Titus :: essays research papers

Desdemona, on the other hand, is only heard talking naturally with other people. Yet, she too is developed through both the content and form of her speech. For example, Desdemona's conversations with Emilia, particularly at the end of the play (IV, iii), reveal aspects of her character as well as Emilia's character. Have students look at these and discuss what they reveal about each of the characters. ] When it was enacted upon the stage, Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus was most probably received by its 16th century audiences in much the same way as Dallas and Melrose Place are received by contemporary 20th century audiences. Therefore it is important to remember that art does not necessarily have to be haute couture in order to be an accurate representation of popular ideologies. In fact, more often than not, it is the entertainment of the bourgeois that is a better mimic of these ideologies. If we realize that Shakespeare's primary objective was not to make social commentary or criticize his own culture but rather to entertain, we can observe how his works, and indeed almost all works of art, as Frederic Jameson has stated, "as though for the first time, bring into being that very situation to which [they are] also, at one and the same time, a reaction." (Montrose essay, p.57) With this is mind I would like to reveal how Shakespeare's treatment of the female character Lavinia in Titus Andronicus is a window through which can be seen not only the objectification of woman in 16th and 17th century culture and some of the problems which arise when the woman is viewed as an assignable property, but also the subtle shift from the outward control of woman to the interiorizing of control of woman through her own self-image. Perhaps most easily recognizable is the objectification and assignability of 16th and 17th century woman. By objectification and assignability I mean the near-universal notion, and in many cases legal fact, that women, especially of the upper class, were accepted by their fathers, their husbands, and the state, to be bought, sold, and treated as property. At the very beginning of the play Lavinia is referred to as "Rome's rich ornament" by her suitor Bassianus (I.i.). When she actually enters the scene she has eight lines of praise for her father's valor and honor and then, after a cursory acknowledgment by him, she is silent. Meanwhile her father chooses the new king, the new king chooses her as his bride, her father agrees (although he seems more proud to Titus :: essays research papers Desdemona, on the other hand, is only heard talking naturally with other people. Yet, she too is developed through both the content and form of her speech. For example, Desdemona's conversations with Emilia, particularly at the end of the play (IV, iii), reveal aspects of her character as well as Emilia's character. Have students look at these and discuss what they reveal about each of the characters. ] When it was enacted upon the stage, Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus was most probably received by its 16th century audiences in much the same way as Dallas and Melrose Place are received by contemporary 20th century audiences. Therefore it is important to remember that art does not necessarily have to be haute couture in order to be an accurate representation of popular ideologies. In fact, more often than not, it is the entertainment of the bourgeois that is a better mimic of these ideologies. If we realize that Shakespeare's primary objective was not to make social commentary or criticize his own culture but rather to entertain, we can observe how his works, and indeed almost all works of art, as Frederic Jameson has stated, "as though for the first time, bring into being that very situation to which [they are] also, at one and the same time, a reaction." (Montrose essay, p.57) With this is mind I would like to reveal how Shakespeare's treatment of the female character Lavinia in Titus Andronicus is a window through which can be seen not only the objectification of woman in 16th and 17th century culture and some of the problems which arise when the woman is viewed as an assignable property, but also the subtle shift from the outward control of woman to the interiorizing of control of woman through her own self-image. Perhaps most easily recognizable is the objectification and assignability of 16th and 17th century woman. By objectification and assignability I mean the near-universal notion, and in many cases legal fact, that women, especially of the upper class, were accepted by their fathers, their husbands, and the state, to be bought, sold, and treated as property. At the very beginning of the play Lavinia is referred to as "Rome's rich ornament" by her suitor Bassianus (I.i.). When she actually enters the scene she has eight lines of praise for her father's valor and honor and then, after a cursory acknowledgment by him, she is silent. Meanwhile her father chooses the new king, the new king chooses her as his bride, her father agrees (although he seems more proud to