Summing up of the article The Gender Principles by Marylin French

FRENCH, Marylin. The gender principles.  in: Shakespeare’s Division of Experience. New York: Ballantine Books, 1981. chapter 1. p.13-24.
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 By Profª. Drª. Bárbara de Fátima. 

              

We used to study gender as a division between masculine and feminine types. The author presents this subject as a kind of myth which gives to the men all the right to subordinate women’s wishing and thoughts. According to this myth the women must stay at home while their husbands or fellows go to the work; another myth is showed when Adam ate the apple given by Eve, this action brings all the women’s suffering ant they lost the paradise. 

The nature created the women and gave to them the ability to produce milk, to give birth, to menstruate, and these natural abilities brought up all the men’s fears in relation to them, but their domination over the women went on.

The women’s performance is fully described through these myths principles. Their role in society and in literature is showed in a very deep way according to their thoughts, writings, active presence, and as a human being who has intelligence and experience to present.

 The study of the women was presented in many of the Shakespeare’s plays. For example, in The Comedy of Errors, the male characters appear to show a world made of love, kindness, emotion, and mainly domination over the female characters. One of the female characters is Adriana who shows her feelings in relation to the marriage, her rebellion makes it clear because she was not able to accept the man’s power over her. Here we have the presence of the outlaw feminine principle; but at the end she accepts her destiny of subordinated woman. In this case, she will belong to the inlaw feminine principle.

To the men is given all right to fall and to raise. It is a natural principle. But in relation to the women nothing is allowed in relation to their behavior. If a woman falls, she will have no opportunity to raise because it will require a great redemption in order to return to an insignificance place in the world as an object of men’s world. 

In Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, the author presents Petruchio, the central male character who becomes himself the tamer of Kate, his wife. He uses his money and his power to buy her from her father as an object. He uses terrible methods and as a taskmaster he fails. She is a rebel, a woman of opinion, a shrew, representing at first the outlaw feminine principle, but in the end, she accepts all her husband’s domination and oppression.

Another character who must be emphasized is Bianca, Kate’s sister, who is kind and easily adjusted to the inlaw feminine principle and the men who fall in love with her present the same inlaw principle. Their behavior is naturally accepted by the interested audience. It is very difficult to understand when the female characters try to perform according to the outlaw principle (the male model), they try to change everything and very often, they adjust themselves to a world which is completely rejected by their male principles.

Lesson Plan - Our Favourite Halloween Treat

 Overview

Students conduct a survey to determine the class' favourite type of Halloween candy. Candy wrappers are used to create a bar graph by type of candy. Data are described in mathematical terms and questions are posed about the data collected. The activity is presented as a Halloween theme but may be used at any time of the year if students bring in pictures of their favourite treats instead of candy wrappers.

Objectives

The goal of this activity is to encourage students to see the need for organizing information and to start developing the skills needed in data management.

Outcomes

    conduct a survey about their favourite Halloween candy/treat

    sort candy wrappers according to specific attributes (i.e., chocolate, gum)

    organize the candy wrappers or treat pictures on a wall chart of a bar graph by type of candy

Materials

    A newsletter to be sent home a week prior to Halloween.

    Assorted candy wrappers or treat pictures to be provided by the students.

    Glue sticks or scotch tape.

    Large piece of grid paper.

    Coloring utensils.

Classroom instructions

This activity will last a whole week but you will only need two half-hour lessons to teach the content involved. Start preparing for this activity at least one week prior to Halloween by sending a newsletter to parents informing them of this lesson on Data Management and encouraging them to communicate with you any concerns they may have (see Teacher notes below). You should also mention that as part of next week’s activities their child will be required to bring to school 1 or 2 candy wrappers a day.

Lesson One

The day before students go out for Halloween introduce the activity by perhaps sharing some information about your favourite Halloween treats or by telling them why we give treats out on Halloween and where the phrase "trick or treat" comes from. Then engage the students in a conversation by asking such questions as:

    "What is your favourite Halloween treat Johnny?"

    "How many people like ________?"

    "Is there another Halloween treat you enjoy eating?"

    "How many people like this treat?"

    "Which would you say is our class’s favourite Halloween treat?"

Write the answers given on the board under the title "Our Favourite Halloween Candy".

After receiving a number of responses explain to them that asking questions about your class's favourite Halloween candy is called a survey and that their answers are called data. Write the words "survey" and "data" on the board.

