Dr.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIA NATIONAL

LAW UNIVERSITY LUCKNOW

ENGLISH

Powerful Portrayal of Heroines in Shakespeares Plays

Submitted to:-

Submitted by:-

Dr. Alka Singh

Assistant Professor (English)

Shivanshu Singh
Roll no. 141
B.A. LL.B. (Hons.)- Ist sem

Introduction

William Shakespeare penned his plays during a time when a woman was in charge of the
whole nation and every man bowed down to her, but still patriarchy was universally
practiced. Sixteenth century awarded little worth to female members of the society; any rights
given to women were at the discretion of men who provided for them. A womans role was
merely leaving her fathers house for her husbands house and producing an heir. Women
were merely possessions and they had no freedom of choice of husband and had no exercise
of power on anyone.
Shakespeares earlier plays like Taming of the Shrew represent him as a misogynist author
who stereotyped women characters but his later plays such as Macbeth, Twelfth Night have
women character that refused to be stereotyped, who fight for their rights in right or evil ways
and dominate the heroes of the play. In other words they are the real heroes of the play.
After the earlier plays Shakespeare began to right more seriously and he began to give his
heroines a definite voice and identity, he gave freedom of speech to his heroines and a will to
fight for their rights to subdue the subjugation put on them by patriarchy.
Shakespeare toys with the perception of women as the weaker sex and brings forth a heroine
that is much more than his heroes can ever be. Many of the male characters are represented in
a quite derogatory manner and been made the protagonists of the play with certain hamartia,
or a tragic flaw an obsession of some kind which will either be brought forth strongly by the
heroine as in Macbeth or attempted to control as in King Lear. As the plays travel toward an
increasingly diluted patriarchal control that Shakespeare juxtaposes with ridiculous human
behaviour, there is a sly, but intuitive, expos on the fate of women of the times. As every
critic has observed there is a definite progression in the empowerment of women in the texts.
In Shakespeare's tragedies there are several types of female characters who influence other
characters, and are often underestimated. Women in Shakespearean plays often have the
leading role whether they create the main conflict and base of the plays, or bring up
interesting moral and cultural questions; they are put in challenging situations and come out
strongly. They often surpass the male protagonists.

Cordelia in King Lear

When King Lear decides to retire as king and give all his land and property to his three
daughters, saying that their portions will be based on their declarations of how much they
love him. The two older daughters, Goneril and Regan, make up sugar coated hypocritical
statements. Cordelia on the other hand says she loves him according to her duty as a daughter
and to her the bond between a parent and child is the most special. Enraged, he banishes her
and tells her two suitors can take her but without the offered dowry. The Duke of Burgundy
declines to marry her without the dowry but The King of France agrees. She has stood up to
her father, showing great courage. When the two sisters reject King Lear and he is defeated
and imprisoned, Cordelia is there with him; she comforts him and helps him to see the special
bond between a father and a daughter. Afterwards her sisters have her hanged and King Lear
dies of a broken heart.

Portia in Merchant of Venice

After the death of her father Portia became the man of her household, she is an unusually
charming character, her job is to manage the very wealthy estate her father has left her.
Portias father exercises power over her from beyond the grave through his will, it states that
whoever will come to woo her for marriage will have to choose between three caskets and
one of those caskets contain the permission to marry her.
While Shylock has brought a case against Antonio and a judge is required by the Duke of
Venice to try the case, Antonio is now disagreeing to pay the pound of flesh he had agreed to
pay Shylock if unable to pay his loan. Portia disguises as a famous young judge and shows
extraordinary qualities in delivering her judgment. Her power lies in her wisdom which is
later recognised in the court by all those who do not know that she is a woman.

Portia is witty, beautiful and wealthy embodying all characteristics Shakespeares heroines. In
the beginning of the play we see her as a prisoner to her fathers wishes but she as the judge
embodies a free spirit. She does not ignore the stipulations of her fathers will, rather she
watches a stream of suitors pass her by but When Bassanio arrives, she proves herself to be
highly resourceful and finds loopholes in the will.
She defeats Shylock by finding faults in his own contract saying that he is entitled to a pound
of flesh but it does not allow for any loss of blood.

