| Mothers in the plays of William Shakespeare are conspicuously problematic: rarely mentioned, often absent, and when present, usually loci of conflict. The problem has escaped much analysis. Readings by gender theorists, focusing on the performativity of gender, dwell mainly on the comedies and their young, unmarried characters, while psychoanalytic readings rely on an oedipal framework too rigid to grapple with the full complexity of family relations. Extending Judith Butler's concept of gender performativity to family roles ("brother," "sister," "mother," "father," etc. are gendered terms), I argue for new readings of three of Shakespeare's plays: King Lear, Hamlet, and The Winter's Tale. In each, maternal figures present and absent fall into a larger framework of social relations in which, facing patriarchy's anxieties about paternity, characters attempt to shape the roles and structures of family to suit their interests. |