Continue by asking: "How can we find out which Halloween candy is really our favourite?" Wait for responses. After a while the students should be encouraged to realize that in order for this data to make sense you need to organize it in some way. Suggest that you make a chart where your data is recorded.

On a large piece of grid paper write the title "Our Favourite Halloween Candy", or the title that best suits your classroom's needs. Close to the bottom of the paper draw a straight horizontal line and explain that each day during the week following Halloween each one of them will be required to bring one to two wrappers of their favourite candy. Using a glue stick or scotch tape they will tape it on the chart.

Ask: "How will you know where exactly you should stick your wrappers?" Establish through discussion that each type of candy should have an appropriate place on your chart. Point to the first column on the grid and explain that will be the "Hershey Kisses" column. Therefore, anyone bringing "Hershey kisses" wrappers will have to stick them on a square in that column (grid paper is divided into squares). Label the bottom of the first column "Hershey kisses". Repeat this procedure 5 or 6 times using different candy label for each column. Label the last column as "Other" for those items that have not been labeled on your chart. Explain that placing each candy wrapper in its appropriate place is called sorting.

End the lesson by asking: "So if you were to bring in a "Mars" bar wrapper where would you stick it on the chart?" "What if you brought in a "Skittles" wrapper?" Give students an opportunity to have their questions answered. The week following Halloween briefly review what was discussed during Lesson One. Assist those who need clarification.

Lesson Two

At the end of the week following Halloween discuss the data collected and presented on the chart. Explain that the chart is now called the graph of "Our Favourite Halloween Candy". Point out that "Our Favourite Halloween Candy" is the title of your graph and that each stack of wrappers on your graph is called a bar. So your chart is a bar graph of "Our Favourite Halloween Candy".

To examine students' understanding ask the following questions:

    Which candy is our most favourite Halloween candy?

    Which is our second favourite Halloween candy?

    Which column has the least number of wrappers?

    What does that mean?

    Does this mean that __________ are the favourite Halloween treat in Ms. Smith's class also?

    Last week we thought that __________ would be our favourite Halloween treat. Were we right?

    Was the bar graph a good way of organizing our data?

Evaluation

The students' responses to your questions and the quality of the discussions will indicate whether they were able to comprehend the words data, sort and bar graph and also what is represented by the chart. A checklist may be useful in evaluating students' understanding of the content taught and classroom participation.

Notes to teachers

Before beginning this lesson you should consider how appropriate this activity will be for your class. Some of your students, for example, may have food allergies or other health problems that prevent them from eating candies. Other families may believe that candy is not appropriate for their child's diet. Others may not be able to participate in this lesson because of religious restrictions/beliefs.

By Irini Clelland, Statistics Canada Support Teacher.

Lesson Plan - Differences between informal and formal

Lesson plans can be formal or informal.

An informal lesson plan is of casual nature. It is helpful as a reminder for teachers. There are two types of informal plans.

One is to write down definitions, synonyms, phonetic symbols, stress potions, or examples, etc. between the lines or in the margins of the textbook. Such teaching usually focuses on language points in grammar and vocabulary.

The other is one of brief notes reminding the teacher what to do step by step. Such teaching can be about interactive class that is categorized with activities or tasks.

Sometimes teachers can be carried away or distracted to remember what to do next. An informal lesson plan focuses on content of classroom teaching: language or tasks, but it lacks professionalism.

A formal plan is of high professionalism, including required components of a plan and with professional language expressions.

Writing a formal plan helps teachers acquire and use professional language. Usually the degree of formalness can suggest the teacher’s professional level.

However, there can be three problems with formal plan writing. First, it is time consuming; second, the teacher may pay more attention to how to write a plan than how to teach a lesson.

 The final problem is the teacher might be bandaged by his/her teaching plan in teaching.  

By English Teaching Methodology

Lesson Plan - How to develop a Lesson Plan

To begin, ask yourself three basic questions:

Where are your students going?

How are they going to get there?

How will you know when they've arrived?

Then begin to think about each of the following categories which form the organization of the plan. While planning, use the questions below to guide you during each stage.

Goals

Goals determine purpose, aim, and rationale for what you and your students will engage in during class time. Use this section to express the intermediate lesson goals that draw upon previous plans and activities and set the stage by preparing students for future activities and further knowledge acquisition. The goals are typically written as broad educational or unit goals adhering to State or National curriculum standards.
What are the broader objectives, aims, or goals of the unit plan/curriculum?

