Content Category
Literary Criticism
Abstract/Description
This paper argues that the power to curse in Shakespeare’s play King Richard III has less to do with gender than it has to do with where one puts one’s trust. The play presents two opposing sources of power: political power versus that of the supernatural. While on the surface these two sources of power appear to be separated along gender lines, certain scenes within the play show that women are not actually the only ones to have access to supernatural powers. The men have access to this power as well, although they tend to ignore this potential power in favor of the more worldly political power that comes from their homosocial bonds. This trusting in male social bonds over the power of the supernatural provides the real key to the division between the two types of power: only those who renounce all ties to the male social group have the ability to wield the power of the supernatural against their enemies.
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Origin of Submission
as part of a class
Faculty Involvement
Richard Duerden
Accessing the Supernatural in Shakespeare’s Richard III
This paper argues that the power to curse in Shakespeare’s play King Richard III has less to do with gender than it has to do with where one puts one’s trust. The play presents two opposing sources of power: political power versus that of the supernatural. While on the surface these two sources of power appear to be separated along gender lines, certain scenes within the play show that women are not actually the only ones to have access to supernatural powers. The men have access to this power as well, although they tend to ignore this potential power in favor of the more worldly political power that comes from their homosocial bonds. This trusting in male social bonds over the power of the supernatural provides the real key to the division between the two types of power: only those who renounce all ties to the male social group have the ability to wield the power of the supernatural against their enemies.