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
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Page 3
... speech reminds us , should represent nurture and human connectedness . Lady Macbeth is not entirely a monster ; she does refrain from stabbing Duncan herself , and her moral feelings ultimately do assert themselves in her mad- ness ...
... speech reminds us , should represent nurture and human connectedness . Lady Macbeth is not entirely a monster ; she does refrain from stabbing Duncan herself , and her moral feelings ultimately do assert themselves in her mad- ness ...
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... speeches , " 9 speeches by other characters under which the consciousness of the tragic hero may shelter . The Fool's speeches in King Lear are an example : we understand from listening to the Fool what is going on inside Lear . Another ...
... speeches , " 9 speeches by other characters under which the consciousness of the tragic hero may shelter . The Fool's speeches in King Lear are an example : we understand from listening to the Fool what is going on inside Lear . Another ...
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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