Something
that we love about Shakespeare’s stories is the way in which he shows women disguised
as men. Let’s face it, it is a super entertaining aspect and it certainly
caught our attention. Personally, I had never read much of his plays, so it was
an unfamiliar topic to me. However, I recently realized that I knew a story
about a girl that fought against the role that society had imposed to her, and she
did so, disguised as a man. The girl that I’m mentioning is a Disney Princess.
Let’s talk about Mulan.
The
original story of Hua Mulan is very similar to the Disney movie: It is the
story of a girl who decides to run away and fight in a war to defend her father’s
honor. There is no certain whether the story is based on real facts or not, but
some registers indicates that the story lasts from the IV century; however, what
we know about Mulan is based on an ancient Chinese poem called Ballad of Mulan.
Poems, novels and even movies had been made based on the character, always portraying
her as an empowered figure who after the war returned to her home, declining to
receive any reward resulting from her performance on the battlefield.
As we know, most of Shakespeare’s plays were created based on previously known stories. I wonder if he ever heard about the Chinese legend of a girl who disguised as a man constructed a new identity for herself, breaking the social rules.
I invite you all to know more about Mulan the warrior (not the princess.)
Christina Cortez Álvarez.
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ResponderEliminarHi Chrstina.
ResponderEliminarFirst of all, I gotta say that Mulan is by far my favorite Disney character, and you know why? It's because she's not a princess, she's a warrior, not like the other princesses that look so weak and dumb. Anyway, in relation to your post, I think I never paid attention to the similarities between Shakespeare's plays and Mulan, especially to the fact that she disguised herself as a man, just like many female characters in Shakespeare's works.
It's cool to think that maybe Shakespeare once heard or read the poem Ballad of Mulan and took some aspects of it. What's also cool is that in both Shakespeare and Mulan's legend women are portrayed as heroes and not as princesses that can't survive without a man.
I would never have thought about the simmilarities between Mulan and Viola but you did Christina and I totally agree with you and with Maria Jose in the sense that women are portrayed as heroes; something not that common in most of the hitories that we have read.
ResponderEliminarEventhough I like the idea of women as warriors, it is sad that they have to disguise as men to achieve something.
Nowadays there are lots of Violas and Mulans who are fighting against society in order to achieve their dreams, just as you said Maria Jose; surviving without a man.
Like the girls, I really liked your post and I completely agree with the comparision between Viola and Mulan. It's so awful that they have to diguise themselves as men in order to do something, but it is really amazing that they both are depicted as strong will women.
ResponderEliminarRegarding the poem in which the story of Mulan is supposed to be based on and how we don't really know whether it's true or not, I just thought that all is because of language, since language construct reality! And in your post we have two kinds of uncertainty, in the first place the uncertainty of the identity of Viola while the play is being performed in the theatre, and the uncertainty whether Mulan really existed or not.