Gender Roles in Shakespeare Plays

Gender Roles in Shakespeare Plays To answer this question I will refer mainly to As You Like It and Twelfth Night. As well as the texts of the two plays I will also refer to two stage productions Filters production of Twelfth Night at the Lowry in Manchester (2010) and the West Yorkshire Playhouses As You Like It in Leeds (2010) and films of the plays by Nunn and Branagh. Critical writings by Terry Eagleton, Valerie Traub, Jonathan Bate and Sean McEvoy will also be referred to. Debates around the social construction of gender have become ubiquitous in the study of the social sciences over the past fifty years. Postmodernism, Poststructuralism, Feminism and Queer theory have all favoured the argument that humans are culturally constructed rather than biologically determined. This theoretical shift has had a great impact on literary criticism and on our resultant understanding of canonical works. Shakespearean plays which had formerly been read as deterministic in their tone have been re-read in a new light as a result of widespread scepticism towards cultural practices which serve to benefit dominant groups. This shift in attitudes has changed irrecoverably the way in which many of the plays are performed. For Valerie Traub this change in the way Shakespeares work is performed is a direct result of a wider scepticism towards discourses which regulate our behaviour into supposedly normative parameters: If directors once felt authorised to manipulate Shakespearean plays to foster conservative interpretations of social roles, todays stage and film productions do so at their peril for audiences increasingly recognize Shakespeares interpretations of gender and sexuality are as complex, various and fascinating as our own bodies and selves. Camb. Comp. p144 Shakespeares plays have therefore become a powerful ally for those who doubt the veracity of the traditional conventions of gender roles, which both embody and sustain the power structures in a patriarchal society. Both As You Like It and Twelfth Night demonstrate in their cross-dressing antics, the ways in which we each recognise and exemplify the conventions of our gender in order to be identified with our gender type. The enduring hold of our gender role is then shown in both plays to be contingent upon the continued recognition and performance of them. Close reading of the subversion of gender expectations in each play demonstrates Shakespeares prescience in questioning a standardised notion of male and female roles if we wish to exist within an egalitarian society. He clearly understood how our formative cultural experiences etch these standardised notions deep within the self, as Terry Eagleton states: The body for Shakespeare is not this crude biological datum but an inseparable unity of fact and value: to be a human body, biologically speaking, is also to be constrained to behave in certain culturally and ethically sanctioned ways, to feel ones flesh and blood inscribed by a set of discursive norms. P.100 So it is that As You Like It and Twelfth Night prompt a certain level of initial discomfort, or a foreign sensation, through the attempts of Viola and Rosalind to break the hold of their gender type. Yet as their new role is embraced and their characters are given the liberty of full expression, the gender divide is visibly diminished, the foreign sensation evaporates and the gap between genders appears in its true light: as a learned performance which can be equally unlearned. Qualities which are stereotypically attributed to a particular gender type are shown to be no more or less prevalent in their binary opposite. This is evident when Rosalind initially decides to go out into the world as a man: Well have a swashing and a martial outside/ As many other mannish cowards have/ that do outface it with their semblances. (1.3.114) She highlights the fact that cowardice is not necessarily a female trait, for there are cowardly males, just as she herself proves that there are bold women. Her recognition that such differences cannot be easily categorised into gender types is indicative of how Shakespeares creates characters which are unpredictable and wavering in the true human sense. The blending of stereotypical male and female characteristics is shown most potently in the transformation, both inside and out, of Rosalind and Viola in their cross dressing antics. Although Orsino isnt aware of it he describes the attraction of this blend of male and female characteristics the allure of androgyny in his assessment of Viola dressed as Cesario: Dear lad, believe it/ for they shall yet belie†¦ and sound/ and all is semblative a womans part. Despite the sense of exuberance in both plays at this questioning of standardised notions of gender, an alternative argument can be made that the cross dressing elements only serve in the end to reinforce the legitimacy of the status quo. Since cross dressing is a traditional plot element of the comedy genre in Elizabethan theatre its inclusion may be said to be obligatory rather than an authorial choice. This would tie in with several other factors in Shakespeares work, which may denote a certain over-eagerness on the part of modern day directors to showcase modern day scepticism towards social convention. When Jacques in As You Like It, versifies the seven ages of man, from cradle to soldiering to senility, he also mentions the female equivalent which is limited to just three: maid, wife and widow. Each of these stages corresponds to a womans marital status at any given time, which is also a central feature of