Lady Macbeth in Macbeth

Lady Macbeth is seen as one of the most famous, frightening and unscrupulous characters in
history, in fact she is referred to as the fourth witch in Macbeth by the critics. As soon as she
is introduced in the play we see her plotting King Duncans murder and using everything at
her disposal, including her sexuality and the tragic fact of her not being able to become a
mother, to persuade Macbeth to go through with the murder. She even questions his manhood
and provokes him to act.
The relationship between gender and power defines the character of Lady Macbeth when she
wishes she was not a woman so that she could commit the murder herself. In those times
ambition and violence were linked to masculine character but Lady Macbeth defies that logic
and breaks the stereotype, she undercuts Macbeths idea that undaunted mettle should
compose / Nothing but males (p.3, Act 1 sc. 7, 7374). She proves that some women are
more manipulative and ambitious than men and the society cannot constraint them.

Lady Macbeth is seen as a strong character but her psychological condition worsens due to
the residing guilt and Macbeths over powering ambition which prevented him to even pay
heed to her, she began a slow slide into madness and ambition affected her more strongly
than Macbeth. By the end of the play we see her sleepwalking when she tries to clean her
hands repetitively of the invisible blood stain of Duncan and all those Macbeth killed
afterwards to hide his crime. She kills herself later and we see no effect of this news on
Macbeth as he is devoid of all feelings now except the thirst for power.

Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing

Much Ado about Nothing is a highly remarkable play in which Shakespeare combines an
ancient mythological story with an ultra-modern love story invented by him.
Beatrice is a feisty, independent woman she never had to disguise herself as a man because of
her reputation in the family as a woman who shouldnt be tangled with. She is much ahead of
her times and would be regarded as a feminist in our age , she does as she pleases and she
cant be told who to marry, she has a general disregard towards men and she particularly
dislikes Benedick, a soldier who visits Messina regularly and stays in the governors house
who is also her uncle.
The most incredible wordplay is shown by Shakespeare between these two characters, both of
them are anti-marriage but they are tricked into falling in love by their friends. The play ends
with the couple confirming their love and deciding to marry. Beatrice accepts to the
traditional female role but there are her rules to it.

Viola in Twelfth Night

Viola is one of the most delightful and loved characters from Shakespeares comedies. In the
beginning of the play we see her shipwrecked not able to find her brother, she is an orphan
and no one is there to protect her so she disguises herself as a boy so that she has freedom to
move around Illyria.
She was surrounded by a lovesick Duke Orsino and aggressive Olivia but she wins both
hearts with her quick wittedness, charm and good skills in music. She wins the sea captains
loyalty and initiates the plan of disguise with him. She manages to make both Olivia and
Orsino fall in love with her even though she doesnt plan it and to her loyalty she tries to win
Olivias love for Orsino even when she loves him.
She is simple, straight forward and honest her disguise is merely to protect herself from the
world which proves humorous and charming for the audience, she entertains the audience
with delightful puns and her love for the duke is true and she is united with him in the end of
the play.

Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra

Cleopatra is perhaps one of the strongest and most complex characters portrayed by
Shakespeare. She was dominant as she was exotic, from Act I we see every other character
making judgements about her and criticizing her, her character is framed through the
negligence of Antony towards his duties to the people. It is Cleopatra mesmerized by whose
beauty and sexuality Antony has abandoned his people.
Philo and Demetrius take the stage in Act I and within the first ten lines of the play, they
declare Cleopatra as a lustful gipsy, a wrangling queen, a slave, an Egyptian dish and a
whore, she is called Salt Cleopatra and an enchantress who has made Antony -the noble
ruin of her wicked black magic.
Cleopatra is unscrupulous and crude and she knows that men who are reducing her character
are doing it because they feel threatened by her, she being a woman is capable of much more
than they can do, her persuasion skills have caused Antony to abandon his own kingdom.
Cleopatras beauty and sexuality appeals so strongly to all other characters that she seems to
make defect perfection, when she walks she makes all the other characters breathless,
She has the ability to be the embodiment of all things such as beauty and ugliness and virtue
and vice all at once, she plots to show Antony that she died when he was leaving her but he
kills himself and when she is left alone, Caesar wants to parade her down the streets and
reduce her character to a whore and a slave but she cant stand that so she kills herself as well
by letting asps bite her. Her charisma, strength, and indomitable make her one of
Shakespeares strongest, most awe-inspiring female characters

Bibliography:

http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com
https://en.wikipedia.org

http://southeastern.edu
http://www.shakespeare-online.com
http://skemman.is