Female Agency in "Shakespeare in Love"

Question 1:

The “Golden Age” is an appellation thatrefers to the Elizabethan Age whichis considered to be a spectacular time in Englishhistorysince England underwent radical changes. Among many economic and social alterations, drama and poetry prospered like never before and, as a result of the popularity of many plays written by scholars such as Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Lodge, Robert Greenand William Shakespeare,theatres were built and companies of actors were developed.Moreover, the rise oftheatres offered a range of new possibilities for playwrights. For example, William Shakespeare was a shareholder of the theatre of the Lord Chamberlain's (now the King's Man), where he worked as a writer and an actor which enabled him to gain more expertise and improve his writing. Nonetheless, there was no sense of authorship. Playwrights had no rightsover their inventions, so their texts were frequently changed, reworked or adapted by other playwrights. Furthermore, playhouses and stages changed drastically. The activities that occurred in theatres were often considered to beimmoral since they took place outside the cityby the order of the Queen because“parliament censored plays for profanity, heresy, or politics. . .To appease Puritan concerns, the Queen established rules prohibiting the construction of theatres and theatrical performances within the London city limits” (Ghosh 2,3). Consequently, attending plays in theatres was considered cheap entertainment for the masters meaning there was a frequent need for a new place for theatres. Another significant factor to highlightin early modern England, is that women were subordinate to men, treated as propertyand essentially devoid of any legal rights. Before the early modern age, womenhad an abysmal status; they were not allowed to inherit, own property or even get educated. The only education they got was in chastity, piety,and domestic skills. To say it another way, women were victims of oppression and tyranny. In the Elizabethan period, however, women were granted a few rights, but they were still subjugated to men. They were brutally suppressed and suffered from an oppressively dominant patriarchal society. They were subservient to men and induced to learn how to become perfect housewives and mothers tobringuptheir children. As the Scottish Protestant leader, John Knox once said: “woman in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man."( qtd in Mowczko). Women were raised to run a household and bear children and were obligated to obey any command by either their fathers or their husbands. Regarding this, women's fathers were in responsible to arranging marriages without consulting their daughters mostly to gain property and to forge family alliances. Otherwise, they would be punished in several ways. However, it is noteworthy that during that period, the most powerful individual in this male-dominated society was a woman. Queen Elizabeth I reigned over England and was venerated by everyonein the country. With regards to this,the Queen was the only woman who had guaranteed rights and freedom to act the way she wished. In this age, as mentioned before, the theatres and playhouses emerged for the first time and flourished within a few decades, however, women's lives were strictly outlined, so they were not allowed to participate in any performances on the stage because of this patriarchal dictation. That being the case, the theme of women treatment is a dominant one in many of William Shakespeare's plays. The fact that most of William Shakespeare's plays end up tragically for women has led many critics to believe that Shakespeare is showing a misogynistic attitude of his. However, there is a possibility that Shakespeare wanted this issue to be resolved and, therefore, presented many characters like Juliet who present a vision of social revolution. This is the point that John Madden seems to specifically focus on in hisfilm adaptation Shakespeare in Love. Heefficiently accentuated women's capability to speakup for themselves and break down gender stereotypes through numerous female characters. Focusing on Shakespeare's famous plays Romeo and Juliet, he depicts the circumstances under which women used to live through the character of Juliet who grew up in an affluent family and is expected to conform to the traditions of the society. However, Juliet does not comply the conventional rules of her society and acts differently in a way that shows empowerment of women. As Linda Hutcheon, a literary and art critic, together with Siobhan O'Flynn declare in their work A Theory of Adaptation “when we call a work an adaptation, we openly announce its overt relationship to another work . . . this is why adaptation studies are so often comparative studies” (6). The film adaptation refers to the same events in Romeo and Juliet, meaning they can simply be collated. However, Hutcheon also states that “adaptation is repetition, but repetition without replication” (7). Therefore, even though numerous events and actions are repeated as in the play, the adapter's intentions are not to duplicate the course of actions; it is rather to reform the narrative in his own way.

