Look at the Way Shakespeare Explores Relationships Between Men and Women in Measure for Measure Essay Example for Free

Look at the Way Shakespeare Explores Relationships Between Men and Women in Measure for Measure Essay When Shakespeare wrote Measure for Measure in approximately 1604, society was very sexist towards females and men were seen as the stronger sex, however Shakespeare included lots of strong female characters in his plays such as Portia in ‘Mercent of Venice’ and Lady Macbeth in ‘Macbeth’, he was aware that his plays wouldn’t change society and that unlimitedly, women are regarded as subservient to men. They were not allowed to vote, state their real opinions, go to university and they were never formally educated; their only expected roles in life were to run the household and provide children. Consequently, many men regarded their wives and daughters as possessions who were expected to abide by their husbands and fathers no matter what. When it came down to relationships with the opposite sex, virginity was regarded as a virtue and a prize. Men expected their wives to be pure in preparation for marriage and the women that had ‘succumbed to the pleasures of the flesh’ before they were married were considered ruined women. Men however were encouraged to learn the arts of seduction and some men of the higher class were sent to Italy to learn the art. In the society of Measure for Measure, men clearly use and abuse women. One of the main characters Angelo is placed in charge of the city in Vienna by Duke Vincentio. The Duke had been quite an easy going ruler who feels that it is time to clean up the Viennese society and administer a greater sense of honour. He chooses Angelo because of the strong characteristics and principles that he has make him stand out for being the perfect person to do so. Despite his name being a play on the word ‘angel’, he absurdly proves to be the villain of the play and along with several other male figures, he uses not only his gender but also his position of power, to exploit several members of the ‘weaker’ sex. When Angelo takes authority as ruler in the Duke’s absence he immediately wishes to make a mark. Unbeknown to him, the Duke has disguised himself as a Friar and has returned to Vienna to observe how Angelo administers ascendancy. Angelo initially comes forth as beyond criticism and determined to rule with an iron fist. When he discovers that a nobleman called Claudio has slept with his partner impregnated her, he orders Claudio be executed as an example to the citizens of Vienna, that such immorality will not be tolerated. The nobleman Claudio is introduced to us in Act 1 Scene 2. As he is being led away to prison, his friend Lucio asks the meaning of ‘this restraint’ and queries as to weather or not it is because of ‘lechery’. Claudio agrees that to a degree, his crime is one of being too lenient in terms of sexual activity and we recognize that this is a society where men and women are expected to show self-control before marriage. Claudio talks about his lover, Julietta with a certain degree of dominance; we learn he had ‘possession’ of her bed but in his justification it was ‘upon a true contract’ and it seemed the liaison was consensual. But also ‘upon a true contract’ could also mean that Julietta has donated herself to the dominant member of the relationship. Also this statement makes the ‘relationship’ appear to be almost a deal or an agreement in which has been made between the two characters. He also argues that they were as good as engaged but were waiting for the right moment to reveal the news to her family. Their sexual relationship is regarded by Claudio as ‘mutual entertainment’ and we realise that both can be held responsible for their crime however Julietta is now pregnant and they cannot hide their actions from others who can see the ‘shame’ of their union. In addition, the word mainly focused upon, is ‘possession’. This word once again reflects the sexism surrounding this era; in that the male is the dominant and most significant person. Therefore, it is clear that the women (being Julietta in this case) is almost an in-animate object, which is owned or ‘possessed’ by the man. Claudio’s sister, Isabella, is an aspiring nun and when she first heard about her brother’s arrest she snaps at Angelo with ‘make me not your story’. She honestly doesn’t believe that her brother has committed such sin and thinks it is all a story. When she comes to plead for her brother’s life, she is clearly virtuous and innocent; untainted by the ills of society and ready to offer up her life to God. Angelo is overtaken by his desires and attracted to her virtuous nature. He offers the proposition that Isabella ‘yield up’ her body to his ‘will’ and he in turn will grant a pardon for Claudio. The word ‘yield’ suggests Isabella should give in or cower before Angelo’s might as a man and as a ruler. It reflects how Elizabethan men thought of women as possessions, objects and caring about only their bodies and not their souls; that when it came to sex before marriage, women were meant to give up their bodies. Isabella is horrified and refuses, believing that by sacrificing her virginity, she sacrifices her soul. The word ‘will’ shows that Angelo dominates and expects to be obeyed in the ‘relationship’, despite her opinions or rights. As a man in a superior position, Angelo is used to being obeyed and his demands are to be met. This shows us that men treated women as objects to satisfy their needs. In light of how sexist this play has been, at the end of the play in scene 5 I become almost convinced of how vile the Duke is. He tries to portray himself as this great big hero when he helps Isabella save Claudio; but then injustices that by punishing Lucio so harshly. Prostitutes in those days were thought of as strumpets and marriage with such a person was a ‘sin’. So, Lucio is given an option to marry the whore he impregnated but he never has to repent for what he did. Actions like this in the Viennese society were highly frowned upon and this highlights even more how badly men thought about women in these situations because Lucio was devastated when the Duke told him his sentence. Isabella, originally on the verge of becoming a nun, finds herself about to marry the Duke. It is interesting that she is not given a chance to reply to the Dukes marriage proposal in the play. She is assumedly very content to become the spouse of the towns leader, mainly since he has saved her brothers life. But at the same time this situation reinforces her loss of sexual independence. The central conflict in the play revolves roughly around Isabellas rejection to follow the ways of the majority of the women in Vienna. Her marriage to the Duke confirms her virtue while denying her independence. There are no independent women in Measure for Measure. This is not strange, considering the setting and Shakespeares own era. But Measure for Measure gives its women characters even less freedom than other Shakespearean plays. Isabella is the one exception in that she refuses to respond to Angelos advances. However, she is still obedient toward the Duke, following all of his instructions. At the conclusion of the play, the Duke administers punishment to all of the people who have done wrong and rewards the good. Angelo is told to marry Mariana, and he escapes death at her request. The Duke probably does not want to execute Angelo, but wants it made clear that his crime deserves such a punishment. Marianas reward is Angelo, which she takes happily, although the Duke tells her that he is unworthy of her love. Claudio is allowed to marry Juliet, and Lucio is punished by being made to marry a prostitute. Marriage is not a specific punishment or reward; however in this situation it is definitely a punishment.

Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa Essay -- Literary Ana

Although the !Kung San of southern Africa differ greatly from the people in the west African nation of Mali, both areas share similar problems. Both suffer from diseases, illnesses, malnutrition, and having to adapt to the ever changing and advancing cultures around them. What I found to be the most significant problem that is shared between both areas is that the people suffered from a lack of education. In the book Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine A. Dettwyler, there is a lack of education in proper nutritional practices, taking care of children and newborns, and basic medical knowledge and practices. The Dobe Ju/’hoansi have recently started putting in schools to help children receive an education to help them have better success with the surrounding peoples and culture, but there is a lack of attendance in these schools. There are also many education issues in proper sexual practices that would help stop the spread of HIV and AIDS, in a place i n the world were theses illnesses are at surprisingly high levels. The first part of this paper will discuss the education problems in the Dobe Ju/’hoansi with their school systems. There are also many divergent views about educating the public in sexual health practice, and the use of protection in general. This section will also cover the education problem in Mali related to poor nutritional and medical knowledge. The second part of the paper will cover differing views between western society and the native point of view in both the Dobe Ju/’hoansi and the people of Mali. The last part of the paper discusses some solution-oriented recommendations to the education problems and some of the steps that have already begun to take place to help improve conditi... ...nough. â€Å"If you pour all these resources into keeping kids alive, without following up on their long-term health through more extensive gardening projects and nutritional education programs, then you’re just wasting everyone’s time, money, and energy (Dettwyler 1994: 145).† In conclusion, the suffering from malnutrition as well as the lack of education in rural Africa are spotlighted in both Dettwyler and Lee’s books. Both anthropologists give an insight into the true nature of the many problems faced by the people and how they confront life and death in a completely foreign manner. Even though both areas suffer from similar problems, steps are slowing being taken in the right direction to help educate people by setting up programs and making better schools. Although both the societies and their issues differ greatly, both are advancing toward similar solutions.