Twelfth Night and As You Like It, where Viola and Rosalind are still primarily conscious of their need to secure a marriage partner, even in their liberated state. The denouement of both plays allows closure for the Elizabethan audience by restoring the women to their rightful place, having passed from stage one to stage two of their restrictive existence. The hiccup of their newfound social mobility, as a result of their gender swap, is overcome through marriage. This argument is perhaps reinforced by the fact that there are only two occasions in Shakespeares plays where men cross dress into women (name the occasions) and on each occasion the men in question are the butt of jokes. If Shakespeares key purpose in including cross dressing as plot elements was to demonstrate the constructed nature of gender roles so as to propose a more egalitarian social order, surely the male gender shift into a female would suggest the same underlying assertion. Traub outlines the important differences in Shakespearean gender swaps: Shakespeare depicts male characters as uncomfortable descending into femininity, while female characters enjoy the elevation of status their temporary manhood permits. P141 camb. There must remain some uncertainty then as to Shakespeares original motives when using cross dressing in his plays, and yet there can be no doubt that it is through her gender shifting and role play that Rosalind exposes illusions about romantic love, showing that the formulaic patterns of love are not to be imitated as they are based upon falsehoods. Rosalinds intuitive understanding of loves flawed promise and her foresight in planning the fate of other characters in the play to their advantage also belies the prevalent scientific theory of the Elizabethan era that females were merely imperfect males. Despite the aforementioned reservations, Rosalinds wisdom and intelligence clearly presents the opposite view of women to that in The Taming of the Shrew, as it shows that the type of woman that one should desire is both wayward and incorrigible. It seems suitable that Shakspeare chooses the auspices of a pastoral green world, (p.140 camb comp.) as a natural setting for Rosalind to experience a temporary release from the strictures of family or culture and question social conventions. The idyllic retreat of the Forest of Arden becomes a place in which new romantic and social possibilities can flourish, often as a result of fundamental subversions of identity and gender. This leads to Rosalind as Ganymede taking the role of instructor in love, directing Orlando on the most productive ways to woo her own female double a real social anomaly! In As You Like It and Twelfth Night, disguise in the form of cross dressing, becomes both a means of self-discovery and a mechanism to highlight the injustice of organising a society based on stereotypical expectations. This change in their character as a result of imagining themselves as male highlights the nature of role play both in performance and in real life, as Eagleton suggests, every self-presentation is for Shakespeare a kind of play acting.p.90 That is not to say that such role-play doesnt have a positive transformative effect. The freedom of expression so often denied to women is embraced by both Viola and Rosalind, and used to better their own situation and that of others. In The West Yorkshire Playhouses performance of As You Like It the play was kept in period but the adaptation of the text and the interpretation of character were notably contemporary. The text was not treated like a sacred tome as some productions have done to their detriment, but was chopped and changed to create the comedic effect the play should strive for. The resultant atmosphere of unpredictability was enhanced by the subtle use of music, which often set up dramatic cues in scenes of great emotion or drama. These musical shifts from one mini-narrative to another, coupled with a set which made the audience aware that the forest is a dramatic illusion, created the sensation that we were experiencing several smaller plays within a large play. This framing of mini-narratives, where characters were forced to adjust their behaviour according to their circumstances throughout the play, made the dilution of gender roles far more acute as a suggestion of our social constructedness, rat her than being merely a comedic plot element. Rosalind assisted greatly in this effect by shifting ably between her vulnerable self and the masquerade character of Ganymede. These fluid switches, which went largely unnoticed, demonstrated the way that we expect specific semiotic mannerisms and figures of speech commensurate with binary gender roles, learnt through observation in our formative cultural experiences, in order to recognize someone as male or female. These shifts from Rosalind to Ganymede were so natural and convincing that Orlando often seemed in danger of loving Rosalind as Ganymede as much as he loved Rosalind herself. The ensuing confusion created a genuine tension in his exchanges with Ganymede and allowed the audience to see him wrestling with his own sexuality, at the same time as attempting to prove to be a worthy suitor. Orlandos internal struggle brought to the fore the way in which the play allows subconscious homosexual urges to be sublimated by directing them towards a woman dressed as a man. The homosexual connotation would have been even more acute in Shakespearean performances when those urges would have been channelled towards a male actor playing a female character who is then disguised as a man. The production