Remarkably, the adaptation includes the same storylines of the play because “in TV and films, themes must always serve the story action and "reinforce or dimensiolise" it, for in these forms, storyline is supreme“ (11). The adapter might intend to highlight a specific aspect of a play or novel and clarify it through using his own imagination and transformation of characters and actions as “adaptation is an act of appropriating or salvaging, and this is always a double process of interpreting and creating something new” (20). Shakespeare in Love retells the same course of action of the play but uses a different process. This essay will highlight how the film reinterprets the displays of female strength explored in Romeo and Juliet. Viola De Lesseps, who resembles Juliet Capulet, appears as an ambitious woman who insists on becoming an actress despite the patriarchal restrictions of the film's 16th century setting, and takes part in William Shakespeare's upcoming play. She disregarded the rules and disguised herself as a boy to accomplish her purpose. This essay will focus on Shakespeare in Love arguing that, although women were impeded by traditional conventions, female characters adhered to their discretions and showed tremendous strength by relentlessly acting as autonomous individuals.

Given that the adaptation is anchored in the early modern theatre culture, it is indispensable to unravel the role of women during that time, especially the Queen's role as she is one of the most important female characters in the adaptation. The early modern period is considered to be the pinnacle of drama and poetry. At that time, conventions of modern drama were developed, questioned and even subverted; it was an incredibly creative period of time. From a historical perspective, the epoch of the Elizabethan was marked by the expansion of the British Empire, reformation, revolution, education and perhaps most importantly by Queen Elizabeth I. As was mentioned earlier, women were derived from any rights and struggled with social injustice. However, the Queen was a symbol of greatness and magnitude. She ruled over England and was the only woman who both men and women slightly feared for being superior to them. In early modern times, a queen needed a husband by her side to share political thoughts together and take appropriate decisions, not to mention to enable the queen to give birth to an heir. However, as an independent powerful woman, Elizabeth refused to marry and share her life with a husband considering marriage to be a burden on her political position. Regarding this, the Queen was aware of becoming subjugated to her husband if she was to marry, so she became more resolute in her opposition to marriage. Instead, she chose her tenure as a queen over the love of her life. She once said to the Earl of Leicester, whom she was in love with for many years "I will have but one mistress here and no master," (“Historical Notes: Why did Elizabeth I never marry?”). Her words and decision convincingly demonstrate her strength and commitment to becoming a successful queen by opting out of marital life. She devoted her life to her reign to achieve a period of prosperity and have a meaningful impact on England symbolizing honorable sacrifice and courage. Although many powerful men wanted her hand in marriage, she not only remained single but also developed a strategy to take advantage of them by keeping her “suitors in a state of permanent expectation and even lust. . . This prevarication was a deliberate policy on the Queen's part, since by keeping foreign princes in hope, sometimes for a decade, she kept them friendly when they might otherwise have made war on her realm” (“Historical Notes: Why did Elizabeth I never marry). While this could be considered morally dubious today, this strategy made Elizabeth revolutionary prosperous leader. Madden replicate the Queen's strategies and exemplified them in his adaptation to emphasize women's capability of change and domination. It should not be forgotten that women's reputation was chief, if the Queen was to have had public romantic or sexual relationships, this would have put her social and political prestige in jeopardy given the importance of women's reputations at the time. Given a glimpse of the Queen's live and women in general, in the adaptation, the Queen together with other female characters are compatibly adapted as they have a significant effect on the audience “characters are crucial to the rhetorical and aesthetic effects of both narrative and performance texts because they engage receivers' imaginations through . . . recognition, alignment, and allegiance” (11). It means that recognizing the characters of a play, novel or short story helps the audience to engage both the mind and the eye to relish new ideas. Therefore, women in the adaptation affirm female autonomy in the 16th century. Looking at the Queens' position during that time leads me to the analysis of her character and other female characters involved in John Madden's adaptation Shakespeare in Love demonstrating strength.

