What does the study argue lies beneath the surface concerns of Shakespeare’s plays?
Ideology.
How do Shakespearean tragedies generally portray women in the male–female binary?
As lesser, negative stereotypes from a patriarchal perspective.
Which gender do Shakespearean tragedies privilege in the male–female binary?
Men.
Which five plays does the study examine?
Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and Romeo and Juliet.
Which approaches does the study use to examine its plays?
Feminist and deconstructive approaches.
How does Ophelia respond to her father and brother despite her feelings?
She obeys them.
Why does Hamlet portray Gertrude as a negative stereotype?
She remarries soon after her husband’s death.
What does Hamlet’s phrase “frailty thy name is woman” generalize from?
His mother’s remarriage to women as a whole.
How is Cordelia portrayed in King Lear?
Virtuous and loving, yet accepting of her father’s authority over her life without protest.
How are Goneril and Regan portrayed in King Lear?
Cruel, selfish, and treacherous.
What causes the tragedy in the study’s feminist reading of Romeo and Juliet?
Patriarchy denies Juliet the freedom to choose her husband.
What two causes explain Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy in the traditional reading?
Fate and family enmity.
Whom does Juliet secretly marry after falling in love?
Romeo.
What does Juliet’s father later order her to do without consulting her?
Marry Paris.
How are the witches portrayed in Macbeth?
They are supernatural women who predict Macbeth’s advancement.
How does the study interpret the witches’ influence on Macbeth?
They are evil manipulators and temptresses.
How does Lady Macbeth challenge Macbeth when he hesitates to kill Duncan?
She challenges his manhood.
What does Lady Macbeth teach Macbeth to conceal while appearing innocent?
His evil intent.
How does the study characterize Rome’s world in contrast with Egypt’s?
Rome represents masculine state and military duty.
What does the study associate with Egypt’s feminine world?
Personal feeling and passion.
How does Antony’s attachment to Cleopatra and Egypt affect his portrayal?
It is portrayed as a loss of manly qualities and public leadership.
How do the study’s five tragedies portray women relative to men?
As lesser and inferior to men.
What social, political, and economic status do women lack in the tragedies?
Equal positions.
How are women characterized in the tragedies?
As passionate, irrational, or immoral.
Who makes major decisions about women’s lives in the tragedies?
Men.
What freedom do women lack when men decide their lives without consulting them?
Genuine freedom to decide for themselves.
Which author published a 1982 commentary on Hamlet focused on dramatic problems?
Harold Jenkins.
Which dramatic problem does Harold Jenkins’s 1982 Hamlet commentary address?
Delay.
Which author published a 1995 introduction to Antony and Cleopatra?
John Wilders.
What aspect of Cleopatra does John Wilders’s 1995 introduction discuss?
Her shifting emotions.
What does John Wilders’s 1995 introduction say about Cleopatra and Antony?
Cleopatra’s power over Antony.
What political dimension does John Wilders’s 1995 introduction discuss?
The play’s international politics.
How many questions organize the study’s inquiry?
Six questions.
Which issues do the study’s six questions address?
Women’s inferiority, equality, rationality, morality, patriarchy, and freedom to decide their lives.
Which two women does the study interpret through a male, patriarchal perspective in Hamlet?
Ophelia and Gertrude.
How does Hamlet try to control Gertrude’s choices regarding Claudius?
He condemns her remarriage and urges her to withhold herself from Claudius.
What are the names of King Lear’s three daughters?
Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia.
What prompts Lear to divide his kingdom among his daughters?
He asks them to declare their love for him.
Why does Lear banish Cordelia?
She refuses to flatter him.
When do Goneril and Regan turn against Lear?
After receiving their shares of the kingdom.
How are Goneril and Regan depicted toward Lear and Gloucester?
As cruel toward both men.
How old is Juliet described as when her parents arrange her marriage to Paris?
Hardly fourteen.
What remedy does Juliet seek because she lacks freedom?
A desperate remedy from the priest.
What does Juliet’s lack of freedom lead her to conceal?
Her love and marriage.
Why is Juliet’s marriage to Romeo secret in the study?
She cannot safely disclose it to her father, who insists she marry Paris.
How does the study interpret women’s portrayal in Macbeth?
As monstrous, irrational embodiments of evil.
What does Lady Macbeth urge Macbeth to do after he hears the witches’ predictions?
Proceed with Duncan’s murder.
What does Macbeth do after hearing the witches’ predictions?
He considers their implications and hesitates over Duncan’s murder.
Who arranges Octavia’s marriage to Antony as state policy?
Men arrange it without consulting Octavia.
When does the study portray Cleopatra as a noble queen?
When she rejects traits labeled feminine and adopts masculine Roman values.
What does Rome’s victory over Egypt symbolize in the study?
The triumph of masculine order and patriarchal values over the feminine world.
Answer 19 questions on Feminist Readings of Shakespearean Tragedies.
1. What does the study argue lies beneath Shakespeare’s plays’ surface concerns with love, jealousy, war, and human failure?
2. How does the study characterize the portrayal of women in Shakespearean tragedies from a feminist perspective?
Go over the full study guide for Feminist Readings of Shakespearean Tragedies.
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