WT-Feminist Flashcards
Marilyn French
•“notion of dividing experience into gender principles is “masculine” since it “arose as form of control”. •“mascprinciple associated w power dominance, ownership, assertiveness, authority etc. / fem principle identified with nature b/c of its acceptance of continuation, present pleasure + surrender to mortality
•French notes a duality in nature as it can be both “benevolent” + “malevolent” →same way fem principle has been split in two which French refers to as “inlaw” and “outlaw” in which the inlawrepresents the benevolent and the outlaw represents the malevolent.
Patricia Southard Gourlay
•“the pastoral Eden [Bohemia] is offered as an alternative to the fallen world [Sicilia]; now that ideal is associated with femaleness…”
Peter B. Erickson
•agrees w French that Ren women are “typically divided into opposite extremes, perfection and evil” + believes “the logic of the play is to excise this antifeminist tendency by eliminating the negative view of woman and magnifying the positive one”
•h/w questions extent of progress for the fem characters believing that restoration is form of “benign patriarchy.”
Carol T Neely
•the play “begins in a static, barren masculine world that appears determinedly self-sufficient” + “purports to control time and space through unchanged boyhood friendship of Leontes and Polixenesand through Mamillius.”
Pol to L (+H) as he begins his reasoning for needing to leave Sic + return to Bo:
Nine changes of the watery star hath been The shepherd’s note since we have left our throne… (1.2.1-2 p.85)
- ‘nine changes’ = ref to period of human gestation / ‘watery star’ = moon (fem symbol) →pattern of dict serves to draw audience’s atten to H’s pregnant body
- Pol uses this lang to begin his reasoning for needing to leave Sic →resentment from L to H b/c sees her as severing homosoc bonds •Maternal imagery pervades character’s lang yet role of women undervalued b/c seen as burden
H to Pol as she tries to convince him to stay in Sic:
Verily, You shall not go. A lady’s ‘Verily’ is As potent as a lord’s. (1.2.48-49 p.88)
- Connotations of ‘potent →perception that H has “forgotten her place” in patriarchal order by implying men + women equal •Irony that this statement is true b/c H able to convince Pol where L is not
- Contrast w/ silence @ end of play
- Patriarchal structures of courtly Sicilia inimical to fem self-actualization
Pol to H reminiscing a/b idyllic childhood w/ L:
We were as twinn’d lambs that did frisk i’th’sun (1.2.66 p.89)
- Phonetic qualities e.g. clipped assonance + soft consonance →nostalgic tone
- Pastoral + biblical pattern of dict evokes imagery of prelaps Eden before corrupting influ of women
Pol to H on how/why halcyon days ended:
O my most sacred lady! Temptations have since then been born to’s (1.2.75-79 p.90)
- Dichotomy b/w ‘sacred’ + ‘temptations (inlaw+ outlaw fem principles) →Pol contradicting himself
- ‘temptations’ bib allusion to Eve as perpetrator for fall of Man
- ‘born to’s’ = passive voice (men abjuring responsibility) / verb choice ‘born’ shows maternal lang pervades character’s speech despite women’s position under patriarchy
- Pol suggests women resp for disrupting homosoc bonds = long standing stereotype a/b women
L observing H + Pol:
Too hot, too hot!…to be paddling palms and pinching fingers…(1.2.108-112 p.92)
- Plosive allit ‘paddling’, ‘palms’, ‘pinching’ →contemptuous tone
- ‘too hot’ contrast w comment at the end ‘O she is warm’
- L intimidated by H’s “aliveness” which is ostensibly restored @ end
L sexualizing H + generalizing women by suggesting many men ‘suffer’ from ‘revolted wives’:
And many a man there is…That little thinks she [his wife] has been sluiced in’s absence And his pond fish’d by his next neighbour (1.2.190-193 p.97-98)
- ‘many a man’→generalizing perceived actions of one woman to all women + positioning men as victims
