The Role of Femininity in Shakespeares Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear

The Role of Femininity in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear similarly experience an "unhooking" (Tompkins) in the eponymous plays. These tragic figures struggle with internal and external femininity: after realizing their emotions and labeling them feminine, they identify women as the source of this negative femininity. Their inability to deal with the female gender in any form destabilizes their masculinity, causing an unhooking/unlatching within them. The origin of Hamlet's psychological decay lies in his anger towards Gertrude and his inability to adjust to her marrying Claudius. From Hamlet's perspective, Gertrude giving herself to a new husband signifies her failure to honor his father and her abandonment of Hamlet; he is figuratively orphaned, and he resents his sole living parent. Additionally, Hamlet's emotional confidence has been significantly damaged: seeing his mother with another man substantiates the possibility that his future wife could leave him for another man and cause him serious pain. This r ealization compels Hamlet to mask his feelings for Ophelia with madness, a defense mechanism intended to conceal his vulnerability. Ophelia reports that he appeared "with his doublet all unbrac'd,/No hat upon his head, his stockins fouled,/Ungart'red, and down-gyved to his ankle" (2.1.75-7), but as Hamlet is well-aware of the dress code, he likely intended for his behavior to be viewed as unacceptable and thus mad. Throughout the play, Hamlet has difficulty reacting to his feelings and the women who cause them. Because he wishes he could act instead of speculating, Hamlet curses his own femininity: "Fie upon't, foh!" (2.2.584-7). Secondly, his anger towards Ophelia is like... ...ing his death; however, this occurs too late, as Goneril and Regan have left his fate to Edmund, convinced that their father has lost all reason. Similarly, Othello's unhooking is so complete that the only way Desdemona could have survived is if he kills himself first. In contrast, Hamlet could have lived, feeling the grief of Ophelia's death, had he not rejected his characteristic inaction, which he believed to be connected with his emotions and thus feminine. Works Cited Bradley, A.C. "King Lear." 20Lh Century Interpretations of King Lear. Ed. Jane Adelman. New Jersev; Prentice-Hall, 1978. Neely, Carol. "Women and Men in Othello" Critical Essays on Shakespeare’s Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. Shakespeare, William. King Lear. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

