Titus :: essays research papers

Desdemona, on the other hand, is only heard talking by nature with other people. Yet, she too isdeveloped by dint of both the glut and form of her speech. For example, Desdemonasconversations with Emilia, p contrivanceicularly at the end of the play (IV, iii), expose aspects of hercharacter as easily as Emilias character. Have students look at these and discuss what they revealabout each of the characters. When it was enacted upon the stage, Shakespe atomic number 18s Titus Andronicus was most probably receivedby its 16th century audiences in much the same way as D anyas and Melrose Place are received bycontemporary 20th century audiences. Therefore it is important to remember that art does notnecessarily have to be haute couture in drift to be an accurate representation of popularideologies. In fact, much often than not, it is the entertainment of the worldly-minded that is a bettermimic of these ideologies. If we realize that Shakespeares primary impersonal was not to mak esocial commentary or criticize his own culture only if rather to entertain, we can observe how hisworks, and indeed almost all works of art, as Frederic Jameson has stated, "as though for the firsttime, bring into being that very stake to which they are also, at one and the same time, areaction." (Montrose essay, p.57) With this is mind I would like to reveal how Shakespearestreatment of the female character Lavinia in Titus Andronicus is a window through which can beseen not only the objectification of woman in 16th and 17th century culture and some of theproblems which arise when the woman is viewed as an assignable property, but also the subtleshift from the outward see to it of woman to the interiorizing of control of woman through herown self-image. Perhaps most easily placeable is the objectification and assignability of 16th and 17th centurywoman. By objectification and assignability I taut the near-universal notion, and in many caseslegal fact, that women, espe cially of the upper class, were accepted by their fathers, theirhusbands, and the state, to be bought, sold, and hard-boiled as property. At the very beginning of theplay Lavinia is referred to as "Romes rich ornament" by her suitor Bassianus (I.i.). When sheactually enters the scene she has eight lines of praise for her fathers gallantry and honor and then,after a cursory acknowledgment by him, she is silent. Meanwhile her father chooses the newking, the new king chooses her as his bride, her father agrees (although he seems more proud toTitus essays research papers Desdemona, on the other hand, is only heard talking naturally with other people. Yet, she too isdeveloped through both the content and form of her speech. For example, Desdemonasconversations with Emilia, particularly at the end of the play (IV, iii), reveal aspects of hercharacter as well as Emilias character. Have students look at these and discuss what they revealabout each of the characters. When it was enacted upon the stage, Shakespeares Titus Andronicus was most probably receivedby its 16th century audiences in much the same way as Dallas and Melrose Place are received bycontemporary 20th century audiences. Therefore it is important to remember that art does notnecessarily have to be haute couture in order to be an accurate representation of popularideologies. In fact, more often than not, it is the entertainment of the bourgeois that is a bettermimic of these ideologies. If we realize that Shakespeares primary objective was not to makesocial commentary or criticize his own culture but rather to entertain, we can observe how hisworks, and indeed almost all works of art, as Frederic Jameson has stated, "as though for the firsttime, bring into being that very situation to which they are also, at one and the same time, areaction." (Montrose essay, p.57) With this is mind I would like to reveal how Shakespearestreatment of the female character Lavinia in Titus Andronicus is a window through which can beseen not only the objectification of woman in 16th and 17th century culture and some of theproblems which arise when the woman is viewed as an assignable property, but also the subtleshift from the outward control of woman to the interiorizing of control of woman through herown self-image. Perhaps most easily recognizable is the objectification and assignability of 16th and 17th centurywoman. By objectification and assignability I mean the near-universal notion, and in many caseslegal fact, that women, especially of the upper class, were accepted by their fathers, theirhusbands, and the state, to be bought, sold, and treated as property. At the very beginning of theplay Lavinia is referred to as "Romes rich ornament" by her suitor Bassianus (I.i.). When sheactually enters the scene she has eight lines of praise for her fathers valor and honor and then,after a cursory acknowledgment by him, she is silent. Meanwhile her father chooses the newking, the new king chooses her as his bride, her father agrees (although he seems more proud to