What are your goals for this unit?

What do you expect students to be able to do by the end of this unit?

Objectives

This section focuses on what your students will do to acquire further knowledge and skills. The objectives for the daily lesson plan are drawn from the broader aims of the unit plan but are achieved over a well defined time period.
What will students be able to do during this lesson? Under what conditions will students' performance be accomplished?

What is the degree or criterion on the basis of which satisfactory attainment of the objectives will be judged?

How will students demonstrate that they have learned and understood the objectives of the lesson?

Prerequisites

Prerequisites can be useful when considering the readiness state of your students. Prerequisites allow you, and other teachers replicating your lesson plan, to factor in necessary prep activities to make sure that students can meet the lesson objectives.
What must students already be able to do before this lesson?

What concepts have to be mastered in advance to accomplish the lesson objectives?

Materials

This section has two functions: it helps other teachers quickly determine a) how much preparation time, resources, and management will be involved in carrying out this plan and b) what materials, books, equipment, and resources they will need to have ready. A complete list of materials, including full citations of textbooks or story books used, worksheets, and any other special considerations are most useful.
What materials will be needed?

What textbooks or story books are needed? (please include full bibliographic citations)

What needs to be prepared in advance? (typical for science classes and cooking or baking activities)

Lesson Description

This section provides an opportunity for the author of the lesson to share some thoughts, experience, and advice with other teachers. It also provides a general overview of the lesson in terms of topic focus, activities, and purpose.

What is unique about this lesson? How did your students like it? What level of learning is covered by this lesson plan? (Think of Bloom's Taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation.)

Lesson Procedure

This section provides a detailed, step-by-step description of how to replicate the lesson and achieve lesson plan objectives. This is usually intended for the teacher and provides suggestions on how to proceed with implementation of the lesson plan. It also focuses on what the teacher should have students do during the lesson. This section is basically divided into several components: an introduction, a main activity, and closure. There are several elaborations on this. We have linked to some sample lesson plans to guide you through this stage of planning.

• Introduction
How will you introduce the ideas and objectives of this lesson? How will you get students' attention and motivate them in order to hold their attention? How can you tie lesson objectives with student interests and past classroom activities? What will be expected of students?

• Main Activity
What is the focus of the lesson? How would you describe the flow of the lesson to another teacher who will replicate it? What does the teacher do to facilitate learning and manage the various activities? What are some good and bad examples to illustrate what you are presenting to students? How can this material be presented to ensure each student will benefit from the learning experience?

Rule of Thumb # 1:
Take into consideration what students are learning (a new skill, a rule or formula, a concept/fact/idea, an attitude, or a value).
Choose one of the following techniques to plan the lesson content based on what your objectives are:
Demonstration ==> list in detail and sequence of the steps to be performed
Explanation ==> outline the information to be explained
Discussion ==> list of key questions to guide the discussion
• Closure/Conclusion
What will you use to draw the ideas together for students at the end? How will you provide feedback to students to correct their misunderstandings and reinforce their learning?
• Follow up Lessons/Activities
What activities might you suggest for enrichment and remediation? What lessons might follow as a result of this lesson?

Assessment/Evaluation

This section focuses on ensuring that your students have arrived at their intended destination. You will need to gather some evidence that they did. This usually is done by gathering students' work and assessing this work using some kind of grading rubric that is based on lesson objectives. You could also replicate some of the activities practiced as part of the lesson, without providing the same level of guidance as during the lesson. You could always quiz students on various concepts and problems as well.
How will you evaluate the objectives that were identified? Have students practiced what you are asking them to do for evaluation?

 

Rule of Thumb # 2:
Be sure to provide students with the opportunity to practice what you will be assessing them on. You should never introduce new material during this activity. Also, avoid asking higher level thinking questions if students have not yet engaged in such practice during the lesson. For example, if you expect students to apply knowledge and skills, they should first be provided with the opportunity to practice application.

History of Halloween

Introduction

Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating. In a number of countries around the world, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people continue to usher in the winter season with gatherings, costumes and sweet treats.

Ancient Origins of Halloween

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire
to help protect them during the coming winter.

By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III (731–741) later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1. By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted the older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

Halloween Comes to America

Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included "play parties," public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other's fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common,
but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland's potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today's "trick-or-treat" tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.

In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything "frightening" or "grotesque" out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.

By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday.