Posienden vs Athena

Athens, one of the chief city-states of all of ancient Greece, was a city greatly desired by two powerful deities: Athena and Poseidon. The myth that shows how this dispute was settled is depicted in many ways. This story can vary depending on which depiction is being observed. There are slight discrepancies between the Greek version of this myth, the Roman version, and the sculpture shown on the Parthenon in Athens. With close scrutiny of this myth, it is clear that culture, time period, and genre all are reasons for this myths disparity.This myth starts with a king named Crecrops, who is half man and half snake. He is the king of a flourishing unnamed city state in need of a patron god. He turns to Poseidon and Athena who both want to be the patron deity of this thriving city. Quickly a conflict arises between these two powerful gods. The first discrepancy between the Greek version of this myth (Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3 14. 1) and the Roman version of this myth (Ovid, Metamorphos es 6. 70) is that when Athena and Poseidon are about to go to war over this conflict these two myths have a different deity suggesting an alternative course of action.In the earlier Greek depictions of this myth Athena decides to hold a contest of who can contribute most to King Crecrops and his city-state. After they had given their gifts (an olive tree from Athena and a salt water spring from Poseidon; Poseidon’s spring that he created also serves as an aetion of how a specific river was created near Athens. The river or spring is named Erektheis) the king would decide the victor: the patron deity of his state. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, it is Jove who decides to hold a contest, and the judges of the contest are Olympian gods and goddesses.One reason for this difference is that the learned Ovid is giving as much respect to Jove as he can. He was being very wary not to disrespect Jove in anyway, for he did not want to end up like Prometheus. â€Å"†¦With his limbs bound upon the hard rocks by galling fetters of bronze, Prometheus fed with his liver an eagle that ever rushed back to its prey. † (Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2. 1245-1247). This is a very common principle that came about more in the Roman era. In earlier Greek times, often times heroes would counteract their positive deeds by having hubris or excessive pride.The idea of hubris is clearly shown many times in Homer’s Odyssey. A prime example of this is when Odysseus is escaping from the island that Polyphemus is on and he shouts back at him, bragging in a way, and ends up almost getting hit by a boulder thrown by Polyphemus and facing the wrath of Poseidon as his journey continues. On the sculpture on the west pediment of the Parthenon, Jove isn’t depicted at all. Some may say that this is an act of disrespect, but that is simply false. The Parthenon does show Jove in a sculpture of the birth of Athena on the east pediment of the building, which is actually the front of the building.The fact is that the Parthenon was built to honor Athens’ patron goddess: Athena. The west pediment of the building is an aetion for how Athens got its name: Athena named it after herself after winning the contest. The sculpture, which was created long after this original myth was told, does not show the spring that Poseidon created most likely because sculpting that on the top of the Parthenon would be a very challenging task. Because of this, the sculpture looks more of a battle than a contest.Another reason why a â€Å"battle† theme can be felt through this sculpture is because the Parthenon was built somewhere in between 447 and 438 B. C. E. The Parthenon embodied the triumph of the Greeks, especially the Athenians, over the Persians who had destroyed the acropolis earlier in 480 B. C. E. The time period in which a certain myth is written or a sculpture sculpted in can tell us a great deal about the themes behind each respective work. As written works are passed down through the ages, each time period will interpret the document in a different way, relating to their own lives and culture.Poseidon takes losing the contest very harshly and acts drastically. In the Greek depiction of the contest between Athena and Poseidon, Poseidon, after coming up short in the competition, floods the Thriasian plain and drowns Attica under his salty sea in a fit of rage. â€Å"Athena created the olive tree, and the two divinities disputed, until the gods assigned Attica to Athena. Poseidon, indignant at this, caused the country to be inundated. † (Herod. viii. 55; Apollod. iii. 14.  § 1 ; Paus. i. 24.  § 3, &c. ; Hygin. Fab. 164. In a different translation of the story, not only does Poseidon flood Attica, but he also puts a curse on the city so that it will be forever be in a drought after the flood. This, coming from a later Roman text, can be considered an etiology. It is not hard to believe that Attica, during a certai n time period, had a drought. They used the aetion of Neptune cursing them for eternal drought to explain why this all was happening. Earlier time periods probably did not have problems with water so the aetion was not needed. They did not need to explain why they had water because it was a natural occurrence.The genres of these works also have a great influence on how they are perceived. Ovid writes in a completely different genre then earlier writers such as Hesiod. Ovid’s Metamorphoses poke fun at, in a way, of epic poems. There is more of a sense of humor in Ovid’s works then that of Hesiod. The later depictions of this contest between Minerva and Neptune are slightly wittier then their earlier counterparts. Ovid, being the learned poet that he was, was sure to still have the ultimate level of respect for both of these gods; however, his other works such as Pygmalion (Ovid's Metamorphoses, 10).Ovid knew when it was acceptable to be witty in his writings, and when t he utmost respect was required. Popular genre often shows the general moral of a group at a certain time. The sculpture of Minerva and Neptune seemingly showing battle ready gods was not a mistake. Greece and Athens especially, was celebrating an enormous victory over Persia. The Parthenon was built to honor Athena who contributed a great deal too Athenian triumphs. This sculpture could have been portrayed in a million different ways based on the sculptors’ mood, which was popular genre at that time.Over changes in culture, time, and genre different aspects of different myths are subject to change. However, just because many myths vary does not mean that these myths have nothing in common. In fact, many different myths, Roman and Greek, have the same underling principles: principles that are sometimes over looked. It is obvious that Roman and Greek myths both honor gods and they both have the same aspects about the underworld, but what often times goes unrealized is that each myth regarding a particular god or goddess is connected.As shown in the myth previously discussed, Athena and Poseidon were not playing for the same team so to speak. The tension between them is present in other works; however, it may sometimes be overlooked. One example of this tension is shown in Homer’s Odyssey. Odysseus, who is a Greek hero from the Trojan War, is a very cunning warrior much like Athena. She favors him and tries to help him in any way she can. Poseidon, on the other hand, despises Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus, and does all in his power to hinder Odysseus in his journey home. The journey back to his home town Ithaca takes Odysseus ten years.After battling with monsters like Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus finally returns home to find his kingdom in ruin. Athena is there to provide advice and assist him in the establishment of order back in his home town. Each myth is different in its own way and has something to contribute. Everything about a myth from its genre to the time it was written conveys differences about the culture of the people who created it. The disparities in Ovid’s description of the contest between Minerva and Neptune and the accounts from Apollodorus, Bibliotheca show a great difference in culture, time periods, and genre.The sculpture on the Parthenon again communicates something different all together. With close scrutiny of the different aspects of a myth, it is unbelievable what can be discovered. There are unknown aetions waiting to be uncovered. Undiscovered connections between ancient heroes and gods ready to be made known. It is essential to dive into these myths and discover everything they have to tell us. Bibliography Frazer, J. G.. â€Å"NOTES ON BOOK 3 OF THE LIBRARY OF APOLLODORUS. † http://www. theoi. com. Theoi E-Texts Library Copyright  © 2000 – 2011, Aaron Atsma. Web. 17 Oct 2012. lt;http://www. theoi. com/Text/Ap3d. html;. Morford, Mark P. O. , Robert J. Lenardon, and Mi cheal Sham. Classical Mythology. Ninth Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press Inc. , 2011. 177-180. Print. Anonymous, . â€Å"ATHENA MYTHS 1 . † http://www. theoi. com. Theoi Project Copyright  © 2000 – 2011, Aaron J. Atsma, New Zealand. Web. 17 Oct 2012. ;http://www. theoi. com/Olympios/AthenaMyths. html Anonymous, . â€Å"Mythagora Home Page. † www. Mythagora. com. Copyright 2012- All rights reserved. Web. 17 Oct 2012. ;http://www. mythagora. com/bios/prometheus. html;.

