Men And Women In Shakespeare's Eyes

In Renaissance which is a groundbreaking period and advocates for humanism, the value of human beings begun to be put into the centre of research while they had realized theology's repression to rationality. William Shakespeare (1564-1616), master-craftsman in Renaissance, accomplished massive plays which reflect the influence of the thought of humanism standing superior to his period and country in prominent and challenging artistic skill. Among all plays he created, the phenomenon of the female's cross-dressing appears in his four famous comedies, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like it, Twelfth Night and Cymbeline. Referring to this interesting phenomenon, what arouses our eyes is that the transposition of the gender identities reveals Shakespeare's ambivalence to define existence of the men and women.The thesis aims to do study on the heroines' behaviors and reactions during the phases of their crossing-dressing—before their cross-dressing, the moment in their cross-dressing and the moment of their return back. The theoretical basis of the study is being-in-itself and being-for-itself in existentialism:being-in-itself is the existence surpassing the consciousness and endowed initially; being-for-itself is kind of existence fulfilled along with time. For a further step, when we discuss the relation between being-in-itself and being-for-itself, an important and primary element, the existence of the body, can not be ignored. Regarding the body, Sartre states that "characteristics or the essences of our body are acquainted by the others: what we appreciate is others' body and the acquaintance of ourselves is also through the means others appreciate them"(Sartre,1956:289), and two important puzzlers we should encounter are the existence of others and the relation between human beings and others(Du, Xiaozhen 188-189), therefore, the factors of others play an essential role for the spanning from being-in-itself to being-for-itself. Based on this theory, the thesis intends to do a comparative study on heroines' cross-dressing in different periods. By the study, we can find that because of the involvement of the existence of others and the personal relation with others, the essences what the same form of the cross-dressing reveal span through two kinds of extreme situation: Portia's fulfilling her being-in-itself to meet for desire acquiring the equality between the genders; Imogen's cross-dressing just in the form in standing in her being-for-itself. This spanning pushes us to take reasonable attitude on the relation of kinds of existence and their influencing others which is the necessity for us to contribute to the establishment of the harmonious society.The thesis consists of six chapters.The first chapter is an introduction including three sections:the background of the study, in which the necessity and feasibility to do this research is pointed out; the purpose of the study and the framework of the thesis.The second chapter is theoretical basis and literature review. The first section in this chapter is researches on existentialism at home and abroad. Because of the absurdity and nothingness in existentialism, the scholars at home and abroad mostly apply this theory to explore the absurdity and the death in the novels in the series of the absurdity and Shakespeare's tragedies. The second section mainly introduces the theoretical basis of this thesis. The third section of this chapter is researches related to Shakespeare on two concerning aspects, researches on Shakespeare's attitude to his female characters and ambivalence to the existence of the men and the women.The third chapter interprets Portia's genuine existence in her female identity and disguised identity in The Merchant of Venice based on the theory of being-in-itself and being-for-itself. While the marriage is an unnegligible other factor, the section about Portia's attitude towards the arrangement of caskets is paid much attention. The summary is that Portia's cross-dressing reflects that her pursuit for the mental desire in her being-in-itself urges her existence as being-for-itself. Lastly, the author makes the further analysis of the social significance which Portia's active cross-dressing has transmitted combining the thought in Renaissance.The fourth chapter analyzes the heroines'cross-dressing in As You Like it, Twelfth Night and Cymbeline in sections. Heroines'cross-dressing in these three plays all occur under alterative living atmosphere and their being-for-itself play more roles in their lives than being-in-itself one after another. According to these analyses, it proves to us that factors of others make Shakespeare's creation walking from being-in-itself to being-for-itself gradually, that is to say Shakespeare falls into the majority of the male-dominated society from his initial ideal to fulfill the real equality between the men and women.The fifth chapter analyzes the influence of others to being-in-itself and being-for-itself. At first, the factor of others the author discusses is Shakespeare's life. In this part, from the comparative analysis of four analyzed plays, the forms of the existence vary according to their periods for the involvement of others. Secondly, the author discusses the influence of the other others. And the final conclusion is that the moment the others involve in people's life, the clash between the ideal of equality between the men and women and the reality will break down the initial ideal and then push you return back to the tracks regulated by the society.The last chapter is the conclusion part. At first, the author arranges the part of the summary of the thesis, enlightening human beings to treat properly the relation between being-in-itself and being-for-itself and its implied social significance. In the following part, the author points out the limitation of the paper. Because of limited knowledge and material, the research is neither comprehensive nor systematical, requiring further research and integrity. And lastly, it tells us the trend of further study, the modernity of Shakespeare and his works becomes to be top topic gradually.In one word, through the analysis about the relation between being-in-itself and being-for-itself under the phenomenon of the female's cross-dressing, we can find that human beings should establish correct value orientation facing their alternating the desires or to abandon. As a result, no matter accepting passively or fighting for actively, we should face squarely the necessity and appropriateness for various kinds of existence.