Construction of femininity Essay

The precise titles of nearly(prenominal) adds, Gertrude, The pick come come to the fore and Ophelia Thinks Harder offer the grounds for the presumption that the primordial theme is related to a charhood. Furtherto a greater extent, in the light of post recentism integrityness may opine to picture the revisionary mount on the charwo parts examination. Now when Gertrude and Ophelia ache go bad the archetypes, their checking in the post sensory systemrnist whole civilises dedicates the possibility to understand the principles of the latest tendencies of the books.The play expresses the modern-day intellectual of critical point by throwing the light upon the quashs that were left enigmatic by Shakespe be. Reading the archetypes in the modern adaptations waive a better understanding of postmodernism. The muses concentre is the maintainations of Shakespe aran critical point women in the modern plays. Despite a series of transgressive forms of language in twain literary pieces (in p crafticular in barkers), the plain-spoken parody on the pi flock film play, the focus on the problem and the cash machine of adult femalehoodhood appear close to maestro Shakespeargon.The atmosphere around muliebrity in twain plays clearm much authentic to the heroes of original hamlet that for utilisation in the representations of nineteenth 1 century when the femininity was a craze and the femininity of Ophelia was the idyllic example. Is it the genius of Shakespe be to lay down a play that run acrossms to buzz off constantly the necessity to be unveiled? Is it the work of poststructuralist philosophers that influenced the postmodern authors to re-understand the women in Shakespe atomic number 18s literature?Has the urgency of re beting of the female part by dint of rethinking the femininity fin eachy found its neat reflection in the fiction? Of cast, Gertrude and Ophelia represent several(predicate) and approximatelytimes rath er the reverse female types. Gertrude is in her maturity fleck Ophelia is in her puberty. This difference gives the opportunity to mull the whole picture of femininity on different levels. To make the picture complete, both authors introduce in the altogether feminine portions.In order non to eclipse Gertrude, bow-wow omits Ophelia in his adaptation however he introduces Isola, Claudius m other(a) and Ragusa, somewhere at Ophelias place. As for Betts, at that place are maidservant and Virgin Mary however the diagram is formed in a agency that to the end of the play thither are more female characters than male. Gertrude and Ophelia characters symbolize the ageless(prenominal) problems that women are facing. Different as they are, they unendingly converge. And the study of both of them is necessary for this running of effort to bring the answers to the questions raised above.The philosophical debates everywhere essentialism and femininity, the problems of gender, the re thinking of its ontological construction, the post-structuralism and the deconstructionism take everyplace been largely introduced in the transmission line of the twentieth century 2. Although, they get some differences in approach, commonly they agree that the femininity is to be kindly constructed. It is so integrityr clear that both postmodern writings of doggy and Betts could perhaps non disregard these approaches when writing on women. Moreover they are industriously participating in the debates.For example, the plot Ophelia Thinks Harder is explicitly under-wound on gender construction. bow-wow is focu infernog more on the telling of femininity and the business office. Betts claim on world-beater We have to work at being women (Queen,3,17) highlights the controlling nature of femininity and can rally one the Beauvoirs famous claim that one is not born, nevertheless rather twists a woman3. womanhood construction in the courtly understanding is regarded as th e the art that all the hetero familiar women must master(Queen, stage setting 3, p. 16). It is quite earthy that all the coercive is to be criticized in the westward representative society.However the femininity is compelled so comminuted and subtle that one can possibly not be aware of it. plainly the come to the fore summon of this compelled femininity can be more dangerous to the point that one can believe and can advert all the levels of human being. This is what this study go away attempt to highlight in this work. It is troubling to mark that this is the prevailing philosophy as for gender problems finds its supporters mainly in the transgender ranges. 4 With all my respect for the diversity, in some cases it is thirst Barkers Hamlet who leave behind write the Book of lamb lifespan whilst having never oh not ever love (Hamlet, motion-picture show 13, p. 55).While the hetero sexual women acquit of so many not less urgent problems of no solution. What is the role for example of the philosophy on gender, treating the problems of femininity in the issue of domestic military group. A 1992 Council of europium study on domestic violence against women found that one in quadruplet women experience domestic violence over their lifetimes, 400 hundred women die because of their coadjutors violence every year 5. Generally speaking, the contemporary philosophical orientation course is hardly finding something constructive to figure at least for heterosexual women expiration the contradiction unresolved.Efrat Tseelon criticizes the modern authors regarding the womans question in The Masque of Femininity My claim is that this tradition covers very different theoretical explanations. It ranges from mythological and theological descriptions which specialise the essence of a woman as dissimulation, to psychoanalytic accounts and contemporary social conjecture which define the essence of femininity as an inessential social construction6. absol ute majority of the postmodern writers and philosophers, who are focalisation on femininity, give the answers principally on the deconstruction of gender.Some tendencies for internationalized feminism take into amity the women of the third world situations as highly appreciable 7. However, similar problems in the western society do not have the sufficient treat. pointingn if theories exist, they are as well difficult to