Content Category
Literary Criticism
Abstract/Description
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to explore the study and analysis of women in Shakespeare, specifically regarding their autonomy, authority, and sexuality. This paper looks at a survey of several different female characters in Shakespeare’s works such as Measure for Measure, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, and Love’s Labour’s Lost in an attempt to understand the ways in which Shakespeare redefines our understanding of consent. This paper discusses women’s autonomy as power, women’s authority as independence from male expectations, and female sexuality as agency rather than as whoredom. Ultimately, this paper looks at consent not just as the legal age that a woman can be married but as the right of a woman to make decisions about her life and her body. This is understood through a close reading of Shakespeare’s plays focusing on the strong, female characters in them.
Copyright and Licensing of My Content
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Faculty Involvement
Gideon Burton
Shakespeare, Female Sexuality, and Consent
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to explore the study and analysis of women in Shakespeare, specifically regarding their autonomy, authority, and sexuality. This paper looks at a survey of several different female characters in Shakespeare’s works such as Measure for Measure, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, and Love’s Labour’s Lost in an attempt to understand the ways in which Shakespeare redefines our understanding of consent. This paper discusses women’s autonomy as power, women’s authority as independence from male expectations, and female sexuality as agency rather than as whoredom. Ultimately, this paper looks at consent not just as the legal age that a woman can be married but as the right of a woman to make decisions about her life and her body. This is understood through a close reading of Shakespeare’s plays focusing on the strong, female characters in them.