conveyed this tension in the text convincingly and allowed the audience to get the full flavour of how Shakespeare may have been expressing desires which he felt within himself. Branaghs As You Like It : Filters production of Twelfth Night was a showcase for the plasticity of Shakespeares plays, demonstrating how they can be moulded to suit the level of inventiveness and the mood which the director wishes to convey. Although the political and social messages were tuned low, the plays exuberance and wild inventiveness overcame any tentativeness which those expecting a more traditional interpretation may have been feeling. The only problem with the productions anarchic nature was the small cast, which meant it was much easier to lose track of the narrative and the characters with many of them doubling up. Trevor Nunns film version of Twelfth Night tends to play down the plays suggestions about gender roles and its homosexual overtones, using glances and actions alone to refer towards the gay and lesbian subtext. Despite this subtlety the films setting in a 19th century rural Illyria, which is given a melancholy wistful air through the music of Feste, allows the divide between genders to be expressed in an extreme fashion when Viola makes her switch, through the extreme resultant changes in her clothing and social attitudes. The period choice allows Viola to fully express the scale of the journey she must make in her transformation, as well as the dangers that may await her in doing so, when she is shown in silhouette binding her breasts and putting on mens clothing to become Cesario. Her transformation indicates that she intends to disguise herself not as a boy, but as a eunuch in order to shield herself entirely from all manner of sexual threats. To ward off such dangers she must als o relearn her most basic actions in a male form, walking and yawning, as well as new skills such as fencing and developing a carefree male etiquette which is most clearly demonstrated in her comedic attempts to converse with Orsino whilst he bathes. Since Feste is given the voiceover in both the prologue and epilogue he is given an almost omniscient presence, apparently knowing all ends in each scenario. His god-like aura seems to tie in well with the texts awareness of the fragility and vulnerability of the possibilities of happiness, as he fully anticipates only the partial fulfilment of each characters desire, even in a best case scenario. This is most evident in the plays central plot in which Violas liberating transformation into a male, allows her a newfound power of personal expression which she must in the end relinquish to take her place with Orsino.

How Can Memory Be Improved by Using of Mental Images Essay

According to Cognitive Psychologists there are important points about our memories and some benefits in improving it, we need to look first at what part of the brain is involved and it’s brief functions. Our brain constantly recalls and forms new memories, and the part of the brain that deals with memories is the hippocampus, which is located near the centre of the brain. There are three different types of memory used to store different types of information. Semantic is factual knowledge such as remembering capital cities. Episodic is personal past experiences, what a person’s kind of game she used to play during childhood, and Procedural memory is how to do something such as frying an egg, for example. Organizing thinking using various methods can improve memory recall. According to a range of research studies including the work of Raugh and Atkinson (1975), Bousfield (1953) and Bransford and Johnson (1972), Spoors et al, (2011), we can apply the use of mental images, concepts and schemas to improve our memory in different ways. Firstly, is that mental images can help us not only to organize our thinking but also make us remember what we need when need it. In the Y163 course book (2011) Spoors gives an example in a picture of a bell that has an unpleasant smell which can remind us of the word ‘poobelle’ a word which means ‘bin’ in English and translating from French sounds like a bell full of pooh. And indicates a good way to learn another language too. Another Example in mental image is the experience carried out by Michael Raugh and Richard Atkinson (Spoors et al, 2011). Where two groups of participants were asked to remember a list of 60 Spanish words. In the first group they were manipulated and taught to use key words and the second did not. When tested later the group that used key words to make a mental image scored considerably higher than the group that did not. Proving that making a mental image of a keyword could improve memory recall. Another interesting strategy called mnemonics based on using mental images, developed in the year 500 BC by the poet Simonides, is the ‘method of loci’. The technique works by the person linking mental images of the items they are trying to remember with a sequence of locations that they already know. For example, take a shop list and imagine every item at different points around the house, replacing with items in the list. ‘Using mental images to organize our thoughts can make our thinking and remembering much more efficient. However, there are other organizing principles which can also be useful, such as sorting information into categories. ’ (Y183 2011). Secondly, ‘Concept formation is the process of making a mental representation of a group of objects or events that share similar properties. ’Y183 (2011). It is essential to our lives and helps us to organize into categories the complex world