- ‘sluiced’ + ‘pond fish’d’ = salacious lang to describe women as sexual objects/facilitators
- Contrast w camaraderie connoted by ‘neighbour’ →women harbouring blame for men’s actions
L lamenting difficulty in policing women’s bodies:
No barricado for a belly; know’t; It will let in and out the enemy With bag and baggage: many thousand on’s Have the disease, and feel’t not. (1.2.185-205)
- ‘barricado’ + ‘belly’ allit emphasizes women as mere sexual vessels + sources of conflict as they need to be guarded from the ‘enemy’ [other men] like property or territory / unhealthy + destructive rivalry b/w men under patriarchy
- ‘in and out’ + ‘bag and baggage’ →graphic sexual imagery
- ‘disease’ = broader pattern of dict positioning women as sources of corruption
L to Cam as he tries to persuade L to see sense:
Is this nothing? Why, then the world and all that’s in’t is nothing; The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing; My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings, If this be nothing. (1.2.289-284 p.103)
- Reminiscent of King Lear’s positioning L on trajectory of tragic hero at this point in play
- Repetition ‘nothing’ shows disjointed incoherence of L’s speech at this point
- Foreshadows tragic conclusion of first part of play as L left w ‘nothing’ (no heir + no wife)
Cam trying to convince L to abandon his reckless diatribe against H + Pol:
be cured of this diseased opinion (1.2.293-294 p.103)
- Broader pattern of dicta/b disease + infection
- L has used this lang a/b H + women generally →Cam suggested women X problem but way they are perceived + treated under patriarchy
Mam to H:
A sad tale’s best for winter (2.1.25-26 p.113)
- One of only 2 female, domestic spaces in the play (other is Paul’s gallery in A5)
- ‘winter’s tale’ i.e. fairy tale traditionally gendered female →Mam comfortable in this space
- Ref to seasons links to later classical allusion to myth of Prosperina (Perd sent away during winter + returns during spring →only then is reconciliation possible) / women as child bearers assoc w nature
Seizing Mam from H:
Give me the boy. I am glad you did not nurse him. Though he does bear some signs of me, yet you have too much blood in him. (2.1.56-58 p.115)
- Mam forcibly removed from nurturing fem space / name connotes bond b/w mother + child →adumbrates Mam’s untimely death b/c X survive w/o maternal nurturance
- ‘not nurse him’ –placing H as source of corruption (broader pattern of d)
- ‘too much blood in him’ –L seeks to rid his world of “corrupting” fem influ→ doomed to fail b/c integ role women play
Antig to L, ostensibly in defense of H, threatens to desex his daughters if H turns out to be guilty:
If this prove true, they’ll pay for’t: by mine honour, I’ll geld ‘em all; fourteen they shall not see, To bring false generations. (2.1.146-148 p.120)
- ‘geld’ = neuter / visceral threat + suggestive of women’s role in society (biological function seen to be only purpose)
- ‘false generations’–ironic given contemp preoccupation w lineage
- Shows pervasive + deleterious impact of misogyny as even those men who recognize injustice generalize women + work to uphold patriarchal control
Paul to Em on her plan to defend H + make L see sense:
the office Becomes a woman best…I’ll…undertake to be Her advocate to the loud’st… (2.2.31-38 p.125)
- ‘office becomes a woman best’→ Paul recognizes L can only be “cured” of tox masc by strong, determined fem influ
- ‘advocate to the loud’st’→ fem solidarity + sisterhood
L a/b Mam’s decline in health:
Conceiving the dishonour of his mother, He straight declined, droop’d, took it deeply (2.3.13-14 p.128)
- ‘dishonour’, ‘declined’, ‘droop’d’, ‘deeply’ allit emphasizes Mam dramatic decline since being forcibly removed from mother
- L blinded by misogyny as blames this on H’s apparent ‘dishonour’ rather than on lack of fem nurturance →women’s roles undermined + underappreciated
