Gender Ambiguity In Shakespeares Macbeth

Author : Barbora Sramkova
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3640427009
Total Pages : 9 pages
Book Rating : 4.00/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Gender Ambiguity in Shakespeare's Macbeth written by Barbora Sramkova and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2009-09-16 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essay from the year 1996 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1, University Of Wales Institute, Cardiff (Cardiff School of English, Communication and Philosophy), course: Shakespeare's Tragedies, language: English, abstract: Probably the most powerful lines lingering in the reader’s or audience’s memory after experiencing Macbeth are the hero’s words in reaction to the news of the death of his spouse: “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” (V, 5, 23-28) When life signifies nothing, does this play signify anything? However simple the question may seem, the answer is hardly straightforward. Trying to stay away from moralising about vaulting ambition that doesn’t pay in the end I would like to speculate about possible significations of the play, not necessarily connected to the plot, or to put it in another way, examine the possibly significant themes and motives recurrent in the play: ambiguity, uncertainty or indeterminacy of meaning. Equivocation is the term used in the play itself (e.g. the porter scene in III, i) and it well captures the theme of walking the tightrope above the abyss of single, definite meaning on one hand, and the endless proliferation of meaning on the other. One cannot escape the impression that the thematically prominent characters of the play (Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, the witches, the Porter) virtually evade committing themselves to definite meanings.

Author : Vinzent Fröhlich
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3638057062
Total Pages : 85 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The construction of femininity and masculinity in Shakespeare`s Macbeth written by Vinzent Fröhlich and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2008-06-03 with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examination Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Potsdam (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), language: English, abstract: The title of this paper is “The Construction of Femininity and Masculinity in Shakespeare`s Macbeth". As this title suggests, I analyzed how Shakespeare construes female and male identity in Macbeth. As in many Shakespearean dramas the play starts with the destruction of order leading up to a crisis and ending in the restoration of order at the end of the play (Gelfert 32). The political order that is destroyed in the course of the play is King Duncan`s natural and fair order which appreciates a unique set of masculine and feminine values. Macbeth murders King Duncan in order to usurp his throne. Macbeth`s reign turns Duncan`s order into chaos and moral order cannot return to Scotland until the tyrant ruler Macbeth is defeated by troops who fight for the restoration of Duncan`s order, through the coronation of his son Malcolm. This essay deals with the question of how Shakespeare shapes female and male characters. As a matter of fact, female and male characters are ultimately involved in the destruction and restoration of Scotland. This involves questions such as: Which historical concepts does Shakespeare use to construe his male and female characters? Does he construe “typical” gender roles? And what happens when gender boundaries are crossed, when men develop feminine traits and women male ones? With special regard to the marriage of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, I also analyzed the interaction between the genders. In the course of my analysis, I used the term “gender”, originating from Anglo-American feminist discourse, meaning ”the social, cultural, and psychological meaning imposed upon biological sexual identity” (Showalter 1-2). Interpreting femininity and masculinity as “gender” constructions allows a more thorough analysis of the various processes involved in the “making” of men and women. Whilst the term “sex” suggests that children naturally acquire the appropriate masculine or feminine behavioural norms of their society, the term “gender” can also indicate that some people feel discrepancies between their “anatomical sex and experiential sense of gender and sexuality” (Showalter 2). After a short historical introduction about the origins of the play, I analyzed the masculine world of chivalry that the play takes place in. Understanding the world of chivalry, its values and codes is required as most of the male characters are construed as chivalrous knights serving in the corps of King Duncan. Enjoy!

Author : Maria L. Howell
Publisher : University Press of America
ISBN 13 : 0761841989
Total Pages : 56 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Manhood and Masculine Identity in William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth written by Maria L. Howell and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 2008-10-14 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maria Howell''s, Manhood and Masculine Identity in William Shakespeare''s The Tragedy of Macbeth, is an important and compelling scholarly work which seeks to examine the sixteenth century''s greatest concern, echoed by Hamlet himself, "What is a man?" In an attempt to analyze the concept of manhood in Macbeth, Howell explores the contradictions and ambiguities that underlie heroic notions of masculinity dramatized throughout the play. From Lady Macbeth''s capacity to control and destroy Macbeth''s masculine identity, to Macbeth himself, who corrupts his military prowess to become a ruthless and murderous tyrant, Howell demonstrates that heroic notions of masculinity not only reinforce masculine power and authority, paradoxically, these ideals are also the source of man''s disempowerment and destruction. Howell argues that in an attempt to attain a higher principle, the means (violence and destruction) and the ends (justice and peace) become fused and indistinguishable, so that those values that inform man''s actions for good no longer provide moral clarity. Howell''s poignant and timely analysis of manhood and masculine identity in Shakespeare''s Macbeth will no doubt resonate with readers today.

Author : Verena Schörkhuber
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3638767493
Total Pages : 37 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Representation of Gender in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' and 'Antony and Cleopatra' written by Verena Schörkhuber and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2007-09 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: A, University of Edinburgh, course: Tragedy, History and Sovereignty in Late Medieval and Early Modern Poetry and Drama, 18 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Building on the assumption that differences between the sexes in tragedy are defined through competing representations of heroism, this paper shall take a closer look at the representation of gender in two premodern tragedies, Shakespeare's Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra. The aim of this paper shall be to provide a short introduction to (Shakespeare) feminist criticism, which will be supplemented with an overview of various notable instances of the representation of gender in these two works.