around us into simpler way to interact with another human beings, animals, and all sorts of other things. For example, we have created concepts of objects such as furniture, in the figure 19 Y183 (2011) there is a non-typical table, without legs and having lots of drawers, but in our concept we still can define it as a table. Most of the time we form concepts almost automatically and are rarely aware we are using them. Although, it is like a natural ability for us, it is not always so simple. i. e. ‘Children often make mistakes by overgeneralising a concept that they are trying to get grips with. They may have developed a concept for a dog as an animal with hair, four legs, and a tail, but then they may also apply this label to a cat or a sheep or even a horse’. Y183 (2011). On the other hand, in some George Mandler (1967) researches, he suggests when information is organized becomes easier for us to remember. An experiment in two different groups of participants, where both were given a pack of 100 cards marked with words, and both were told to sort the cards out into groups, despite how many times they tried. However, there was some differences between the two groups results, because the first group were told to memorize the words while sorting out, whilst, the second group were told only to sort out the cards. Later, when both group were tested the participants that were told only to sort out the cards, could remember as many words as the other group who were told to memorize the words during the process. Finally, is an organized abstract mental framework, psychologists call Schemas, a bit similar to concept formation but more extensive. It permits us to appropriately file all our knowledge’s of objects, situations, experiences, and groups of people and ourselves in a way that provides cues to our memory. For example, if you apply concept formation to the word dentist, you would probably categorise dentist as an occupation, however, if you list everything that you associate with the word dentist, this would give you your dentist schemas’. Y183 (2011). Jean Piaget, an influential Swiss psychologist was the first to introduce the term Schema (plural schemas, schematas). He spent over 50 years studying the ways in which children developed their thinking and cognitive skills, and in his proposals was that as they develops schemas it helps the understanding of their world experiences. For better understand, it is like our memory had huge filing cabinets and every file of the cabinet is a schema, where we keep information about sports, animals, people things etc, since our childhood. In conclusion, we can say that to improve our memory using mental images and concepts formation by creating pictures gives extra cues. And using Schemas to store the information properly make us able to access it much easier when we need it.

Humans & ability Essay

Humans’ most important ability is our ability to communicate through spoken language. The ability of humans to speak makes us stand out in the animal kingdom, according to many philosophers and scientists. It is just natural for humans to desire to know how we developed the ability of using language in communicating. This paper focuses on how the human language evolved. Through the comparative studies of the apes with the human language, it provided information to humans when the necessity for the language structure was developed. INTRODUCTION Study of Primates Communication Abilities. Since the ‘homo sapiens’ have been considered as the human’s cousin, the language of the apes have been studied. Some believes that the human language evolved earlier than them. The American Sign Language or ASL has been taught to a number of apes. Different approaches were also used from 1970s for some species of apes to be trained and taught disciplines of communication. Comparison of the Primate and Human Communication Abilities. Human children’s development of their language was compared to the studies made on different forms of primates. It was evident on human children that their development comes slowly as they grow older. Children in the earliest age start with a single word utterance. At fifteen months old of a child, utterance of two words comes easier. Protosyntatic structures in the language development of children come next with longer word utterances. At this stage, noun phrases were observed in the language structure too. This kind of language development on children is comparatively the same with many primates studied from 1970s to present. CONCLUSION The ability of primates to communicate with protolanguage may be a sign that apes can actually understand, learn, and communicate. However, in many instances where primates were trained and disciplined, it is also important to consider that none of the subjects were able to be taught to verbally speak. Moreover, primate language studies have never showed any language exhibitions from the primates in the wild. The protolanguage development on the human children may be a similarity on both but the primates lack the gestural complex in humans. Therefore, this comparison shows that the humans have the natural linguistic ability and the primates do not. WORKS CITED William O’Grady, et al. (1997). Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction, 5th edition. New York : Adison Wesley Longman. Pg. 586. Savage-Rumbaugh, S. , Shanker, S. , & Taylor, T. (1998). Apes, Language and the Human Mind. New York: Oxford University Press. Deacon, T. W. (1989). The Neural Circuitry Underlying Primate Calls and Human Language. Human evolution, 4, 367-401.

