A Feminist Reading of William Shakespeare's Othello and Hamlet

• Main Authors: Julia Yu-ching Lin, 林育青
• Other Authors: Hsin-fa Wu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/53021591018572084272

碩士 === 靜宜大學 === 英國語文學系 === 89 === Thesis Title: A Feminist Reading of William Shakespeare’s Othello and Hamlet With the progress of history, women’s roles always adjust to the need of the patriarchal society. It is not difficult to find that women’s roles expected by the patriarchal society do not change essentially. Even in the civilized twentieth century, like most men in the traditional society, male chauvinists consider women their subordinates. They regard women as objects. Besides, they also regard women as their slaves, tools for giving birth to children, as well as tools for their sexual desires. Essentially, these men are all misogynists. Pitifully, many male chauvinists make women suffer from one century to another. In order to solve women’s unequal treatment by men, Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex not only makes a detailed observation on women’s situation in the patriarchal society but also points out women’s being situated in the society by men as the second sex, the Other. She intends to arouse women’s consciousness that they virtually live in the illusion of the equality between the two sexes. She attempts to make women conscious of their unequal situations in the patriarchal society and she encourages women to emancipate themselves through constant struggles against men. The thesis employs Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex to examine women’s unequal situation and oppression in Shakespeare’s Othello and Hamlet. In these two plays, most female characters exist under the domination of men and they lose their self-identities. Since they are shaped by the patriarchal society, they lose their individuality as well. In addition, some female characters become victims of men’s power struggle. In these two plays, women’s oppression in the traditional society is prevalent.