Transferred Epithet Definition and Examples

A transferred epithet is a little known—but often used—figure of speech in which a modifier (usually an adjective) qualifies a noun other than the person or thing it is actually describing. In other words, the modifier or epithet is  transferred  from the noun it is meant to describe to another noun in the sentence.   Transferred Epithet Examples An example  of a transferred epithet is: I had a wonderful day. The day is not in itself wonderful. The  speaker  had a wonderful day. The epithet wonderful actually describes the kind of day the speaker experienced. Some other examples of transferred epithets are cruel bars, sleepless night, and suicidal sky.   The bars, presumably installed in a prison are inanimate objects, and therefore, cant be cruel. The person who installed the bars is cruel. The bars merely serve to foster the persons cruel intentions. Can a night be sleepless? No, its the person experiencing a night during which he or she cannot sleep who is sleepless (in Seattle or anywhere else). Likewise, a sky cant be suicidal—but a dark, ominous sky might add to the depressed feelings of a suicidal individual. Another example would be: Sara has an  unhappy marriage. Marriage is ephemeral; an intellectual construct—it can neither be happy or unhappy because a marriage is not capable of having emotions. Sara (and presumably her husband), on the other hand,  could  have an unhappy marriage. This quote, then, is a transferred epithet: It transfers the modifier, unhappy, to the word marriage. The Language of Metaphors Because transferred epithets provide a vehicle for  metaphoric language, writers often employ them to infuse their works with vivid imagery as the following examples show: â€Å"As I sat in the bathtub, soaping a meditative foot and singing...it would be deceiving my public to say that I was feeling boomps-a-daisy.From Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, by P.G. Wodehouse Wodehouse, whose work also includes many other effective uses of  grammar  and  sentence structure, transfers his meditative feeling to the foot he is soaping. He even makes clear that hes really describing his own feelings of melancholy by noting that he could not say he was feeling boomps-a-daisy (wonderful or happy). Indeed,  it was he who  was feeling meditative, not his foot. In the next line, silence  cannot be discreet. Silence is a concept indicating a lack of sound. It has no intellectual capacity. Its clear that the author and his companions were being discreet by staying silent. Were coming close to those little creeks now, and we keep a discreet silence.From Rio San Pedro, by Henry Hollenbaugh Expressing Feelings In this 1935 letter to fellow British poet and novelist Stephen Spender, essayist/poet/playwright T.S. Eliot  employs a transferred epithet to make his feelings clear: You dont really criticize any author to whom you have never surrendered yourself...Even just the  bewildering minute  counts. Eliot is expressing his vexation, probably to criticism of him or some of his works. Its not the minute that is bewildering, but rather, its Eliot who feels that the criticism is bewildering and likely unwarranted. By calling the minute bewildering, Eliot was trying to elicit empathy from Spender, who as a fellow writer, would likely have understood his frustrations. Transferred Epithets vs. Personification Dont confuse transferred epithets with personification,  a figure of speech  in which an inanimate object or abstraction is given human qualities or abilities.  One of literatures best examples of personification is a descriptive line from the poem Fog by acclaimed American poet  Carl Sandburg: The fog comes on little cat feet.†Ã‚   Fog doesnt have feet. Its vapor. Fog cant come, as in walk, either. So, this quote gives fog qualities it cannot have—little feet and the ability to walk. The use of personification helps to paint a mental picture in the readers mind of the fog stealthily creeping in.