Today's Halloween Traditions

The American Halloween tradition of "trick-or-treating" probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as "going a-souling" was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

Halloween Superstitions

Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition. It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. For these friendly spirits, they set places at the dinner table, left treats on doorsteps and along the side of the road and lit candles to help loved ones find their way back to the spirit world. Today's Halloween ghosts are often depicted as more fearsome and malevolent, and our customs and superstitions are scarier too. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us bad luck. This idea has its roots in the Middle Ages, when many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into cats. We try not to walk under ladders for the same reason. This superstition may have come from the ancient Egyptians, who believed that triangles were sacred; it also may have something to do with the fact that walking under a leaning ladder tends to be fairly unsafe. And around Halloween, especially, we try to avoid breaking mirrors, stepping on cracks in the road or spilling salt.

But what about the Halloween traditions and beliefs that today's trick-or-treaters have forgotten all about? Many of these obsolete rituals focused on the future instead of the past and the living instead of the dead. In particular, many had to do with helping young women identify their future husbands and reassuring them that they would someday—with luck, by next Halloween—be married. In 18th-century Ireland, a matchmaking cook might bury a ring in her mashed potatoes on Halloween night, hoping to bring true love to the diner who found it. In Scotland, fortune-tellers recommended that an eligible young woman name a hazelnut for each of her suitors and then toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that burned to ashes rather than popping or exploding, the story went, represented the girl's future husband. (In some versions of this legend, confusingly, the opposite was true: The nut that burned away symbolized a love that would not last). Another tale had it that if a young woman ate a sugary concoction made out of walnuts, hazelnuts and nutmeg before bed on Halloween night she would dream about her future husband. Young women tossed apple-peels over their shoulders, hoping that the peels would fall on the floor in the shape of their future husbands' initials; tried to learn about their futures by peering at egg yolks floating in a bowl of water; and stood in front of mirrors in darkened rooms, holding candles and looking over their shoulders for their husbands' faces. Other rituals were more competitive.At some Halloween parties, the first guest to find a burr on a chestnut-hunt would be the first to marry; at others,
the first successful apple-bobber would be the first down the aisle.

Of course, whether we're asking for romantic advice or trying to avoid seven years of bad luck, each one of these Halloween superstitions relies on the good will of the very same "spirits" whose presence the early Celts felt so keenly.

(Source: www.history.com)

Teaching Literature - The Paradigm of Extremes: The Role of Women in Shakespeare's Plays

Lady Macbeth is considered nearly sinister in comparison with her husband, Macbeth, a perception that is supported by such assertions as "How tender tis to love the babe that milks me;/ I would, while it was smiling in my face/ Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums/ and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you/ have to do this" from the lips of her character.

In contrast to Lady Macbeth's hard insistence that Macbeth pursue whatever means necessary to achieve power is Macbeth's self-doubting statement of "each corporal agent to this terrible feat./ Away and mock the time with fairest show. False face must hide what the false heart doth know" as he is considering the grave deed he and Lady Macbeth have connived to commit, indicating his awareness of the negative consequences he is likely suffer, even if unspecific.

Just as the actions of characters illustrate motives better than any soliloquy, so do the actions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth sustain the words that they speak. In keeping with the boldness of her character, it is Lady Macbeth who encourages the disregard of civil protocol in the treatment of her guests, and it is she that drugs those guests. Further, had Duncan not so resembled Lady Macbeth's father, she, of her own confession would have performed the assassination herself. In contrast to these actions are those of Macbeth who cannot utter the word "Amen" to close in a prayer, nor is he able to plant the daggers he carried away from the murder he committed once he had left the room of his victims. Indeed, it is Lady Macbeth who plants the daggers after chastising Macbeth with "Infirm of purpose!/ Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead/ are but as pictures." (2.2, 58-60)

Critics, such as Sarah Siddon, have expressed pardon of Lady Macbeth's words and behavior by emphasizing that it is ambition that drives Lady Macbeth. Siddons believes Lady Macbeth's mention of a nursing child "in the midst of her dreadful language, persuades one unequivocally that she has really felt maternal yearning of a mother towards her babe." (Thompson; Roberts, p. 56) Siddons further points out that "it is only in soliloquy that she (Lady Macbeth) invokes the powers of hell to unsex her."