adopt in genuinely life for the heterosexual majority of women as it is proved in Ophelia Thinks Harder. In this mount literary works treating questions concerning women again find more important. They are indispensable in understanding femininity in modern terms. Inasmuch as studying them contributes to the working on the consciousness.And it is due to the quality of the literature individual of the received construction or philosophical trends and largely contributing into both, to intersect the supposition and the real life. Whereas Howard Barkers intent ions are rather cryptic, Jean Betts provides the both in her work her work is full of remarkable imagination, she provides the historical and philosophical data from Aristotle to Queen Elizabeth and the outline of Christian ideal over femininity and she evokes for the representations of women in all the dimensions.Of course such approach helps her preliminarily to put some light on the original character of Shakespearean Ophelia by the introduction of the thought on femininity in the uttermost when Shakespeare created Ophelia, the post-Elizabethan fulfilment, the beginning of the 17th century. This information in the guise of fiction makes apparent the authoritative reason of Shakespearean Ophelias die. Women were regarded as physiologically failed men as a product of incomplete development caused by insufficient generative heat in the womb. They were seen as the effeminate man, the aberrations of effeminacy.Womans sex was thought of almost a separate organism within the wom an, with a will womb8. Calling back to these per transformations in the postmodernist frame allows the reader to question the hegemonic cultural discourse of nowa daylights. Whereas Betts is interpreting in her own words to help to charge some of the foundations of this deeply buried preconceived idea against women, (Writers Notes, Ophelia Thinks Harder), Barker is focusing more on the sexuality of the femininity as the causality and the tragic outcome of the trim of the femininity and feminine sexuality.He questions the frankness of the sexual feminine liberation and if it truly liberates the woman. Undoubtedly a certain sexual feminine liberation has become a part of the established construction of femininity. However, there is no seamless category of stuffy femininity, no for femininity as there is no seamless category for the woman. The very subject of women is no longer dumb in stable or invariable terms9. The high hat practical definition for the received femini nity gives Bettss Gertrude intro her wares youll dazzle them alla grotesque cosmetic and corset fitting cognitive make for e. g. Eyebrow plucking, leg waxing, arm oiling, nails, gilded face mask, fierce corsetry, grossly overstate bra, chastity belt, etc You will delight, but not over-excite. a pure sweet, submissive minor virgin The unoriginal femininity is double-faced. Having clear Mary as an ideal, the feminine best culmination is to play the cards amend. What Ragusa has actually performed. marriage is the greatest instant in a womans life to be a bride the day of all days (Ragusa, shooting 15, p. 63). assay her best to construct the feminine self, she conjoin Hamlet and inherited the throne by and by his death. Ophelias Mother suggests women are treacherous, sly, scheming, unserviceable . Even making children in the stately understanding of the femininity is corresponded to please or manipulate man They penury kids, do it. They dont well come to me and Il l help you when the time comes. A woman with a son is powerful. (Queen, movie 3, p. 17 19) However, in the original version Gertrude had nothing but sufferance and the collapse of her life because of her son, who did not accept her mode of life.The response is paradoxically given by the same(p) all feminine Betts Gertrude -and we are inconsiderate enough not to give a shit what driveling adolescents like you think. (Queen, conniption 7, p. 54). Of course, Barkers power of Gertrude is for sure far from her bearing a son. unmask the masquerade Insomuch as the womans question is to be read the titles of both plays, the unthought-of before or rethought (thinks harder) and a sore utterance of the utmost(a) feelings (the cry) are manifesting. Shakespearean women thus have a chance to cry out their repressed truths.It is absolutely normal when pickings in consideration the historic-cultural context of the role of gender in the Shakespearean period that women like Gertrude and Ophel ia, were shown and set by their relation to men. It is of the great achievements of Shakespeare to draw the remarried widow as the tragic hero when for playwrights of the early modern period, a remarrying widow was a subject for comedy10. Today, in the light of deconstruction, what was identified as the feminine can sour to be masculine and vice-versa theoretically 11. Practically, the process of choosing the gender is not without the awful torments.The femininity as the obstruction to the chicaneledge in Betts version and the ingrained feminine sexuality of as the pseudo pluck of the orchard apple tree of forbidden cognition in Barkers are the central themes in the plays. Betts Ophelia hence thinks harder than the original Shakespearean one. What does this possibility to think or to rethink presents for the female? Shakespearean Ophelias life was predicated by what men around her thought. Her father and brother break upd how she should cause herself. Hamlets refusal of her w as fatal. Betts offers Ophelia the choice to think herself for her life, what will it turn to?As for Gertrude, will her cry hush the desperate attempts of Hamlet to de-sexualize her? Is the cry the horror and sexual sport of her femininity or does it stand over female and masculine categories? Modern Shakespeare suggests that Gertrudes flagrancy, her over sexualized femininity cost the life of another feminine innocent Ophelia 12. thence proneness and death go traditionally together as proved above, but what is the place of the femininity in need? Even if it is true, why should the feminine sexual desire be identified with femininity? And why should the masculine desire take over itself by femininity?In Betts rewriting, Ophelia is in the same cultural context, the oppressed woman, the same mad fool (Queen, 7, 52) boyfriend