Shakespeare literary imitation

So I took a shot at creatively engaging Shakespeare this weekend by writing a short story about Kate from The Tempest. I wanted at first to actually imitate Shakespeare's language, but that proved very difficult, so I ended up just writing part of the last scene from Kate's point of view. It turned out to be really fun to try and delve into the character's mind. It may not be the best writing, but I enjoyed getting to know this play better.

Here ya go! Constructive criticism is more than welcome!

The women's part: Shakespeare's feminist leanings

I'm going to start with some disclaimers about my thesis. My basic argument is that because of the influence of his female audience, patrons, and personal relationships with women, Shakespeare wrote female characters that were independent, intelligent, and strong. I will even go so far as to suggest he was a proto-feminist, since he recognized the worth of the female mind. I know there are some objections to this idea, which I will address here.


As brought up by Chris Welcker in a comment to one of my previous posts, Shakespeare wasn't always respectful to women. This can be seen in the case of his wife, Anne Hathaway. Anne (although not a complete pushover, as I discussed here) was apparently not an overly critical part of Shakespeare's life. There are few remaining records of her activity in Stratford, and none at all to suggest she had anything to do with her husband's business dealings at the theater. Phyllis Rackin thinks part of this may have to with Shakespeare's lack of trust and confidence in his wife. She states: "A possibility is that William did not trust Anne to manage the family property. Her absence from the legal records of all William's financial affairs might mean that Anne had an exceptionally passive role in the economic affairs of the Shakespeare family" (39). 


So although I admit that there is evidence for the idea that Shakespeare wasn't respectful to all women, there is also substantial proof that despite this, he was still influenced by the many women in his life. Whether he truly admired them or simply wrote the female characters for financial gain is something that cannot be known for sure.


Now that I've shared some opposing views to my thesis, I can approach my topic from a textual standpoint by analyzing the female characters in Shakespeare's plays. I've previously discussed Portia and Paulina, along with Miranda, as good examples of intelligent female characters. For this post, I've chosen two main characters from different plays to help prove my thesis.

Film Review of "Taming of the Shrew"

Although so far in this class I've watched the film productions after finishing reading each play, I decided to try something different for The Taming of the Shrew. This was mostly because after the generally direct language of Hamlet and Henry V, this comedy had so many innuendos and references that it took me nearly twice as long to get through a page. After reading through Act 3, I decided to watch the film production so I could get a better grasp on the humor and plot as I finished the play. 

I watched the 1960's version of The Taming of the Shrew with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. I must say I had some doubts about it, since it's an older film, but I'm going to start by stating how much I LOVED it! I thought they did a fantastic job with casting, and loved Taylor's and Burton's take on Katharina and Petruchio. The costumes and sets were great, and the story was easy to follow. I'm going to break my review down into three categories: things that were changed in the film, my personal reaction, and how it helped me understand the play better.

First off, although you obviously have to cut some things when doing a Shakespeare production for a general audience, I found it interesting that the "play within a play" starring Christopher Sly was cut from the film. I thought that it was a very funny part of the play, but I guess I can understand how it may confuse modern viewers. Second, besides cutting lines, they also changed some words (such as "mew" to "lock), in an obvious effort to reach a broader audience. Third, there was a lot more action than I thought there would be, which I really enjoyed (especially Kate's and Petruchio's first conversation, gotta love it!).

I've already made it clear that I loved the film, and here are just some of the things that stood out to me:
1. Kate is kind of crazy!
2. Petruchio is kind of crazy! (really makes you think of Bianca's line: "That, being mad herself, she's madly mated.")
3. Hortensio's wig is rather ridiculous. Not even the one he uses as disguise, but the one he wears throughout the movie.
4. Marriage has changed so much since Shakespeare's time!
5. I love Kate and Petruchio's interactions. I feel like everything they say and do is a test for each other.

And lastly, I'd like to discuss how the movie helped me understand the play better, and even changed my mind about a few things. First, in the movie (like I said above) Kate is truly crazy! While reading the play, I felt so sympathetic for Kate thinking that her father didn't love her and everyone thought she was a "fiend." In watching the film, however, my sympathies definitely were with Baptista and Bianca, because Katharina was awful! She was beating on Bianca, rude to her father, and breaking everything in sight. But then, of course, my sympathies switched back to Kate when Petruchio is late to the wedding, and then withholds food and generally makes her miserable.

Really, Kate was easily the most fascinating character to me. Everyone else is designed by some goal they want to achieve: Petruchio wants money, Baptista to marry off his daughters, and Gremio, Hortensio, and Lucentio want to marry Bianca. But what Kate wants is never really clear. Why does she act the way she does? Why does she marry Petruchio? And why does she allow herself to be "tamed" at the end of the movie?

I felt that the film gave me an insiders look into Katharina. I am now on the side of those who claim that she was never really tamed, but just went along with it in order to work the system. She knew if she remained unmarried she would have to live with her father forever, something I'm sure didn't appeal to her. Then, when Petruchio treats her terribly in his home, she learns to agree with what he says in order to get the things she wants. This wasn't terribly explicit in the play, but the film definitely gave that impression with all of Kate's sarcastic tones and side-long glances. In the end, she was a rich, well-dressed, and respected woman, which I think may have been her desire all along, and she achieved that only by allowing herself to be tamed. What do you all think? Which side are you on?

My schedule for King Lear:

2/07 - Read Background and Act 1

2/09 - Read Acts 2 and 3

2/11 - Read Acts 4 and 5