The critic M. Leigh-Noel, in her study of Lady Macbeth, offers further defense by considering Lady Macbeth's circumstance of socio-economic position and history, as well as on her own assertion that lady Macbeth had been a mother (Thompson; Roberts, p. 174). Noel suggests that, in the age that "Macbeth" was written "human life was by no means as sacred as it is now; and that violence was the common resort of both mean and noble in their efforts to gain the desires of their souls." Noel places emphasis on Lady Macbeth being the "solitary inmate" of Macbeth's castle, believing she was "cheered only by occasional and fitful visits from her husband -" Noel further suggests that Lady Macbeth had to "live only on the remembrance of the bittersweet joy of maternity, to wake up and miss the magnetic pressure of infant fingers " consequently causing Lady Macbeth to cling "more tenaciously to her husband." (Thompson; Roberts, p. 174). Combined, Noel believes, these circumstances support the theory that Lady Macbeth paid "a terrible price... to gratify her husband's ambition." That while " Macbeth had the stronger wishes, she (Lady Macbeth) had the stronger will" (Thompson; Roberts, p. 175) and since it is will that prevails over wishes, Lady Macbeth's share of the burden in her conspiracy with her husband outweighed that of Macbeth's. 

Noel's arguments validly challenges many common perceptions of Lady Macbeth and rightfully points to isolation and suffering as likely contributors to Lady Macbeth's loss of mental capacity. But it is the shocking threat Lady Macbeth made regarding dashing the brains of her nursing child that the critic France Anne Kemble believes is "no mere figure of speech" continues to cast Lady Macbeth as a character who is much worse that her male counterpart.

The roles of Hermione and Leontes in "The Winter's Tale" present a contrast to that of the Macbeths and illustrate a model wherein the woman's character is perceivably superior to that of the male. During the first acts, Hermione's relatively calm self-assurance becomes quickly more obvious despite the escalation of Leontes' jealous emotions, of which Hermione, whose intent was to be as gracious hostess to Polixenes, was unaware of instigating. And while it was Leontes who first requested Hermione to speak in persuasive tone and manner to Polixenes, and Leontes who encouraged Hermione to continue, and despite Hermione's reassurance of her love for Leontes ["I love thee not a jar o' th' clock behind/ What a lady she her lord" (1.2, 42-43)], it is Hermione's steadfastness of belief that Leonte's will come to his senses that becomes most obvious. While the situation is unbelievable to Hermione, she yet blames it on "some ill planet" and tells herself to be patient. Further, her lamentation over having "That honorable grief lodged here which here burns/ worse than tears drown" (2.1, 111-113) belies the capacity for her depth of emotion while she yet resists tears when Leontes orders her imprisonment. Hermoine's parting words "This action I go on/ is for my better grace. Adieu, my lord./ I never wished to see you sorry; now/ I trust I shall (2.1, 122-125) are memorable not only because they reveal the level of acceptance and humility possessed by Hermione in the face of Leonte's relative cruelty, but also for the poignant prediction she asserts that further reveals confidence in her own goodness. 

Though the character of Hermione "is open to criticism on one point that when she secludes herself from the world for sixteen years, during which time she is mourned as dead by her repentant husband, and is not won to relent from her resolve by his sorrow, his remorse, his constancy to her memory; such conduct... is unfeeling as it is inconceivable in a virtuous and tender woman. (Thompson; Roberts p. 76) she is of the exactly the kind of female character who could and would have acted in this manner, for in such a mind as hers, the sense of a cruel injury, inflicted by one she had loved and trusted, without awakening any violent anger or any desire of vengeance, would sink deep... in a mind like Hermione's, where the strength of feeling is founded in the power of thought, there are but to influences which predominate over will, - time and religion... to study forgiveness and wait the fulfillment of the oracle which had promised the termination of her sorrows. Thus a premature reconciliation would have been painfully inconsistent with the character (Thompson; Roberts, p.76-77) further suggesting Hermione's comparatively superior moral position as compared with her husband, Leontes.

These two examples clearly support the idea that, in Shakespeare's plays anyway, women are often portrayed as much better or much worse than men, as Bruyere  quote suggests. Perhaps it comes from the male tenancy to project  characteristics onto women, or perhaps it is only to add drama. Or  perhaps, as Laura Stubbs has suggested, it is a manifestation of  Shakespeare's playwriting skills, for "If you study the plots of the  plays, you must notice that the catastrophe is invariably caused by the  fault or folly of a man; the redemption, if there be any, by the wisdom  or virtue of a woman. (Shakespeare) represents (women) as infallibly  faithful and wise counselors, strong always to sanctify even when they  cannot save... (Thompson; Roberts, p.  247) which gives the impression  that though interaction between opposite genders with opposing  characteristics accelerates plot and adds drama, Shakespeare's tenancy  is to do so in favor of women, for even when they are portrayed as  "worse" than men, as in the case with Lady Macbeth, they are still  stronger and able to carry greater burdens with greater success for  longer periods of time than the male characters found in these plays.

