Love and Transcendence: A Feminist Approach - Essay Example

Love and Transcendence: A feminist Approach The play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare takes place on multiple levels and can therefore be analyzed from several different approaches. The feministic approach allows a de-layering of the piece while observing all of the characters and situations from the perspective of the female characters intrinsically, as well as gaining an understanding of how women are perceived and treated by the author. Similarly, the play entitled The Bear by: Anthon Chekhov depicts a situation where women (or one particular woman representing the female presence in the piece) and the perception of women is a multifaceted ideology. The purpose of this discussion is to identify the patriarchal ideology present in both of these works, from a feministic approach and critique. From a first layer point of view, A Midsummer Night’s Dream guides its audience through a beginning which is laced with mismatched lovers all of whom wishing to be with a different individual than who they are currently with. The play turns into a vehicle for which to transport the lovers to a strange and wondrously new environment full of unexpectedness. It then returns its lovers to their original habitat which is the city of Athens, symbolic of order and tradition. The play serves as a sort of parable from which a moral or prevailing idea can be extracted. The end of the play exhibits the creating of a very happy finale to the piece. When looking at the piece from a feminist approach, it would seem that the take home message is an attempt at creating a sense of ’all is right with the world’ by taking women from a position of unrequited love or forbidden love to a place of being properly paired with appropriate male partners. The assumption that marriage is the normal ending to any male and female courtship also exists promoting the patriarchal ideology of marriage of the time period in which the play was written. Additionally, the end of the piece indicates that each lover needed to ‘learn’ something in their travel to the woods and then back again, in order to be rightly placed at the end. Feminist analysis on A Midsummer Night’s Dream will yield a look at how Shakespeare depicted his female characters in this piece as well as how those characters interacted with their male matches. When examining the relationship which is first portrayed between Helena and Dmitri, one sees a woman desperately in love and pining after the man. Dmitri however has turned his attentions to his arranged fiancé Hermina. The notion of arranged marriages initially reduces the play to a typical love and drama piece until Hermina stands up to her father and declares that she is going to marry Lysander and not Dmitri. This arrangement between Hermina’s father and Dmitri immediately defines the spirit of the play as one of male dominance. Further more, Hermina and Lysander escape into the woods in order to elope but are surprised to find not only a virtual enchanted forest full of fairies and dream-like occurrences but also a run in with both Dmitri and Helena. It is in the woods that both Helena and Hermina are no longer under the rule and jurisdiction of Theseus and Egeus. The end of the piece allows the lovers to be married to their rightful significant other but in a way in which to illustrate that the women achieved greatness by marrying, which seemingly places power in the women‘s hands which is essentially non existent. It is in this that Shakespeare means to suggest that women are fulfilled when married only, as if marriage for a woman is the fullest of all possible female achievements. Men however, were allowed much greater accomplishments of victory in Shakespeare‘s works. When the couples are within the forest and Puck’s spells are creating havoc and confusion, there are numerous references and parallels to be made from feminist perspective. The juice which is specific to Oberon is red and can be said to symbolize menstrual blood or also the act of taking of the virginity of a female. The concept of menstruation illustrated women’s power to ovulate whereas the taking of female virginity is indicative of male domination over the female body. A strong connection between marriage and females being dominated exists underneath the initial plot of this play, beyond just the notion that marriage is the ultimate female achievement. Women who are married leave the “covering” or authority of their fathers and are placed then under the authority of their husbands. This is a power exchange which serves to maintain control over women at all times throughout their lives. Similarly in the piece by Chekhov, The Bear, one finds Popova dutifully mourning the death of her husband only to be confronted with the misogynistic presence of Smirnov who serves to criticize and stereotype women in general, “ What a way to reason! A man is in desperate need of his money, and she wont pay it because, you see, she is not disposed to attend to money matters! . . . Thats real silly feminine logic. Thats why I never did like, and dont like now, to have to talk to women. Id rather sit on a barrel of gunpowder than talk to a woman. Brr! . . . I feel quite chilly--and