Be Sure Your School or Program Is Accredited

Accreditation is recognition that an educational institution has a certain standard of quality that other reputable organizations will honor. There are two kinds of accreditation: institutional and specialized. Institutional refers to the entire school. Specialized, or programmatic, refers to specific programs within an institution. When you see that a program or institution is accredited, don’t accept that it is accredited by a reputable agency. Check it out. Make sure you can trust online programs. Be careful not to spend money on programs accredited by agencies not on the following list. They may be okay, but caution and good sense is recommended. When a program offers you a diploma in a matter of days, red flags are blowing. The U.S. Department of Education has the authority and responsibility of recognizing accrediting agencies that can be trusted. Here is their list as of May 1, 2009: Regional Accrediting Agencies Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Higher EducationMiddle States Commission on Secondary SchoolsNew England Association of Schools and Colleges, Commission on Institutions of Higher EducationNew England Association of Schools and Colleges, Commission on Technical and Career InstitutionsNew York State Board of Regents, State Education Department, Office of the Professions (Public Postsecondary Vocational Education, Practical Nursing)North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, Board of TrusteesNorth Central Association of Colleges and Schools, The Higher Learning CommissionNorthwest Commission on Colleges and UniversitiesOklahoma Board of Career and Technology EducationOklahoma State Regents for Higher EducationPennsylvania State Board of Vocational Education, Bureau of Career and Technical EducationPuerto Rico State Agency for the Approval of Public Postsecondary Vocational, Technical Institutions and ProgramsSouthern Ass ociation of Colleges and Schools, Commission on CollegesWestern Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior CollegesWestern Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for SchoolsWestern Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of TechnologyAccrediting Council for Continuing Education and TrainingAccrediting Council for Independent Colleges and SchoolsAssociation for Biblical Higher Education, Commission on AccreditationAssociation of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools, Accreditation CommissionCouncil on Occupational EducationDistance Education and Training Council, Accrediting CommissionNational Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and SciencesNew York State Board of Regents, and the Commissioner of EducationTransnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, Accreditation Commission Hybrid Accrediting Agencies Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental MedicineAccrediting Bureau of Health Education SchoolsAmerican Academy for Liberal EducationAmerican Bar Association, Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the BarAmerican Board of Funeral Service Education, Committee on AccreditationAmerican College of Nurse-Midwives, Division of AccreditationAmerican Dietetic Association, Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics EducationAmerican Osteopathic Association, Commission on Osteopathic College AccreditationAmerican Podiatric Medical Association, Council on Podiatric Medical EducationCommission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological SchoolsCommission on Massage Therapy AccreditationCouncil on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational ProgramsCouncil on Chiropractic EducationJoint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic TechnologyMidwifery Education Accreditation CouncilMontessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education, Commission on Accredi tationNational Association of Schools of Art and Design, Commission on AccreditationNational Association of Schools of Dance, Commission on AccreditationNational Association of Schools of Music, Commission on Accreditation, Commission on Community/Junior College AccreditationNational Association of Schools of Theatre, Commission on AccreditationNational League for Nursing Accrediting Commission Programmatic Accrediting Agencies Accreditation Council for Pharmacy EducationAmerican Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy EducationAmerican Dental Association, Commission on Dental AccreditationAmerican Occupational Therapy Association, Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy EducationAmerican Optometric Association, Accreditation Council on Optometric EducationAmerican Physical Therapy Association, Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy EducationAmerican Psychological Association, Committee on AccreditationAmerican Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language PathologyAmerican Veterinary Medical Association, Council on EducationAssociation for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc., Accreditation CommissionCommission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management EducationCommission on Collegiate Nursing EducationCommission on English Language Program AccreditationCommission on Optic ianry AccreditationCouncil on Education for Public HealthCouncil on Naturopathic Medical EducationJoint Review Committee on Educational Programs in Nuclear Medicine TechnologyKansas State Board of NursingLiaison Committee on Medical EducationMaryland Board of NursingMissouri State Board of NursingMontana State Board of NursingNational Association of Nurse Practitioners in Womens Health, Council on AccreditationNational Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationNew York State Board of Regents, State Education Department, Office of the Professions (Nursing Education)North Dakota Board of NursingTeacher Education Accreditation Council, Accreditation Committee