Author : Catherine Parissis Lumsden
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Is Hamlet a Woman? written by Catherine Parissis Lumsden and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Katharina Herrmann
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3640771257
Total Pages : 57 pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Gender Politics in "Macbeth" written by Katharina Herrmann and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2010-12 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1, University of Heidelberg (Anglistisches Seminar), course: Shakespeare's Tragedies - Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear, language: English, abstract: Renaissance tragedy does to a large extent deal with common political, religious and social questions of the time. In most cases, authors use tragedy as the place to question and even criticize those issues, and thus use it as a political space. In Jacobean England, society was profoundly hierarchical with the king on top of the state, and the father or husband as head of the family. " W]omen were clearly socially subordinate, and the preponderance of discourse on the gender hierarchy was misogynistic" . Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's late tragedies, written in 1606, and presented at the Globe Theatre later that year. In Shakespeare's plays sex and gender are crucial for defining human identity and political power. In the course of this essay, I will first take a closer look at gender ideology in the English Renaissance and in Renaissance tragedy and see how society justified the social subordination of women, and what kind of behaviour was considered appropriate for women. As Macbeth is a play that hugely builds on gender stereotyping, I will afterwards work out the play's definition of masculinity and femininity in the medieval social context the tragedy is set in, and subsequently analyse the characters of the three witches and king Duncan regarding their hermaphroditism and androgynity, and see whether the blurring of fixed gender roles might be interpreted as an indication that gender politics in Macbeth are unusual for the medieval Scottish context. The main part of this essay will be dedicated to the Macbeths, two strongly individualized characters. I will examine the characters of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth first, take a look at how their ambition leads to their downfall and afterwards discuss whether it i

Author : conte Baldassarre Castiglione
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 526 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Book of the Courtier written by conte Baldassarre Castiglione and published by . This book was released on 1903 with total page 526 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Sarah HATCHUEL
Publisher : Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havre
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 1084 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Shakespeare on screen : Macbeth written by Sarah HATCHUEL and published by Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havre. This book was released on 2013-12-20 with total page 1084 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This addition to the Shakespeare on Screen series reveals the remarkable presence of Macbeth in the global Shakespearean screenscape. What is it about Macbeth that is capable of extending beyond Scottish contexts and speaking globally, locally and “glocally”? Does the extensive adaptive reframing ofMacbeth suggest the paradoxical irrelevance of the original play? After examining the evident topic of the supernatural elements—the witches and the ghost—in the films, the essays move from a revisitation of the well-known American screen versions, to an analysis of more recent Anglophone productions and to world cinema (Asia, France, South Africa, India, Japan, etc.). Questions of lineage and progeny are broached, then extended into the wider issues of gender. Finally, ballet remediations, filmic appropriations, citations and mises-en-abyme of Macbeth are examined, and the book ends with an analysis of a Macbeth script that never reached the screen. Ce nouvel ouvrage de la série « Shakespeare à l’écran » révèle la présence remarquable de Macbeth dans le paysage filmique shakespearien à l’échelle mondiale. Comment expliquer qu’une pièce dont l’intrigue est ancrée dans une nation, l’Écosse, ait pu être absorbée par des cultures aussi diverses ? Les multiples adaptations de Macbeth suggèrent-elles, de manière paradoxale, une moindre pertinence de la pièce originelle ? Après avoir exploré la représentation des éléments surnaturels (les sorcières et le fantôme), le volume revisite les films américains « canoniques », les productions anglophones plus récentes et les versions d’autres aires culturelles (Asie, France, Afrique du Sud, Inde, Japon, etc.) Les questions de lignée et de descendance sont abordées, puis prolongées dans des articles sur la représentation du genre. Les versions dansées, les appropriations, les citations et les mises en abyme de Macbeth sont ensuite analysées, et ce parcours mène à un étrange objet – un scénario non filmé.

Author : Harold Bloom
Publisher : Infobase Publishing
ISBN 13 : 160413884X
Total Pages : 203 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book William Shakespeare's Macbeth written by Harold Bloom and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of literary criticism focusing on Shakespeare's play Macbeth.

Author : Marguerite A. Tassi
Publisher : Susquehanna University Press
ISBN 13 : 1575911310
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Women and Revenge in Shakespeare written by Marguerite A. Tassi and published by Susquehanna University Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can there be a virtue in vengeance? Can revenge do ethical work? Can revenge be the obligation of women? This wide-ranging literary study looks at Shakespeare's women and finds bold answers to questions such as these. A surprising number of Shakespeare's female characters respond to moral outrages by expressing a strong desire for vengeance. This book's analysis of these characters and their circumstances offers incisive critical perceptions of feminine anger, ethics, and agency and challenges our assumptions about the role of gender in revenge. In this provocative book, Marguerite A. Tassi counters longstanding critical opinions on revenge: that it is the sole province of men in Western literature and culture, that it is a barbaric, morally depraved, irrational instinct, and that it is antithetical to justice. Countless examples have been mined from Shakespeare's dramas to reveal women's profound concerns with revenge and justice, honor and shame, crime and punishment. In placing the critical focus on avenging women, this book significantly redresses a gender imbalance in scholarly treatments of revenge, particularly in early modern literature.