It has been said that in "The Winter's Tale" Shakespeare dramatises the contemporary struggle between masculine and feminine power. In light of this comment, examine the presentation of the relationships between men and women.

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It has been said that in "The Winter's Tale" Shakespeare dramatises the contemporary struggle between masculine and feminine power. In light of this comment, examine the presentation of the relationships between men and women. Since the beginning of time a struggle for equality has been present between masculine and feminine powers. The biblical stories of creation have often been used as an excuse to mistreat women. The mythical story of "The Garden of Eden" has been used to display women being easily seduced into wrong doing "The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good the fruit would be to eat... so then she took some of the fruit and ate it"; how women corrupt men into wrong doing; "Then she gave some (fruit) to her husband, and he also ate it,” this illustrates women's dependence on men, "made him cultivate the soil from which he had been formed". Also because the male was created first "God took some soil from the ground and formed man out of it” and is often thought of as being the perfection of creation, where as the female is a helper "he formed woman out of the rib (Adam's.)" Even after the Women’s Social and Political Movement, the work that the women achieved during the World Wars and the feminist movement of the 1960's political, economical and social, inequality still exists. The search for equality began through the work of Chaucer in the "Canterbury Tales" during the medieval period and only now is society beginning to realise that males and females can have equal and respective roles. In the Jacobean era, women were considered to be second-class citizens, and when they married they lost any possible inheritance, property and without legal power, had to do as the male pleased. A rhyme from "Voyce of the Lesde Trumpet" (1549) by Robert Crowley reflects the lack of women’s rights during this period; "Now when thou art become a wife,And hast a husband to thy mind,See thou provoke him not to strife,Lest haply he do prove unkind, Acknowledge that he is thine head,And hath of thee thy governance, And that thou must of him be led,According to God's ordnance." As the rhyme suggests, appropriate behaviour for men and women was defined by a rigid set of social expectations. Women in Shakespeare's time lived in a male dominated society which, believed that the power in a relationship naturally rested with the husband. It was both his duty, and his right, to keep his wife and children under control, this right was believed to reflect the same God-given order in human relations that gave the monarch the right to rule over the country "According to God's Ordnance". Paulina, fails to do this, with courage and conviction she defends Hermione against a chauvinistic paranoia and enshrines female virtues. She is an "audacious lady" who stands up to King Leontes, even when his male courtiers feebly attempt to do so. She fearlessly confronts Leontes tyrannical behaviour "and will ignoble you" and criticises him “So were I/A man, the worse about you.” Paulina then succeeds in making Leontes look stupid, when twisting his words and echoing them several times "Good Queen my Lord, Good Queen, I say Good Queen." For speaking the truth and refusing to be silent, Leontes is left with no argument to support his claim that his wife is an adultress he is reduced to insulting Paulina calling her "Dame Partlet", "Callat", Lozel" and "hag." This would have brought a different reaction to a modern audience, from the Jacobean one, who would have considered it an outrage that a woman would have questioned a man, let alone a king, who had been 'chosen by God'. Paulina not only criticises the system but also provides alternatives and takes concrete action, aiming for justice and redemption. She uses the dramatic device of placing the King's baby daughter in front of him; "hath bought you forth a daughter; / Here 'tis; commends it to your blessing." In terms of theatrical presentation this is very dramatic because the baby is actually on stage, so when Leontes orders the baby and the mother to be killed "together with the dam/Commit them to the fire." Whether a modern audience, or a Jacobean audience, both would have been extremely shocked at Leontes' irrational behaviour.It was the husband’s duty and right to silence his wife and keep her under control, and the wife's duty to submit to her husband’s authority without argument. Husbands and wife's who were incapable or refused to live up to these duties, would quickly become the object of gossip and ridicule. Leontes mocks Antigonus, Paulina's husband and one of his courtiers for not being able to silence his wife "What canst not rule her" and
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calling him "woman-tired." This comment re-enforces the Jacobean view that men should be the dominant gender. Antigonus "fears his wife" and therefore supports Paulina's argument "let her run but she'll not stumble". He adds weight to her argument, "Hang all the husbands/That cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself/Hardly one subject" because as a woman in Jacobean society Paulina would not have been taken seriously. At the risk of becoming known as a "scold" or a "shrew" Paulina refuses to submit to her duty as a wife or to the King's instructions vowing to use "that tongue I have" with ...

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