1、1Chapter 1 Introduction1. Research TopicShakespeare has been recognized as the greatest playwright in British history. In his plays, many female roles created by Shakespeare have a profound impact on the scholarsconception of the aftertime. But strangely, people find that Shakespeare seems to have h
2、eld a contradictory view on women. In some his plays, women fight bravely against the feudal autocracy and pursue vigorously freedom and equality. But in other plays, the female characters seem to be weak ones or destructive ones. Why does one playwright have such a contradictory concept on women?In
3、 the past several decades or centuries, some scholars have studied this strange phenomenon, and they drew the conclusion that in different periods, the features of the female in Shakespeares are different. The female concept which supports the freedom of marriage, speaks highly of the humanity liber
4、ation, and advocate the love and friendship could be found in the plays of Shakespeare in the first period. Many famous characters like Juliet or Portia are created in this period .Their similarity is bravery in pursuing their love regardless of the pressure from their family. So we regard the view
5、as a bud of “feminism”. But in the second period, Shakespeare changes his female concept completely. In this period, although bravery could be still found in these female characters, but “feminism” is incomplete. The female characters just resist the “father-right” tradition, but when they face “hus
6、band-right”, they usually choose to keep silence. Besides, in view of the times one appears in a play and their status in the plays, the female roles are weaker than male roles.1 We could call the phenomenon as “women-belittling”. 2 Literature Review2.1 Studies on Women-belittling1 华全坤、洪增流、田朝绪著， 莎士比
7、亚新论新世纪，新莎士比亚69 页，上海外语教育出版社，2007 年。2In Shakespeares many plays, the men are thought to be enjoyed the higher position than the women. Whats the reason of that?According to the in-depth study, many academicians believed the main reason was the traditional concept that men were superior to women.2 In a
8、 father-right society, the concept was well understood by everyone, so Shakespeare couldnt get rid of the limitation of the concept too. So, understandably, the main characters of Shakespeare plays are always males. Besides, in the father-right society, creating the characters in mens viewpoint seem
9、ed to be unavoidable. So the function of the female roles was to help to show the male characters better.3 In this way, we could understand why the women always appeared as costar in Shakespeares plays.In addition, Shakespeare seemed to have strong “Penelope complex”, which comes from Greek mytholog
10、y, means the chastity of the women to their husband. In many Shakespeares tragedies, the female characters must be loyalty to their husbands or lover, and dying for love seemed to be the perfect and highest level behavior to show their loyalty.4 In a sense, it showed some kind of overlook to the fem
11、ales life.2.2 Studies on feminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of womens rights. Although the feminism rose in the second half of the
12、 19th century, feminism has budded in Shakespeares plays. On the one hand, some female roles pursued their love freely, to the exclusion of the family strong disagreement, such as Ophelia and Desdemona. On the other hand, their tragic fate seemed to told all the audiences that women have to learn ho
13、w to say “no” to the men because its the only way to avoid tragedy happens.52 华全坤、洪增流、田朝绪著， 莎士比亚新论新世纪，新莎士比亚71 页，上海外语教育出版社，2007 年。3 李伟民著， 中国文化语境里的莎士比亚293 页，上海外语教育出版社，2009 年。4华全坤、洪增流、田朝绪著， 莎士比亚新论新世纪，新莎士比亚70 页，上海外语教育出版社，2007 年。5 郎琴芳著， 反抗父权制莎士比亚三大爱情悲剧中女主角的女权主义诠释 ， 铜陵学院学报20103A man, who was dominated by
14、the conception that men enjoyed higher status than women, was a feminist at the same time. Such a strange phenomenon had attracted much attention to the researchers in the past decades. Some scholars think that the phenomenon was a result of the influence of the Renaissance ideology. The ideology of
15、 “people first”, which appeared in the Shakespeares time, emphasizes the people are the center of the world. All the people have the right to pursue their own love freely. So Shakespeare melts the ideology into his plays, and then we were able to find these fearless and free female characters. 63. S
16、ignificanceAs we all know, Shakespeare lived in the time of Renaissance, a period mixing the Christian thoughts with the bourgeoisie ideology. So two thought -“Man is superior to woman” and “people first” - are mixed in his plays. In the past decades or centuries, many researches about women-belittl
17、ing or the bud of feminism have already been done separately, and gigantic achievements have been made on these two subjects. But few people have studied them connectedly and try to find out the reason about this special phenomenon. So, on the basis of the previous researches, a research studying th
