Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night epitomizes the patriarchal society of the 17th century, rooted within the comedic elements customary to plays during the era. Its modern film adaptation, Andy Fickman’s She’s the Man, encapsulates the essence of...

William Shakespeare’s theatrical comedy Twelfth Night follows the story of Viola, who finds herself entangled in a complicated love triangle between her master, Duke Orsino, and his beloved lady, Olivia. In the finale, Viola ends up falling in...

In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare emphasizes the importance of the roles we play in the lives of those around us through elaborate love triangles and complex characters. Whether we are romantically involved, tied by familial bonds, share a common...

Death, disease and suffering are very important themes in Twelfth Night and multiple charters suffer as a result of disease and death. Orsino suffers through lovesickness, which was a disease at the time and both Olivia and Viola suffer through...

Lucrece's tragic downfall in Shakespeare's "Rape of Lucrece" can be largely blamed on male competition. Her hapless story begins with a contest to determine which man possesses the chastest wife, "among which Collatus extolled the incomparable...

It is clear that William Shakespeare’s The Rape of Lucrece examines the psychological effects of rape. However, what is less clear is the effects of power that this poem portrays and how it interacts with sexual violence. Power plays a crucial...

Shakespeare and Sex How do Venus and Adonis and Rape of Lucrece together serve as an interrogation of sexuality? What’s the message? The only works Shakespeare personally published, Venus and Adonis and Rape of Lucrece, were written and published...

Both Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and Cymbeline are about persuasion in one form or another. Key features of the plot hinge on the characters’ varying level of success in convincing others to do or believe something. If Paulina had persuaded...

In Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, death appears in many forms. Posthumus wishes death on Imogen, and, as a consequence, himself; Imogen rejects death by her own hand in favor of Pisanio’s; later, Imogen assumes the appearance of death; murder is both...

Unholy Mothers: Mothers as Negative Characters in Richard III, Cymbeline, Hamlet, Macbeth and The Tempest

by, Barret Buchholz

April 15, 2005

The mothers presented in Shakespeare's plays encompass a broad range of social positions, personalities,...

Death knows no age, culture, social class, or gender. It is the inevitability that defines equality between every soul and meaning to every life. This idea is prominent through the poem, “Fear No More the Heat o’ the Sun”, written by William...

Petruccio and Katherine: Mutual Love within Hierarchy

by, Anonymous

March 14, 2004

Petruccio and Katherine: Mutual Love within Hierarchy

In her famous speech at the end of The Taming of the Shrew the formerly shrewish Kate proclaims:

Thy husband is thy...

Explore the ways in which Shakespeare uses metatheatre in his plays

All the world's a stage

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts

~ Jacques, As You Like It, Act II,...

One of William Shakespeare's earliest romantic comedies, The Taming of the Shrew, focuses on the courtship and marriage of two sisters, Katharina and Bianca. While the play provides a somewhat lighthearted commentary on matrimony and the supposed...

A shrew, a scold, was in fundamental nature any woman that verbally defied authority in public and obstinately challenged the "axiom" of male rule. The late sixteenth century was harsh to deviants of social role and standing, and the penalty of...

Shakespeare’s comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, focuses a great deal on the character of Kate, the “shrew” of the story, and her transition from an unlovable, temperamental harridan into the picture of a perfect wife. Surrounding this tale of...

Petruchio’s multifaceted role in The Taming of the Shrew illustrates various themes of the play, such as the concept of domestication, the economy of marriage, gender roles, and the nature of language. Through his experiences at Padua,...

Shakespeare’s Richard III and The Taming of the Shrew both teach audiences a lesson about "the great chain of being" -- by showing Richard and Kate’s refusal to accept the doctrine of passive obedience and the consequences that follow. In Richard...

One reading of The Taming of the Shrew may cause women to shake their heads in disbelief of Kate’s changed behavior for the pleasure of her husband. A closer reading and an analyzing of the methods used by Petruchio in taming his wife, however,...

Shakespeare’s <i>The Taming of the Shrew</i> is often criticized for its seemingly misogynistic themes: namely, the idea of breaking a woman’s spirit and making her subservient to her husband. This is apparent through the “taming” of...

Throughout the span of the comedies, Shakespeare allows his female characters to establish a greater amount of independence and freedom than they would have actually been allowed for the time period. This freedom is not necessarily a feminist...

In the comedy The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare deconstructs common adages regarding the essentials of building a healthy relationship. He does so through the unconventional pairing of Katharina, an “ill-seeming” shrew whose disobedience and...

Perhaps the unknown purpose behind an induction, which even the most experienced readers have failed to explain, has finally come to light. Christopher Sly, the principal character in the brief Induction of The Taming of the Shrew by William...

The themes of William Shakespeare’s classic plays still ring true today, and audiences everywhere continue to enjoy them, both through the traditional play performances and through more contemporary interpretations. Shakespeare’s The Taming of the...