For some unknown reason, during this month I have been thinking and relating a lot of things with the concept of feminism and the role of women in society. In Elizabethan England, boys were formally educated but not women, and only those women of higher class were given education. In a addition, we have been taught in classes that plays had an educative role for those people who did not know how to read. Both things combined lead me to think --and maybe it's obvious-- that Shakespeare in his novel, Twelfth Night, tried to educate, tried to make see the population that women were not as passive as they thought.
Super Viola
Very similar to Clark Kent, Viola/Cesario is the super hero of the novel. She disguises herself as Cesario and starts to move the events in the novel at her will. As Cesario she is able to change the mind of Olivia regarding Orsino and produces confusion in Orsino, as well, regarding his love for Olivia. Furthermore, her actions of disguising herself as a a man and looking extremelly similar to her brother Sebastian, cause that the latter marries with a wealthy woman as Olivia is.
Maybe, one can say that Viola's power is not that much as she had to portray a man to do something. However, I think that the message that could have been understood by Elizabethan women was that they had to use every resource they had in order to have a voice in society. Viola could have been a heroine for most women who felt themselves oppressed; Viola could have been the hope or the push that some women needed and/or took into account in order to make a decision.
I can also recall this saying: "Detrás de un gran hombre, hay una gran mujer" So Viola could have been a way to say to those oppressed women that through language they could have been able to change at least a bit of their reality.
Hi Ximena!
ResponderEliminarI must say that I also thought about Viola as the super hero in this novel. Why? Simply because she is the only one who decides to fight for something, doing whatever is needed to get it. And, considering the times in which this play took place, what she did has a bigger merit because she was a woman, and being a woman at that time meant that you were confined to live what you were imposed by a society ruled by men. Viola is brave enough to take a decision that it is dangerous, but, as she knows that is the only thing that can make her happy, she takes the risk. If we don’t take risks, what is the point of living?
That most of the feminine characters of Shakespeare’s plays face their lives in that way makes me think, that either Shakespeare was a woman disguised as a male play writer, or that he was a feminist aware of the need of gender equality. Luckily for us, we were born in a new era, with more freedom and equality than they did. Otherwise, we would have to attend to classes disguised as men to be taken into account, just like Portia or Viola did.
:)
Thank you for your comment =D And it's interesting that you say thet maybe he was a she --like Viola--, because if it is that so, female Shakespeare had to disguise herself so to have the freedom to write, to publish, or to act.
EliminarWith Shakespeare's plays, and thinkig about the kind of society of that time, I wonder the number of women who had to hide themselves in order to achieve their goals or dreams.