REFERENCES:

BEVINGTON, David (Ed.). The Necessary Shakespeare. 2. ed.  New York: Pearson Longman, 2005.

GRADY, Hugh (Ed.)  Shakespeare and Modernity. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2000.

THOMPSON, Ann; SASHA, Roberts (Eds.). Women reading Shakespeare, 1660-1900. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997.

(Source: helium.com)

Teaching Literature - Elizabethan Women

Even though there was an unmarried woman on the throne in Elizabethan England, the roles of women in society were very limited. The Elizabethans had very clear expectations of men and women, and in general men were expected to be the breadwinners and women to be housewives and mothers. On average, a woman gave birth to a child every two years, but as a lot of babies and children died from sickness, families were not always large. Childbearing was considered a great honor to women, as children were seen as blessings from God, and Tudor women took great pride in being mothers.

Elizabethan society was patriarchal, meaning that men were considered to be the leaders and women their inferiors. Women were regarded as "the weaker sex", not just in terms of physical strength, but emotionally too. It was believed that women always needed someone to look after them. If they were married, their husband was expected to look after them. If they were single, then their father, brother or another male relative was expected to take care of them.

Many women in this period were highly educated, like the Queen herself, Mildred Cecil (wife of William Cecil) and Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. Women were not allowed to go to school or to university, but they could be educated at home by private tutors. Elizabeth was tutored by the famous Elizabethan scholar Roger Ascham.

Women were not allowed to enter the professions i.e law, medicine, politics, but they could work in domestic service as cooks, maids etc, and a female painter, Levina Teerlinc, was employed by Henry VIII and later by Mary and Elizabeth respectively. Women were also allowed to write works of literature, providing the subject was suitable for women: mainly translations or religious works. Women were not allowed to act on the public stage or write for the public stage. Acting was considered dishonorable for women and women did not appear on the stage in England until the seventeenth century. In Shakespeare's plays, the roles of women were often played by young boys.

Women, regardless of social position, were not allowed to vote (however, only men of a certain social position were allowed to vote). Neither could women inherit their father's titles. All titles would pass from father to son or brother to brother, depending on the circumstances. The only exception was, of course, the crown. The crown could pass to a daughter, and that daughter would be invested with all the power and Majesty of any king. This allowed Mary, and then Elizabeth, to reign. In some cases women could not inherit estates, but women could be heiresses to property, and some women, especially if they were the only child of a great noble man, could be very affluent heiresses indeed. Robert Dudley's first wife, Amy Robsart, was Sir John Robsart's only child, and inherited two estates he owned in Norfolk. It was not always clear what happened to these estates when the woman married i.e. whether the estates became the property of her husband or not.

The laws of inheritance meant that fathers were anxious to have a son, but that does not mean that daughters were unloved and unwanted. The attitude of Henry VIII to his daughters was unusual, and was probably the result of his obsession with providing the country with a male heir and subsequent ruler. Parents did love their daughters and saw them as precious gifts from God. Of all the children Thomas More had, his daughter Margaret was his favorite, and William Cecil was a devoted father to all his children, male and female. Queen Elizabeth would write letters of condolence on the death of daughters as well as on the death of sons.

A man was considered to be the head of a marriage, and he had the legal right to chastise his wife. However, it is important to understand what this "headship" meant. It did not mean, as if often supposed, that the husband was able to command his wife to do anything he pleased, in other words, be a petty tyrant. He was expected to take care of her, make sure she had everything she needed, and most importantly to love her and be a good father to any children they had. If a husband felt the need to chastise his wife, then he was not allowed to be cruel or inflict bodily harm. If he did abuse his wife, then he could be prosecuted or prevented from living with her. There was no divorce (as we know it) in Elizabethan times. Marriage generally lasted as long as the couple both lived. If a couple did want to separate, then they needed to obtain an annulment, which, if granted, meant that their marriage had never been lawful. Despite having been married six times, Henry VIII only regarded Jane Seymour and Katherine Parr as his legal wives.