Building on from the idea of women's empowerment, this section examines the agency of female characters in the adaptation. Firstly, I will start with the Queen, In the film, Queen Elizabeth is presented as a corroborative evidence of hegemonic control. Admittedly, her dominant and firm character appears as a masculine female figure with a domineering personality. Once she appears, everyone around her bows down and keeps silent not only as a sign of respect but also out of fear. She imposed her vigorous character on everyone. This asserts imperative female power in the movie. As a matter of fact, the Queen never entered playhouses, so throughout the movie they show the theatre coming to where the Queen was to entertain her. Many plays were written exclusively for the Queen's delight and took place only on her command. In that case, playwrights were in a state of agitation if the Queen did not smile amusingly as it meant she was not satisfied either with the play or the writer. This is illustrated at the very beginning of the film when the Queen watches a play to amuse herself. While she laughed at the comedy play, another poetic performance took place which sent her to sleep. Thus, granting the Queen's gratification is considerably substantial and a symbol of her magisterially imperious disposition. Considering this closely, it is unusual, if not impossible in such a patriarchal society, that a woman's welfare is under obligation. Furthermore, to consummate a marriage, nobles needed the Queen's blessing. While Viola stays in front of her, the Queen's haughty behavior can be seen when she is bothered by Viola repeating “your majesty” (Shakespeare in Love) saying superciliously “speak up girl, I know who I am” (Shakespeare in Love). Her authoritative tone of voice accentuates her dominance over everyone around her. Additionally, she interrupts Viola during their discussion about plays and says with complete confidence “they are played for me not for you” (Shakespeare in Love). In addition, she often disregards whoever speaks to her to impose her ascendancy not only as queen but also as a woman. To illustrate this, she degrades Lord Wessex, who is from an aristocratic family, when she ridicules Viola's love for poetry, saying “my lord when you cannot find your wife, you better look for her at the playhouse” (Shakespeare in Love). Moreover, she mocks him when he tries to cover up for Viola's behavior to wager his fortune and she replies “I thought you were here because you had none” (Shakespeare in Love). As the Queen, she is able to downgrade men in public regardless of their social rank. From this quote, one could argue that as the Queen she is aware of women's suffering in that time, so she deliberately mocks men whenever she has the chance to do so because she is the only woman who is allowed to. To be more specific, with her acrimonious behavior and her scorching comments she makes very explicit references to uphold to feminine ideals. In the end of the film, after Viola's scandal is exposed, the Queen is unexpectedly tolerant with the situation and comprehends Viola's action saying, “I know something of a woman in a man's professional, yes by God I do know about that” (Shakespear in Love). This scene shows how sufficiently self-aware she is because she devoted her whole life to being a woman with masculine characteristics and to accomplish duties that are rather male peculiarities. Therefore, she sympathized with Viola for breaking the rules and expressing herself through her autonomous actions. What is more, in the very end of the film, instead of waiting for her servant to cover the puddle to walk over it, she walked through it. This gesture is a sign of alteration. The Queen's role in the adaption implies to specific changes in the patriarchal society and, thereby reveals women's ascendancy to powerful positions despite the age the adaption takes place in.

I have carefully shown how Queen Elizabeth's character demonstrates a relatively unforgiving version of female autonomy. In contrast, I will now demonstrate how the character of Viola De Lesseps, who resembles Juliet Capulet and has a far lower social standing than the Queen, exercises her own autonomy by breaking with convention. Initially, she is introduced watching a comedy at the playhouse and reciting the actors' words after them as she is passionately fascinated by plays and attached to theatre. Notwithstanding the laws against women participating in plays, Viola complains to her nurse about men dressing up in women's clothes to act as ladies. Thus, the nurse answered her “Be still. Playhouses are not for wellborn ladies” (Shakespeare in Love), emphasizing that women would only be