Hamlet. It should because come as no surprise, that her desperate attempts of thinking meet the terrible attacks from all the members of the society. To con demn these attempts on failure, they take an blood that thinking is not feminine, accusing Ophelia of not being feminine. Throughout the play Betts is proving that the oblige conventional femininity is an instrument to oppose the woman to think. She focuses in particular on why thinking for a woman is so dangerous in the conventional understanding.The power stands for the explanation and certainly not a psychotic clown who sets the rules. The power serves as the relationship between individuals. The one who possesses the knowledge possesses the power. Isnt after overcoming the conventional femininity and get educated that we get hold up to learn, to write, to get published be lawyers, doctors, lead armies, run countries (R&G, look 8) that the gender war is foreseen to happen I see strife I see gender war I see the initial X(First Woman 4, 26). At first glance, Barkers Gertrude possesses the power.She is manifestly more lucky with her sexual power than the political one th at she posses with her statute of the queen. From her comes out the cry, the extreme point of ever possible desire and pleasure and of horror. The extreme desire is always conventionally associated with sin as well as with feminine. This is evident in the story of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman. The first sin has become sexualized with Eves violation of Gods specific instruction 13 The Cry is like the reproduction of the first sentiment that the new sinful world lived the desire and the horror. Gertrude possesses this cry.Is the extreme femininity the way to posses the cry or does it come out of the brain that has no binary category? MY BRAIN IS WHERE impulse IS (Hamlet 5, 28) Where is the place of the intellect in the conventional construction of the femininity? Knowledge and desire go together. As mentioned above was it not for the desire of knowledge that the first sin occurred? Therefore, knowledge is interpreted as paranormal to female. As the epigraph to Ophelia Think s Harder proposes Laborious learning or painful pondering, even if woman should greatly succeed in it, destroy the merits that are proper to her sex (Kant).In the course of all these tormenting moments of thinking, Betts Ophelia is read as what is in the psychoanalytic terms called bisexual not feminine, not masculine. At least she is resisting to become feminine. Before getting down on why she is refusing the conventional femininity, one should clear make the difference between the biological sex and the socially constructed femininity or maleness. Freud claims that the child is born bisexual and femininity or masculinity is constructed 14. Following the mental steps related to his parents the child develops his/her masculinity/femininity.Then as it is developing it is influenced by the socio cultural frames. Together with the theory of deconstruction they would consider us to read Ophelia bisexual. and then she claims that she does not want to be the man, nor the woman (Scene 3 , 17). However her bisexuality is also determined by the social frames. She does not want not to be the man, nor the woman because she does not want to be seen like conventional feminine or masculine. The conventional understanding of the femininity does not correspond to her individuality.Hence, she is refusing the conventional notion of being feminine expression as instinctive as a cats with a domestic fowl (Hamlet, Scene 1, p. 3) viper like Eve would chivy in him evil and lust (Hamlet, Scene 4, p. 29) or The lady doth protest too much(III,ii,225) She is refusing to be strong and try to corrupt the man she is not. She is refusing to be tough to be overwhelmed with her sexuality as something shameful. Hormones, cycles of blood, procreative turmoil-you are flushed with your female destiny-you are adulated, euphoric-yes-you are clearly in love (Hamlet, Scene 1, p. 3). If choosing gender in the natural way is as impossible as it was in the original version and if we know that the femininity is rooted in the social construction is it left to the society to decide if she becomes a normal woman feminine? Is there a solution to stand out the opinion of the society? On one hand Barkers Gertrude is item-by-item from the societys opinion, on the other she is strongly dependent on others, as she needs to astonish. The conflict in Ophelia Thinks Harder lies in Ophelias resistance to the psychic hyponymy of the conventional.Being female, according to the social conventions her automobile trunk must be superior to her promontory, season the masculinity would be gifted with mind and femininity with consistence. Ophelia is forced to be isolated from her mind and to delight and be delighted by her feminine body. She is not freakish or exceptional. The thousands of us (Scene 8, p. 66) had to disguise as men to be disjoined from their minds. Judith pantryman is decisive upon Beauvoir proposal that the female body ought to be the situation and the instrumentali ty of the womans freedom, not a be and limiting essence 15.She writes In the philosophical tradition that begins with Plato and continues through Descartes, Husserl, and Sartre, the ontological greenback between soul (consciousness, mind) and body ever supports relations of political and psychic subordination and hierarchy. While Betts uncovers the diverse and unhomogeneous states of females self-construction, Barker is focusing on the exploration of the body. Helen Cixous is speaking nearly the writing of the female body 16. rather in a similar way, Barker is studying the possibility of learning to approach their womens own forbidden bodies.Indeed one can mark the parallel even in the titles with The Laughter of Medusa and Gertrude The Cry. Barkers Gertrude claim Ive make an instrument out of my body (Scene 14, p. 62). Gertrude explores and perceives the knowledge through the possibilities of her body. Of course Barker has not invented that Gertrude is exploring her sexualit y. Shakespearean theme is also read in Betts it may come as a shock, little boy, but quite a lot a lot of people over 30 pamper each other. Oh yes Claudius and I HAVE SEX. (Queen, Scene 7, p. 54).