It is probably fair to say that, despite the limitations, women had more freedom in the Elizabethan period than they had had previously and would have again for some time. The Renaissance brought with it a new way of thinking. It was thought men and women could do anything and be anything they wanted to be, that their capacity for knowledge was limitless. Thus, noble women, as well as men, were given an impressive education in the classics, mathematics, and all other academic subjects of the day. Elizabeth being on the throne also encouraged noble men to educate their daughters, as they did not want them to look dim in the presence of their very intelligent and highly educated queen.

Women who perhaps suffered most in this period were, ironically, those like the Queen who did not wish to marry. Tudor society did not have many avenues open to single women and, following the Reformation, those avenues were even less. Before, women were able to become nuns and look forward to a rewarding life in convents, perhaps be a Mother Superior one day. But with the Reformation, the convents were closed. Wealthy single women (heiresses of property) could look forward to being mistress of their estates and wield the power in the community this would bring, but for poor women, the only long-term "career" really open to them was domestic service. It was not surprising, therefore, that most women married. Marriage was seen as the desirable state for both men and women, and single women were sometimes looked upon with suspicion. It was mainly single women who were accused of being witches by their neighbors.

(Source: elizabethi.org)

Teaching Literature - Analysis of the play "Antony and Cleopatra" by William Shakespeare

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HAZLITT, William. Characters of Shakespeare's Plays. London: Macmillan and Co., 1908. pp. 58-63.
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This is a very noble play. Though not in the first class of Shakespeare's production, it stands next to them, and is perhaps the finest of his historical plays, that is, those in which he made poetry the organ of history, and assumed a certain tone of character and sentiment, in conformity to known facts, instead of trusting to his observations of general nature or to the unlimited indulgence of his own fancy. What he has added to the actual story, is upon a par with it. His genius was, as it were, a match for history as well as nature, and could grapple at will with either. The play is full of that pervading comprehensive power by which the poet could always make himself master of time and circumstances. It presents a fine picture of Roman pride and Eastern magnificence: and in the struggle between the two, the empire of the world seems suspended, "like the swan's downfeather,

"That stands upon the swell at full of tide,

And neither way declines."

The characters breathe, move, and live. Shakespeare does not stand reasoning on what his characters would do or say, but at once becomes them, and speaks and acts for them. He does not present us with groups of stage-puppets of poetical machines making set speeches on human life, and acting from a calculation of problematical motives, but he brings living men and women on the scene, who speak and act from real feelings, according to the ebbs and flows of passion, without the least tincture of pedantry of logic or rhetoric. Nothing is made out by inference and analogy, by climax and antithesis, but every thing takes place just as it would have done in reality, according to the occasion. The character of Cleopatra is a masterpiece. What an extreme contrast it affords to Imogen! One would think it almost impossible for the same person to have drawn both. She is voluptuous, ostentatious, conscious, boastful of her charms, haughty, tyrannical, fickle. The luxurious pomp and gorgeous extravagance of the Egyptian queen are displayed in all their force and lustre, as well as the irregular grandeur of the soul of Mark Antony. Take only the first four lines that they speak as an example of the regal style of love-making:

CLEOPATRA: If it be love indeed, tell me how much?

ANTONY: There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.

CLEOPATRA: I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd.

ANTONY: Then must thou needs find out new heav'n, new earth.

The rich and poetical description of her person beginning

"The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,

Burnt on the water; the poop was beaten gold,

Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that

The winds were love-sick".

seems to prepare the way for, and almost to justify the subsequent infatuation of Antony when in the sea-fight at Actium, he leaves the battle, and "like a doating mallard" follows her flying sails.

Few things in Shakespeare (and we know of nothing in any other author like them) have more of that local truth of imagination and character than the passage in which Cleopatra is represented conjecturing what were the employments of Antony in his absence-- "He's speaking now, or murmuring--Where's my serpent of old Nile?" Or again, when she says to Antony, after the defeat at Actium, and his summoning up resolution to risk another fight-- "It is my birthday; I had thought to have held it poor; but since my lord is Antony again, I will be Cleopatra." Perhaps the finest burst of all is Antony's rage after his final defeat when he comes in, and surprises the messenger of Caesar kissing her hand

"To let a fellow that will take rewards,

And say God quit you, be familiar with,

My play-fellow, your hand; this kingly seal,

And plighter of high hearts."

It is no wonder that he orders him to be whipped; but his low condition is not the true reason: there is another feeling which lies deeper, though Antony's pride would not let him show it, except by his rage; he suspects the fellow to be Caesar's proxy.

Cleopatra's whole character is the triumph of the voluptuous, of the love of pleasure and the power of giving over every other consideration. Octavia is a dull foil to her, and Fulvia a shrew and shrill-tongued. What picture do those lines give her

"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale

Her infinite variety. Other women cloy

The appetites they feed, but she makes me hungry

Where most she satisfies."

What a spirit and fire in her conversation with Antony's messenger who brings her the unwelcome news of his marriage with Octavia! How all the pride of beauty and of high rank breaks out in her promised reward to him

"There's gold, and here

My bluest veins to kiss!"

She had great and unpardonable faults, but the grandeur of her death almost redeems them. She learns from the depth of despair the strength of her affections. She keeps her queen-like state in the last disgrace, and her sense of the pleasurable in the last moments of her life. She tastes luxury in death. After applying the asp, she says with fondness

"Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,

That sucks the nurse asleep?

As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle.

Oh Antony!"

It is worthwhile to observe that Shakespeare has contrasted the extreme magnificence of the descriptions in this play with pictures of extreme suffering and physical horror, not less striking--partly perhaps to place the effeminite character of Mark Antony in a more favourable light, and at the same time to preserve a certain balance of feeling in the mind. Caesar says, hearing of his rival's conduct at the court of Cleopatra,

"Antony,

Leave thy lascivious wassels. When thou once

Wert beaten from Mutina, where thou slew'st

Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel

Did famine follow, whom thou fought'st against,

Though daintily brought up, with patience more

Than savage could suffer. Thou did'st drink

The stale of horses, and the gilded puddle

Which beast would cough at. Thy palate then did deign

The roughest berry on the rudest hedge,

Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets,

The barks of trees thou browsed'st. On the Alps,

It is reported, thou didst eat strange flesh,

Which some did die to look on: and all this,

It wounds thine honour, that I speak it now,

Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek

So much as lank'd not."

The passage after Antony's defeat by Augustus, where he is made to say

"Yes, yes; he at Phillipi kept

His sword e'en like a dancer; while I struck

The lean and wrinkled Cassius, and 'twas I

That the mad Brutus ended"

is one of those fine retrospections which show us the winding and eventful march of human life. The jealous attention which has been paid to the unities both of time and place has taken away the principle of perspective in the drama, and all the interest which objects derive from distance, from contrast, from privation, from change of fortune, from long-cherished passion; and contrasts our view of life from a strange and romantic dream, long, obscure, and infinite, into a smartly contested, three hours' inaugural disputation on its merits by the different candidates for their theatrical applause.

The latter scenes of ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA are full of the changes of accident and passion. Success and defeat follow one another with startling rapidity. Fortune sits upon her wheel more blind and giddy than usual. This precarious state and the approaching dissolution of his greatness are strikingly displayed in the dialogue of Antony with Eros.

ANTONY: Eros, thou yet behold'st me?

EROS: Ay, noble lord.

ANTONY: Sometime we see a cloud that's dragonish,

A vapour sometime, like a bear or lion,

A towered citadel, a pendant rock,

A forked mountain, or blue promontory

With trees upon't that nod unto the world

And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these signs,

They are black vesper's pageants.

EROS: Ay, my lord.

ANTONY: That which is now a horse, even with a thought

The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct

As water is in water.

EROS: It does, my lord.

ANTONY: My good knave, Eros, now thy captain is

Even such a body...

This is, without doubt, one of the finest pieces of poetry in Shakespeare. The splendor of the imagery, the semblance of reality, the lofty range of picturesque objects hanging over the world, their evanescent nature, the total uncertainty of what is left behind, are just like the mouldering schemes of human greatness. It is finer than Cleopatra's passionate lamentation over his fallen grandeur, because it is more dim, unstable, unsubstantial. Antony's headstrong presumption and infatuated determination to yield to Cleopatra's wishes to fight by sea instead of land, meet a merited punishment; and the extravagance of his resolutions, increasing with the desperateness of his circumstances, is well commented upon by Oenobarbus:

"I see men's judgments are

A parcel of their fortunes, and things outward

Do draw the inward quality after them

To suffer all alike."

The repentance of Oenobarbus after his treachery to his master is the most affecting part of the play. He cannot recover from the blow which Antony's generosity gives him, and he dies broken-hearted, "a master-leaver and a fugitive."

Shakespeare's genius has spread over the whole play a richness like the overflowing of the Nile.