The relationship between men and women in Shakespeare's later comedies : political power versus personal power /
| Main Author: | |
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| Other Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1993.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | ProQuest, Abstract Link to OAKTrust copy |
| Abstract: | This dissertation investigates the complex interactions between men and women in Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Pericles, The Tempest, and The Winter's Tale. While exploring the male/female dichotomy and the mutual accommodation of female power and patriarchal control in Shakespeare's later comedies, this study aims to reveal the Shakespeare who embodies comprehensively the complex interactions between men and women, refusing any single assertion of masculine or feminine power. By setting up in the later comedies two contrasting modes of power between men and women, Shakespeare creates both a disruption and a mutual dependence between men and women. Tragic discord and comic harmony enable Shakespeare not only to explore but also to transform dramatically the patriarchal assumptions of male political rule and female personal power, the assumptions deeply rooted in Shakespeare's society. Shakespeare dramatizes the patriarchal conventions, but does not simply mirror the status quo that places female activity on a level inferior to that of male activity. This study is a feminist study that takes up gender issues from both the female and male standpoints and that unmasks the patriarchal ideology which legitimizes both femaleness and maleness. I combine two opposing branches of Shakespearean feminist criticism: compensatory criticism, which seeks to restore a female perspective, and justificatory criticism, which deconstructs patriarchal concepts and behaviors. Through an exploration of both tension and harmony between men and women, I avoid the claim that Shakespeare totally transcends or endorses patriarchal attitudes. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major subject: English." |
| Physical Description: | vii, 193 leaves ; 28 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |