Gender
Notes on Gender
Epilogues and Genders
Read the NoteRosalind in As You Like It, the arch-feminist of Shakespeare’s plays, is the only female character to deliver an epilogue. But for the final laugh, she steps out of character and, as the boy actor who played her, says, —If I were a woman, I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me–
… continue reading this note
Seduction or Harassment?
Read the NoteShakespeare delights in the seduction ceremonies of bright men with even brighter women. These dialogues, whether between adolescents like Romeo and Juliet, more mature characters like Henry V and Princess Katherine, or seasoned adults like the widow Lady Grey and the sexual harasser King Edward, in this scene (3HenryVI 3.2.36), give Shakespeare opportunities to employ dazzling webworks of rhetorical exchanges.
… continue reading this note
Quotes including the Theme Gender
I do love nothing in the world so well as you
Read the QuoteBenedick
I do love nothing in the world so well as you.
Is not that strange?
Beatrice
As strange as the thing I know not. It were as
possible for me to say I loved nothing so well as you,
but believe me not, and yet I lie not; I confess
nothing, nor I deny nothing.
… continue reading this quote
Pray thee, sweet Mistress Margaret
Read the QuoteBenedick
Pray thee, sweet Mistress Margaret, deserve well
at my hands by helping me to the speech of Beatrice.
Margaret
Will you then write me a sonnet in praise
of my beauty?
No, I was not born under a rhyming planet,
nor I cannot woo in festival terms
Benedick
In so high a style,
… continue reading this quote