Shakespeare

Shakespeare

  • Submitted By: tjajoyce
  • Date Submitted: 12/03/2013 9:49 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1445
  • Page: 6
  • Views: 70

“Girls just wanna have fun”



Although Will Shakespeare has the title role in the film, “Shakespeare in Love” by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman,the leading female role, Viola de Lesseps has overcome typical challenges of the women in the renaissance era, shown people that she does have rights as a woman and has dealt with many obstacles. Viola had no say in who she could marry because of social ranking. She was a woman in a mans place and had to be subjected to being humble and submissive and was thought of as a possession, among other things as well.
The first major conflict of the film is Viola’s longing to be an actor. She adores Shakespeare’s plays and reveres poetry above all, but it was the law that only men could appear on stage as actors in plays; it was seen as lewd and obscene for women to act. This is one of those aspects of Elizabethan society that seem positively absurd by modern standards. And yet, some vestiges of this type of law still remain, and women are still seen as the gatekeepers of morality. It is still a fact that some things are seen as okay for men to do, but obscene and disgusting for women to emulate. Viola's rights have been violated here in that her true ambition is just to act which unfortunately is seen as illegal and immoral.
As the beautiful daughter of a social climbing merchant, Viola de Lesseps is seen by her father as a mere asset, not his child. He does not even ask her if she desires to be married, nor does he tell her that he has decided her future for her behind her back. He is even contemptuous of her when speaking to her future husband, and blatantly bribes the Earl of Wessex to marry her: “Is she obedient?” “As any mule in Christendom. But if you are the man to ride her, there are rubies in the saddlebag.” Marriage at this time, at least for nobility/aristocracy was seen more as a business or political transaction, and love was never considered. Wessex refers to Viola as “my property” before their engagement...

Similar Essays