Comic Women, Tragic Men: A Study of Gender and Genre in ShakespeareStanford University Press, 1982 M06 1 - 212 pages This book proceeds from the assumption that Shakespeare, so often perceived as the one writer who appears to have transcended the limits of gender, inevitably writes from the perspective of his own gender. From this perspective, whatever represents the Self is necessarily male; and the Other, which challenges the Self, is female. The author's approach gives us a fresh understanding of both Shakespeare's characters and the structure of the plays. The author defines genre in terms of the nature of the challenge offered by the Other to the Self. Using specific plays and characters of Shakespeare, the author shows how in tragedy the Other betrays or appears to betray the Self; in comedy the Other evades the social hierarchies dominated by versions of the male Self; in romance the Other comes and goes, leaving the Self bereft when she is gone and astounding him with happiness when she reappears. History is defined as a genre in which the masculine heroes confront no challenge from the Other but only from each other, from other versions of the Self. The book consists of a long theoretical introduction followed by chapters on comedy, history, and some individual plays: Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth, Coriolanus, and The Tempest. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 73
Page 3
... the author of the tragedies ? Some schools of criticism , of course , would dispute the necessity of doing so . In post - structuralist criticism the author disappears , and the contradictions of the Comic Women , Tragic Men 3.
... the author of the tragedies ? Some schools of criticism , of course , would dispute the necessity of doing so . In post - structuralist criticism the author disappears , and the contradictions of the Comic Women , Tragic Men 3.
Page 5
... course masculine perspective is the issue in Sexual Politics . But in Sexual Politics masculine perspective is indistinguishable from sexism . My idea of gender perspective , whether masculine or feminine , is different from Millett's ...
... course masculine perspective is the issue in Sexual Politics . But in Sexual Politics masculine perspective is indistinguishable from sexism . My idea of gender perspective , whether masculine or feminine , is different from Millett's ...
Page 8
... course of the play makes him seem a somewhat different character at the end from what he was at the beginning . Maynard Mack goes so far as to say that " the most important thing that happens in a Shakespearean tragedy is that the hero ...
... course of the play makes him seem a somewhat different character at the end from what he was at the beginning . Maynard Mack goes so far as to say that " the most important thing that happens in a Shakespearean tragedy is that the hero ...
Page 9
... course it is not Gertrude who is absent - minded about her betrayal of Hamlet ; it is her author who chooses to forget it . Enobarbus's recognition changes him from a character defined by his irony and wit into one with profoundly ...
... course it is not Gertrude who is absent - minded about her betrayal of Hamlet ; it is her author who chooses to forget it . Enobarbus's recognition changes him from a character defined by his irony and wit into one with profoundly ...
Page 10
... course since 1949 , when she wrote The Second Sex , everything has changed . Since then the reciprocal claims of " the other consciousness " have been made with such frequency that they are actually beginning to be heard by the culture ...
... course since 1949 , when she wrote The Second Sex , everything has changed . Since then the reciprocal claims of " the other consciousness " have been made with such frequency that they are actually beginning to be heard by the culture ...
Contents
1 | |
TWO Antony and Cleopatra | 45 |
THREE Hamlet | 71 |
FOUR Macbeth and Coriolanus | 91 |
FIVE The Comic Heroine and the Avoidance | 109 |
Toward Tragedy | 135 |
The Tempest | 169 |
Other editions - View all
Comic Women, Tragic Men: A Study of Gender and Genre in Shakespeare Linda Bamber No preview available - 1982 |
Common terms and phrases
aggression Antony and Cleopatra Antony's battle betrayed Caesar Caliban challenge choice comic heroine conflict consciousness contrast Cordelia Coriolanus Coriolanus's course criticism Danby daughter death defined Desdemona desire dialectic drama Egypt emotion Enobarbus father feelings female feminine feminist Fiedler final Fitz genre Gertrude Gertrude's Hamlet Henry Hermione hero's history hero history plays honor Hotspur husband identity imagine instance Kate kill King Lear Lady Macbeth Lady Macduff Laertes Lear's Leontes Leslie Fiedler Macbeth and Coriolanus male manliness masculine masculine-historical Miranda misogyny mother Nature never Octavia Ophelia Orsino Othello Perdita Petruchio political Portia projection Prospero refuses relationship represents resolution Richard Richard II role romances Rome says scene seems sense sexual Shakespeare Shakespearean comedy Shakespearean tragedy shrew simply speech struggle tells Tempest thee things thou tion tragic hero Twelfth Night Viola Virgilia Volumnia whereas wife Winter's Tale woman