its all on account of that little bit of fluff! I cant even see one of these poetic creatures from a distance without breaking out into a cold sweat out of sheer anger”(Chekhov, 1900)(Antohin, 2005). Popova challenges the ideology of Smirnov however, by explaining that even her late husband who she glorifies immensely, had still let her down at times. The piece spirals into the two opposing characters becoming entangled in an argument which leads to the challenge of a duel. Even though Smirnov indicates that this is an “emancipation” and a situation of “equal rights”, he is unable to shoot Popova. Whether it is because she is a woman or if because he is in love with her is debatable, but by the end of the piece, the two are locked in a kiss and an embrace. The underlying message here is similar to that of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in that the end combines a woman with a male partner as if to say that women not only view a male partner as necessary but that in the grand scheme of things, women should always be paired with a man for a happy ending. The time line of when patriarchal rule was in place and when it was not meanders through A Midsummer Night’s Dream as it is present in Athens but then dissolved in the world of the fairies. In the case of The Bear, patriarchal dominance is also quite archaic as it is relinquished prior to the beginning of the play with the death of Popova’s husband. The main portion of the play is a stage for a power struggle between patriarchal dominance and female independence from that dominance. By the end of the play, patriarchy is back in place with the union of Popova and Smirnov. Although Smirnov’s detest for women may have diluted a bit, Popova still is seen as surrendering to being reunited with a male companion. Popova and Smirnov are an unlikely pair because of multiple reasons. First of all, the audience is given the idea at the beginning of the piece that Popova will never stop mourning for her late husband, “You will see, Nicolas, how I can love and forgive. . . . My love will die out with me, only when this poor heart will cease to beat. [Laughs through her tears] And arent you ashamed? I am a good and virtuous little wife. Ive locked myself in, and will be true to you till the grave, and you . . . arent you ashamed, you bad child? You deceived me, had rows with me, left me alone for weeks on end” (Chekhov, 1900) (Antohin, 2005). Her initial attitude invokes a sense of separation from possible future romances, due to her continued mourning. When the not so likable male presence of Smirnov takes the stage, the audience immediately sense the power struggle which takes place between the two characters (Smirnov and Popova). It is within the simplicity of the two character dynamics of this piece however, that human nature as applied to feminist theory is defined. In other words, Popova seems to quickly find herself in Smirnov’s arms and Smirnov seems to water down his fierce aversion to women, as a primal attraction between the two takes over. This atraction however still places Popova directly back under male domination and nullifies the fact that Smirnov is no respecter of women. Smirnov and Popova engage in a verbal sparing throughout this piece which includes multiple demeaning female references from Smirnov, You dont get at me with your widows weeds and your dimpled cheeks! I know those dimples! [] Oh, its bad. . . . The heats frightful, nobody pays up. I slept badly, and on top of everything else heres a bit of fluff in mourning”(Chekhov, 1900)(Antohin, 2005). The way in which Smirnov chides Popova is reminiscent of young boys on a playground teasing the girl which he is enamored with. This is an almost gender role playing as though Smirnov is obligated to verbally belittle Popova due to his feelings for her. From a more omniscient perspective, it is as though Chekhov creates his widow but then must rectify the situation before the play’s end by pairing her with yet another man. The notion of women as independent or self sufficient is null and void in this piece. This is similarly done in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream because the play is perpetually moving towards a “rightful” ending by pairing women to their seemingly appropriate male counterpart. Again, the notion of a single woman or a self sufficient woman is not any more present here than in Chekhov’s piece. Works Cited: Antohin, Anatoly. “The Bear”, vtheater.net, 2005, retrieved 30 June, 2008 from website at: http://method.vtheatre.net/doc/bear.html Bevington, David. “‘But We Are Spirits of Another Sort’: The Dark Side of Love and Magic in A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ed. Richard Dutton. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996. 24-35. Garner, Shirley Nelson. “Jack Shall Have Jill;/ Nought Shall Go Ill”. A Midsummer Nights Dream Critical Essays. Ed.Dorothea Kehler. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1998.127-144 Malcolm, Janet “Reading Chekhov: A Critical Journey” , New York, Random House, 2004. Seryozhko, Yevgeniy “The Bear: The Theatrical Show Without an Intermission” The Globe Theater, 2000, retrieved 30 June, 2008 from website at: http://www.kik.kr.ua/theatre/bear.html Read More