I sort of realized that my assessment of Shakespeare's male characters was a touch harsh. This does not mean I condone their behavior, since anyone with common sense would have acted differently than those mo-rons, but in the name of fairness, I'll post a short list of flaws found in tragic heroines:
- They love the idiots in the plays.
Ok, that's not all, but I really do question these women's enchantment with the goons that run their worlds. Here's a list that is more in seriousness:
- Juliet: Doesn't realize that forever loving someone at thirteen means more like five months. She made some pretty unthinking moves on her own.
- Cordelia: still loves her father, though he treats her like crap.
- Ophelia: same story with all the men in her life, but doesn't lash out at her brother when he tells her to watch herself while heading out to go whoring in Paris. Her father is a jerk as well.
- Lady Macbeth: trusted her husband to get the job done.
- Desdemona: should have upped and left for safety when her husband began acting erratically.
That's the list for now. More to come, I'm sure.
1 comment:
The points that you made for the female characters was something I was going to add to my comment on your last post with their flaws and contrast the with the male characters, that both genders were pretty flawed.
Then again, people might have had the wrong idea I was "bashing" the female characters for the wrong reasons and I would have not "bashed" them whatsoever. I would have pointed out that they can be stupid and selfish at times as the male characters are.
It is another thing to consider why Shakespeare never considered a "main protagonist" in form of a female character, plotting revenge, being ignorant on what people were doing behind their back or even asking supernatural beings to kill their rival. For his times, Shakespeare would have to be writing for the times when patriarchy was still dominant despite the presence of Elizabeth I.
So I guess I can summarize this freely: both genders in the play (and in real life!) accuse each other of being sexist, arrogant, promiscous and maniacal animals, not being aware that we are all prone to stupidity and tragedy.
- Kristopher
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