contrast to the heroic national themes repeatedly invoked by other writers of that period. In Hikmet’s view, it would seem that the people as a whole contributed to final victory but only through an inchoate mass rising that did not also lead to a social revolution. Indeed, many passages suggest that class differences remained acute but were altered by Turkey’s changed status in the world economy. There are a number of brief sketches of individual lives, both from the wealthy and from the lower orders, often to state unpleasant truths about the people’s living situation. Some characters, it is recorded, died of disease at early ages; farmers retained their land but lost all means of production. Many of the personages are war veterans from one conflict or another. There is much attention to dates, but not in the sense of commemorating events with patriotic connotations; important occurrences in individual lives are accorded the same emphasis as major developments in the nation’s history. There is also a fair amount of random, seemingly senseless violence: Family quarrels lead to murder; after a man kills his wife, children use the head as a ball in a macabre game. A wrenching, gripping scene records the lynching of a Turk who had collaborated with the British occupation forces. There are some sardonic religious references which call to mind folk superstitions; in some later passages, Turks of a pro-German inclination speculate about whether Adolph Hitler could be a Muslim. Leading Turkish statesmen and thinkers figure as portraits on the walls of business offices; the memories associated with them are quirky bits of characterization that are far from flattering. The work as a whole darts about and circumambulates historical epochs as they affected different, indeed opposing, social classes. After nearly fifteen years of national independence, homeless and desperately hungry men are to be found outside a newspaper office; if wealthy businessmen cannot turn a profit in some branches of the export trade, because of government restrictions, they move readily to other sectors where their fortunes can be augmented. Some of them end up dealing with both the Allied and the Axis powers during World War II. The incidence of suicide on either side of the class divide is fairly high; among the poor, childbirth is difficult, painful, and sometimes ends in tragedy. Although this exercise in historical realism, based on the author’s own observations of Turkish life, does not seem to hold out any immediate hopes for a better future, the poet’s descriptions of nature and simple joys serve to leaven an otherwise grim and unsentimental saga (Des Pres, 7-25). Written in free verse and employing such cinematographic techniques as flashbacks, pans, zooms, dissolves, and jump cuts, Human Landscapes from My Country combines the economy of poetry with the rapid-fire imagery of motion pictures. Hikmet traces the fortunes of men and women in love and war — from prostitutes, politicians, and captains of industry to housewives, political prisoners, and peasants — and gives voice to social strata unheard from in a heroic context until the twentieth century. To Hikmet, every life is a human-interest story worth telling, and his is a cast of hundreds. This panoramic view of Turkish society during World War II, when the fate of the world hung in the balance, highlights the compelling variety of human experience, never letting us forget that, for better or worse, the fate of the world is in our hands. Hikmet’s unabashed communist politics, for which he languished in prison or exile most of his adult life, are reflected in vignettes of idealized â€Å"Ivans† of soldierly valor and of real-life heroes, â€Å"Tanya† the teenaged Russian revolutionary and the Nazi-martyred journalist Gabriel Peri. Still, the poet’s most profound sympathies lie with the poor man striving to sustain himself and his family in pursuit of a fleeting happiness. Living out prolonged confinement for political activities, dreaming of his wife and child as blindness threatens and days become years, unbowed Halil recalls the poet’s own situation, a cynosure of what an entire culture was forced to endure. Ultimately Hikmet’s art suggests spaciousness, a grandeur in the details of poor people seeking just to breathe while events portend an invidious recurrence of suffering for love, ambition, misfortune–for living. Finally available complete in English, Hikmet’s hauntingly eloquent masterpiece never flags. Human civilization and technology has grown in a fast pace but are we happy? Hikmet said that he feels life is more comfortable. Nobody said that life has become happier. We found that technology which has been developed to make life easier has in fact made life complicated and busier. He said that unlike the past, now he can travel from place to place in few minutes/hours but life has become busier. Communication has improved, technology has taken place in our lives but effective communication between people has decreased. We were all alarmed to face this fact that better technology doesn’t mean happiness. So is technology, instead of liberating us, holding us back? Some later segments of this work are essentially similar to portions of The Moscow Symphony and Other Poems, an imaginative lyrical reconstruction of German-Soviet fighting which in the first instance was probably based upon news stories that Hikmet received in prison. After allowance for the different languages, it may be argued that some passages would do credit to a Soviet wartime poet: the anxiety of the war’s first year, the vast human drama of armies locked in combat, and the camaraderie of soldiers brought together in common struggle are evoked in brisk, telling lines. This novel in verse, written during one long prison sentence in the 1940s, reflects the emotional and physical torments the poet experienced. More gritty than lyrical, it is powerfully plainspoken: â€Å"But Selim was no Communist/ He didn’t even know what communism was/ †¦ But the cops thought different/ They laid Selim on the floor. And when Selim got up/ he couldn’t step on his feet/ They laid Selim on the floor/ And when Selim got up/ he couldn’t see. † Hikmet’s writing is poetry under siege, and the blunt heroism of his characters makes them more Marxist ideals than believable human beings. The poetic element may not survive well in translation, but the content and context make this a lastingly fascinating work. Works Cited Des Pres, Terrence. â€Å"Poetry and Politics: The Example of Nazim Hikmet. † Parnassus: Poetry in Review 6, no. 2 (1978): 7-25.

The Pacific Theater Of World War II - 1375 Words

The Pacific Theater of World War II ended on September 2, 1945, known as Victory over Japan Day or V-J Day, less than a month after the United States dropped an atomic bomb Hiroshima. The two atomic bombs dropped on Japan are widely seen as the events that eventually broke the enemy’s will to resist and caused Japan to surrender; however this outcome could not have taken place without numerous innovations that took place in the interwar period. Without one of these innovations, it is likely that the other may not have occurred; the innovations had to line up like the holes in slices of Swiss cheese. 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Buddhism And The Buddhist Liberation Movement - 1107 Words

Buddhism Instructor Name Date People from the spaghetti western world think of Buddhism as a conviction where people take the time to look at one’s self but in contemporary Asia this is not so where the Buddhist liberation movement is working to accomplish equality amongst people and to make available them with basic wishes as much as it means taking the time to think about one’s self. This focus on one’s self is where things such as karma and inexperience is placed second to focus on belongings such as greed loathing and new methods of solving peace, poverty and injustice. This liberation is called everyday emerging and includes every person from villages to nations. For discharge to be possible ten basic essentials†¦show more content†¦Kenneth Kraft has agreed with the idea that this mundane awakening in Buddhism started with Siddhartha but was hidden. These principles such as equal opportunity, social change and ethical sensitivity as emphasized in the west can now be re alized. Buddhist believes that the poor needs more attention as life need a lot of material things than those who have enough and those who have more than enough need to focus on the information that there are people in need. Buddhist liberation movements are a major change for the religion and will continue to do so in the future. Mata feels that the future should be devoted to development of motherhood as women have the ability to transform the world through there healing powers. She believes that mothers are the ones who teach love and patience in the minds of their children as with them throughout their life. Although motherhood is not limited to those who given birth, both men and women can be mothers as motherhood is the what and how a person thinks and the love that a person can pass on to a child. A mother passes love and kindness to her children. These qualities are even passed through her breast milk. These thoughts and character that are molded into a child