Silence And Silence-breaking

Women characters in William Shakespeare' s plays represent both the traditional role of the women in the Middle Ages and the changing role of the women in the Elizabethan Age of Renaissance England. Women are expected to be more concerned with their families and they are givenfaittle respect in society. Shakespeare uses silence to describe women's status and their relationship with others in society.Chapter One analyzes Ophelia and Desdemona' s passive silence. Their silence is not of their own choosing, but passive. Ophelia is driven mad through her complete silence and goes to another world to set her free. Desdemona, struggling to find herself, eventually fails.Chapter Two dwells on Cordelia and Virgilia' s active silence. Cordelia and Virgilia choose silence on their own to show their love towards their families. What is more, their silence becomes an action to confront society and families in which they are sometimes misunderstood. Their silence shows how female has voice in silence.Chapter Three illustrates Lady Macbeth and Portia' s si Mice-break ing. Lady Macbeth, exemplifying a negative role as she breaks silence for her hungry ambition for power with evil intention and her exploiting her husband' s weakness. Portia, the perfect woman makes herself admired and accepted by society through her masculine disguise for she is just and kind.Finally, a conclusion is drawn that women in William Shakespeare's age are struggling to gain more freedom, more right, more respect and more understanding from passive silence to active silence and then to silence-breaking.