Androgyny Shakespeares Female Characters Essay Example For Students

Androgyny Shakespeares Female Characters Essay Throughout Mans history, women have always been at a disadvantage socially, economically, and politically. Shakespeare realized this and sought to bring the controversy that comes with Androgynous issuesto life. Through strong female characters and the implications of disguises, Shakespeare exposes gender issues. Many critics believe Shakespeare poorly represents women in his plays through intentional exploiting of women with his boy-girl-boy disguises. When in fact, I see Shakespeare as exploiting how women were/are treated through that very use of disguises and the strength he gives his female characters, especially that of Portia Merchant of Venice and Viola Twelfth nightis representative of his personal admiration of intelligent, strong women. It is also important to mention that the idea of a transsexual theme did not exist during Shakespeares time, as in the same sense that one would have now. Men playing the part of womenplaying the part of men was simply accepted by the audie nce. Shakespeare was able to use this acceptance as an opportunity to give female characters strong and important roles. Portia is so strong of a character, she would have been considered a devil woman in the eyes of her peershumor for the boy-girl-boy disguise for the audience of the time. Yet, Shakespeares portrayal of Portia and Viola, is heroic in todays terms. By the mid-eighteen hundreds, Shakespeares female characters were starting to be analyzed. Shakespeare was over two hundred years ahead of his time on gender issues. Although Shakespeare also used feminine men to illustrate the characteristics given to men were also confined to certain social critique, he focused more on the roles women played, or were not socially nor by way of law allowed to play, during his time. Through the will, strength, virtues, and intelligent mind of Portia to the will, sweetness and deep need for survival of Viola, Shakespeare embraces Androgyny and exposes his own feminine side for future generations to analyze and feminists to explore. Robert Kimbrough, in his 1982 essay: Androgyny Seen Through Shakespeares Disguise, provides several definitions of Androgyny. The definition most fitting to the contemporary time is, Androgyny is the capacity of a single person of either sex to embody the full range of human character traits, despite cultural attempts to render some exclusively feminine and some exclusively masculine 1. Some believe androgyny is a secular dream and unattainable, but through structural change of institutional and social organizationsit can be attained. How does Shakespeare then expose his audience to androgyny? What was his purpose for doing so? A partial answer could be that Shakespeare believed in total equality for men and women and through characters in his plays he could take on the forbidden taboos of gender crossing within his social society. Sex does not equal gender. Through Anthropology we know that every culture has their own Modal Cultural Personality definition, one for the male and one for the female. Modal Personality is static in nature and ascribes women and men certain roles. Women do womens work and men do mens work,  for example. This was necessary for primitive society to survive but stigmas of these role requirements linger still today. Women are still socially required to look pretty, wear make-up, smell nice, be virtuous, motherly, sisterly, feminine, show little to no masculine traits, and the all important nurturer. Shakespeare used Portia and Violas characters to liberate women from one certain set of characteristic traits by broadening their human characteristic traits through their male disguises. In a sense then, Portia and Viola are liberated from the confines of the appropriate 1. Portia and viola are both aware of the social posturing of men. Each is very careful to hide her true self. In The Merchant of Venice, Portia devises a scheme to protect her wealth, status and power she has become accustomed to love. She uses trickery to get what she wants in the end which is two gains; protection of her status, wealth and power and she ends up the heroine. Portia is careful not to reveal her intelligence to the men in the play until she has completed her tasks. An English woman during this time period would most likely not have acted the way Portia acted. Shakespeare transforms Portias character, from at first appearance, a spoiled rich womanto an intelligent, self reliant female. Social and historical context of the play EssayI prithee, and Ill pay thee bounteously, Conceal me what I am, and be my aid For such disguise as haply shall become The form of my intent. This allows Viola to discover herself on a deeper level. Kimbrough presents Violas self-discovery as more proof of androgyny. Speaking of a specific scene in Twelfth Night, he explains that true of heart as we, means human kind causing  the word we to become truly androgynous 1. Viola is able to shed any trace of gender, she is neither masculine nor feminine. The entire play does revolve around the theme that identity is confusing. Shakespeare uses Festes character to present the idea that identity can be confusing. Shakespeare was telling us that the very essence of identity is in our mind. Bonos dies, Sir Toby. For, as the old hermit of Prague, that never saw pen and ink, very wittily said To a niece of King Gorboduc, That that is, is; so I, Being master Parson, am Master Parson; for what is that but that, and is but is? With Festes lines, Shakespeare not only provides his audience with comedy but he metaphorically ponders the idea of identity and gender. Androgyny was defiantly a passion of Shakespeare, as we have seen. Through his use of disguises, Shakespeare was able to present his audiencesthen and nowwith important gender issues that were obviously way ahead of their time. He was a master of double meanings and creating atmospheres that he could drive points home from within. He created strong female characters to show female stigmas of his time. Shakespeare should be considered one of the founders of feminist views. He believed in equality among the sexes. His liberation of women through disguises gives us so much insight to the atmosphere of the times regarding gender and womens roles in society. Women are still fighting these same society imposed characteristics and the only solution is to get as close to androgyny as a society without giving up our own identities. We must eliminate gender bias and focus as one whole unitits what Shakespeare wanted.