18、e mixture of women-belittling and the bud of feminism in Othello will be done in my thesis. 加文章结构年第 1 期。6华全坤、洪增流、田朝绪著. 2007. 莎士比亚新论新世纪，新莎士比亚.上海外语教育出版社, 69页李伟民著， 中国文化语境里的莎士比亚279 页，上海外语教育出版社，2009 年。4Chapter 2 Shakespeares Female Concepts1. The Female Concept in OthelloOthello written in 1601 is one of
19、 the most famous plays of Shakespeare. In the play of Othello, the author tells us a mournful story. Othello, who is a Moor, lives in Venice and becomes a famous general during wars. Because of his honesty and bravery, a beautiful and virtuous girl named Desdemona from a noble family falls in love w
20、ith him and marries him secretly. For this reason, Desdemonas father breaks off relations with her and dies of a broken heart. After the marriage, the young couple come to Cyprus at the behest of the senators. But Iago, the ancient of Othello, envys Cassio and suspects Othello has an affair with his
21、 wife, so he frames Desdemona loving Cassio and sleeping with the lieutenant. In order to make his trick succeed, he gets the handkerchief which Othello gives to Desdemona with her wifes help. Finally, Othello is convinced that Desdemona is dishonest to him, so he kills her. But after that, Iagos cr
22、ime is brought to light and Desdemona is proved to be innocent, Othello commits suicide for fear of punishment. In the play of Othello, the female characters status couldnt be compared with the male roles, but it doesnt mean the women are just the supporting roles. On the contrary, in the climax of
23、the play, the person who uncovers the truth is nobody but a female character named Emilia. So, although the women in Shakespeares play seem unimportant, they are the necessary part of the whole play. Here come two questions: how important is the female in Shakespeares view? And what female concept d
24、oes Shakespeare hold?In the past, many scholars had argued whether Shakespeare respects or despises women, and a lot of theses had been done to discuss the question. But it seems that nobody could get the question across. In my opinion, the contradictory female concept held by Shakespeare is the rea
25、son why people could get different comprehensions through his plays. If you consider the period in which he livea period filled with 5great changes and ideological emancipation, you wont be surprised at his complicated ideology. So, as far as I am concerned, the bud of feminism and women-belittling
26、are two main features of Shakespeares female concept, and we could find these two points in Othello too. 1.1 The Bud of Feminism in Othello The term “feminism” appeared in 1880s, which means emancipation of women. Existing in human society with a long history, patriarchy regards males as the center
27、of world, discriminates the females and classifies females into appendage of the men. But feminism challenges patriarchy, aiming at wiping out the discrimination in every aspect to women in daily life. It emphasizes that women have a right to pursue their own freedom without the interference of the
28、men. 7Feminism budded in Othello. For example, when Brabantio, Desdemonas father, requires her daughter to make a choice about who she wants to be with, Desdemona says to her father as following:My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty: to you I am bound for life and education; my life and
29、 education both do learn me how to respect you; you are the lord of duty; I am hitherto your daughter: but heres my husband, and so much duty as my mother showd to you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess due to the Moor my lord. (Act I, Scene 3) Besides, when th
30、e Duke of Venice asks Desdemona whether she would like to stay at home and wait for Othello coming back, she said,“Nor I; I would not there reside, to put my father in impatient thoughts by being in his eye. Most gracious duke, to my unfolding lend your 7陈茂林. 2003.从新女性到牺牲品苔丝狄蒙娜形象试析J.南都学坛 2003 (7)6pr
31、osperous ear; and let me find a charter in your voice, to assist my simpleness. ” (Act I, Scene 3) “That I did love the Moor to live with him, my downright violence and storm of fortunes may trumpet to the world: my hearts subdued even to the very quality of my lord: I saw Othellos visage in his min
32、d, and to his honour and his valiant parts did I my soul and fortunes consecrate. So that, dear lords, if I be left behind, a moth of peace, and he go to the war, the rites for which I love him are bereft me, and I a heavy interim shall support by his dear absence. Let me go with him. ” (Act I, Scen
33、e 3) When she and Othello declare their love to the public, Desdemona makes such a short statement, but we could see an image who is free, honest and brave to pursue her love. Patriarchy is considered as a part of the traditional social system from the ancient time. To women, the order of the father
