Twelfth Night Gender Roles Essay

Gender stereotypes are not a modern notion and as such expectations and limitations have always existed for both men and women. Fortunately women, who have formerly beared great burdens of discrimination, now have very liberated roles in society as a result of slowly shifting attitudes and values. Shakespeare was integral in challenging the subservient role expected of women in the 16th century. Throughout the play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’, women are expressed as powerful characters who behave, speak and live in a way that breaks away from the conformist role of females during the 16th century. Therefore, the submissive stereotype expected of women in Shakespearean time is confronted and defied through

1. Why did Cato object to repealing the Oppian law? What was the basis of his objections?

Ron Burgundy: "I'm a man who discovered the wheel, and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That's what kind of man I am. You're just a woman with a small brain. With a brain a 1/3 the size of us...It's science."

In Twelfth Night by Shakespeare was written during the Early Modern Period, this was a time where men were more prominent when it came to being in charge. The play Twelfth Night shows this when one of the main characters, a girl named

Born on approximately April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, William Shakespeare is considered by many to have been the greatest writer the English language has ever known. His literary legacy included 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and five major poems. Among his many plays is the notable, Twelfth Night, a romantic comedy, placed in a festive atmosphere in which three couples are brought together happily.

The subversion of gender roles introduces the idea that women are capable of being powerful and influential figures. Specifically Lady Macbeth and the witches question the meaning of masculinity and they indicate characteristics men are known to possess. Women of the 1600’s were accustomed to submissive behavior and were stereotyped as the “weaker” sex. Shakespeare opposed

The play Twelfth Night encapsulates what it meant to be a man and women throughout

When observing gender in our society, women and men are stereotyped with specific roles. Men have always been seen as the family’s main source of income whereas the women take care of their home and children. However, Shakespeare challenges these gender roles in his play with the three female characters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. While all three are independent, powerful women and even lead their armies into battle, the men seem to be foolish and weak such as King Lear and Albany. Furthermore, Mira cel Batran makes a point in her essay, “Feminist Reading of William Shakespeare’s King Lear”, that although women are regarded as dependent on men, Shakespeare explains that it can be the exact opposite. The men seem to depend on the women such as King Lear depending on Cordelia and Albany depending on Goneril. Shakespeare, in his play, King Lear, portrays women who are strong and intelligent and men who are weak or overpowered by female characters, challenging the societal belief that women are inherently less than or dependent on men.

William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as a Feminist Play The play Twelfth Night was written in the Elizabethan days, near the end of the ruling of Queen Elizabeth I. It was also during The Renaissance, which is also the rebirth of learning, which this play was born. It was a period of change, questioning and vitality.

In the words of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, “Your self-worth is determined by you. You don’t have to depend on someone telling you who you are”. Even though in this day and age, this is a concept almost every women can agree on, in the age of Shakespeare, it was a belief women would not dare support. Today, there are still several misogynistic issues that all women struggle with, and it is very evident that the misogyny present in Denmark during the Middle Ages was much more suppressive and aggressive. In Hamlet, Shakespeare explores the idea of male chauvinism in the 17th century and how it forcefully and severely distorts the lives of the female characters in Hamlet in different ways. Specifically, he depicts how the actions, views, and criticism

Cross-dressing in ‘Twelfth Night’ makes Viola 's gender identity ambiguous, Viola is both a man and a woman, possessing both masculinity and femininity, therefore cross-dressing helps to break down renaissance gender stereotypes and eventually, the patriarchy. The 'original practice ' of ‘Twelfth Night’ was reconstructed in a 2012 globe production which replicated the way in which the play would 've been enacted in the Elizabethan era, by having an all-male cast. This added to the madness of the

Men and women are different. How different depends on what stereotype one chooses to believe. Although it has been argued that some stereotypes are positive, they are never beneficial. Society creates gender stereotypes and perpetuates them through societal institutions. In this paper the roles of gender will be analyzed regarding education, public policy, and the workplace. How education shapes gender, the gender norms in government, the law, policies, and the role of gender in the workplace will be discussed.

In the play Twelfth Night, Shakespeare delves into the concept of personal identity through his exploration of the character Viola. After discovering that her twin brother is dead after a boat wreck, Viola decides to reshape her identity in the new country she is in. She hides her maiden clothes with the sea captain and takes on the name Cesario. By taking on a new name, and not the name of her brother Sebastian, Viola is not miming her twin, but instead forming a male identity of her own. As Viola makes new acquaintances under the identity Cesario, she alludes to the trickery in her identity, “I am not that I play” (1.5 175). Viola controls her own identity and since she knows that biologically she is not a man, she can hint at her biological identity accordingly. She shapes her identity by deciding how she wants to be viewed by others. When Olivia, the countess in the play who forms a liking to Cesario, asks Viola “What are you?” (I.5 204), Viola responds “What I am, and what I would, are as secret as maidenhead” (I.5 207-8). Again, Viola admits that her identity is a secret and that she is not who she appears to be. Throughout the play Viola is implying her identity is a false one, however, the other characters in the play do not pick up on this trick. The concept of forming one’s personal identity is also influenced by others perspectives.

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In this session, I will discuss the gender roles in my family. The definition of gender role is the degree to which a person adopts the gender-specific behaviors ascribed by his or her culture (Matsumoto, D. R., & Juang 2013, 156). For example, traditional gender roles recommend that males are aggressive, angry, and unemotional. It goes further and explains that the male should leave the home every day to make a living and be the main wage earner. The traditional gender role for the female purpose is to stay at home and care for the children. It explains that the female is to be nurturing, caring, and emotional (Matsumoto, D. R., & Juang 2013, 156). These traditional roles for female and male are the opposite of one another. It is believed that the culture is likely to influence our perception about gender role in a family. In my family, my parents utilize the traditional gender role. Growing up, my father went to work every day and my mother stayed home with me and my sister. I believe my parents were influence by their parents and their culture to be traditional gender role parents. My father explained to me that they chose traditional parenting role because both sides of the family utilized traditional parenting gender roles. I believe my parents felt pressure to obtain the gender roles of the mother staying home with the children while the father worked. However, when my younger sister was old enough to go to school, my mother started to work. It was believed that when