34、 couldnt be disobeyed. But in Shakespeares view, the women have the right to make their own choice. So, via the mouth of Desdemona, the author champions the right of women to pursue their love freely.But I do think it is their husbands faults if wives do fall: say that they slack their duties, and p
35、our our treasures into foreign laps, or else break out in peevish jealousies, throwing restraint upon us; or say they strike us, or scant our former having in despite; why, we have galls, and though we have some grace, yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know their wives have sense like them: the
36、y see and smell and have their palates both for sweet and sour, as husbands have. What is it that they do, when they change us for others? Is it sport? I think it is: and doth affection breed it? I think it doth: ist frailty that thus errs? It is so too: and have not we affections. Desires for sport
37、, and frailty, as men have? Then let them use us well: else let them know, the ills we do, their ills instruct us so. (Act IV, Scene 3 )7When Desdemona and Emilia talk about chastity of the women, Emilia speaks out the statement above. The statement has the following implications:1) The husband shou
38、ld be responsible for the disloyalty of the wife because it is probably caused by extramarital affairs or maltreating of the husband;2）Although women is grace in nature, they also have the limitation of tolerance and they would revenge in some cases;3) Women are human beings, so they have the feelin
39、gs and desires too;4) The wives revenge aims to make their husbands treat them fairly, the evil deeds they do are all instructed by the men. 8We could regard the statement by Emilia as the complaints and protest of the women who is oppressed. It also shows the “grass-roots” characteristic of Shakesp
40、eares plays. In his sight, the small potato isnt humbler than the riches. Shakespeare places his humanism into Emilia. So Emilia could be considered as the envoy of Shakespeare to show the idea of equality and progress to the audience. Here, we could recognize one aspect of Shakespeares female conce
41、pt easily. Obviously, it could be defined as “the bud of feminism”.1.2 Women-belittling in OthelloFrom the beginning of the human society in civilized times, patriarchy has become a tradition in ancient Greece, ancient Egypt or in ancient China. In a patriarchy society, men take helm of the state, a
42、nd the values are made according to mens standards. Beside, women are the appendage of men, and males could control everything which originally belongs to the females. So, in a sense, patriarchy is equal to the disdain to the women, and we could call it “women-belittling”. 9From the Renaissance, peo
43、ple began to re-research thoroughly the values of 8杨爱唐. 1996. “脆弱啊，你的名字就是女人”莎士比亚笔下几个女性形象透视J. 鄂州大学学报. 1996 (2)9田俊武，李硕. 2006. 浅谈莎士比亚奥赛罗中的婚姻制度与妇女地位问题J. 戏剧文学，2006（09）：73-77.8Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, to redefine the meaning of “man”. So, a great quantity of literatures appeared to characterize m
44、an, exalt man and put man to the center of the world. But here, “man” stands for male instead of female. The difference of status between men and women didnt change visibly.10As a playwright in the period of Renaissance, Shakespeare tries to call for a woman to fight against the father and to pursue
45、 her love bravely in Othello. But as a result of the influence of the patriarchy, his play inevitably features the idea of women-belittling. For example, when Iago tries to appease Roderigo, he compares Desdemona to guinea-hen.I would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen, I would change my huma
46、nity with a baboon. (Act I, Scene 3)”.Before Othello reached to Cyprus, Iago arrives there with his wife and Desdemona. Facing Cassios praise, Iago abuses her wife in public, but her wife has no right to defend herself. It showes the exact status of women in the ancient family: the appendant of the
47、men.“In faith, too much; I find it still, when I have list to sleep: marry, before your ladyship, I grant, she puts her tongue a little in her heart, and chides with thinking.” Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors, bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens, saints m your injuries,
48、 devils being offended, players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds.You rise to play and go to bed to work. (Act II, Scene1 )Desdemona loses handkerchief which Othello gives her accidentally, so her 10田俊武，李硕. 2006. 浅谈莎士比亚奥赛罗中的婚姻制度与妇女地位问题J. 戏剧文学，2006（09）：84-869husband thinks that she giv
49、es it to Cassio and abuses her. Abused by Othello, Desdemona is very regretful to lose the handkerchief. So Emilia, Iagos wife, speaks, “They (that is, men) are all but stomachs, and we (that is, women) all but food; To eat us hungerly, and when they are full, they belch us.“ (Act III, Scene 4) Through this statement, we could learn about what women hold the opinion for their own status in Shakespeares time. They are just the “food” of the men.When the envoy called Lodovico comes to Cyprus to pass