Functionalism and Poverty

Bethune cookman university | Poverty: From A Functionalist & A Conflict Perspective| Social Problems – SO 132| | John Arthur Jackson, III| 9/29/2012| This assignment will analyze two different forms of social analysis and how it relates to explaining the existence of poverty. | Functionalists Perspective & It’s View Concerning Poverty As it concerns social analysis, the functionalists believe that society is a stable, and orderly system comprised of interrelated, and interdependent parts all working together to achieve homeostasis (equilibrium).As far as the individual is concerned, they view them as being shaped by society, a relatively passive people molded by their experience and interactions with society. Any change that occurs in society is deemed disruptive and the system would seek to restore balance quickly. In addition, any part that is dysfunctional is correlated to the system as a whole, and there is not one thing that stands in isolation from the other. Conc erning poverty, functionalists argue that poverty is not as apparent as the figures put it. There is a consensus that even though poverty is a social problem, it isn’t as abundant as we think it is.This consensus is come to after the functionalists take into consideration the antipoverty benefits that are available for those who experience and just like that poverty is much lower than popular belief. So in lament terms functionalists claim that if we take into account all of the available benefits that are for poor people then we would come to a conclusion that poverty is lower than estimation. As you can see, poverty from this perspective is just a way of life, and perhaps probably an incentive, encouraging everyone to work that much harder to promote overall well-being and possible social mobility.Possibly, there is an ultimate balance by the existence of poverty by depicting a clear division of power and wealth. There will always be the rich, and there will always be the p oor and thus balance. Poverty, serves to remind those who aren’t in that position to have a reason to attain or to achieve just to avoid having to conform to the problem of poverty. Also, the existence of poverty allows others to compare themselves to, just to make the contrast between the two provide certain thankfulness to their situation. As to say that, whatever they are going through couldn’t get that much worse than someone who is already in poverty.Conflict Perspective & It’s View Concerning Poverty The idea that society is just a continuous power struggle between social classes over the availability and allocation of scarce resources would be the perspective of the Conflict Theorists. The premise of their argument is that there doesn’t need to be a reason to place blame on people who find themselves in an impoverished socioeconomic condition. Logically, if we continue to place blame on the people who are living in poverty, we continue to shift the focus off of the problem and onto the individual which shouldn’t be the case.There should be a firm emphasis on the bigger societal problems that occur by the hands of the unstable capitalists and avaricious elitists who continue to perpetuate a falsified ideology for people to believe in. Conflict Theorists claim that poverty â€Å"†¦ is rooted in past and present prejudice and discrimination that keeps people of color out of the economic mainstream†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Kendall 2012). The subpar socioeconomically related living conditions that impoverished African Americans and other minorities find themselves in are just the fuel to the fire. †¦ Inadequate housing, sub-standard schools, and crime-ridden neighborhoods†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Kendall 2012) causes the high poverty rate among the aforementioned racial groups. The lacks of regulated social policies that concern the ever-present and ongoing problems of economic inequality continue to perpetuate the capitalistic ideo logy as well as subordinate the ethnic groups that face this alienation. The conflict theorists agree that the structural problems (substandard schools, inadequate housing etc. 😉 are beyond the poor person’s control.So in order to rectify this situation, it would behoove the nation’s political and business leadership to formulate a way to compensate people who are living in poverty in accordance to being able to afford the basic necessities of life. In addition, the wealthy must face a tax cut, so that the middle class can strengthen and the lower class can shrink. In other words, in order to significantly reduce the problem of poverty; conflict theorists believe that we must stop blaming the victim for being poor, but instead find a way that benefits and help the poor people become more affluent, not financially only but economically as well.

Essay on The American (Totalitarian) Democratic System

â€Å"The American dream, collectively thought to be the ability to advance one’s status in life through hard work and determination, is the central part of American culture and class definition,† theorizes economics professor and journalist Paul Krugman in an article in which he later attacked this mantra (Krugman par. 15). Whether or not his sentiments hold true to the people with the United States as a whole is difficult to measure, but more and more evidence has come forth within the past few decades that support an adjacent viewpoint. As much as this country â€Å"wants† to believe in the ability to someday achieve self-actualization fewer individuals are able to break past the barriers provided by their social class, such as education level†¦show more content†¦This form of government, more likely than not, is headed by the societal aristocrats, and all decisional power is left in the hands of the power group. Even though their rule requires no ele ctions nor the input and opinions of their constituents, the totalitarian claim to power is seen as legitimate in the eyes of the people. Every major social institution including education, media, and security forces are in government control, and are expected, but not mandated, to use these establishments to benefit the citizens’ welfare. A newly introduced concept of government, a totalitarian democracy, holds elections to establish political hierarchy yet governors rely on their own intuition instead of the voices of its constituents to determine what serves in the best interest of society (Browne 17). The elected officials may be impeached by a vote of the people and replaced with an individual presumed to be more competent, much like the republic system in place, but that summates the limited power of the citizens. The most rigid form of social class is considered to be the caste system, where social position is ascribed at birth instead of earned. Castes are not limited to stratify solely on the basis of economic standings or prestige, but may include categorizing based on gender and racial background (Browne 13). In relation to a totalitarian system,Show MoreRelatedUsage of Propaganda in Totalitarian Governments versus Democratic Governments1069 Words   |  5 PagesPropaganda is everywhere any human looks. It is the base of almost every government. But, seeing as how other governments are worse than the American government, it’s worse in other areas of the world. The role of propaganda in a totalitarian government is very important, especially when compared to a democratic type of government, mostly because democracies don’t usually want to control every aspect of life. Information or ideas that are spread by an organized group or government to influence peoplesRead MoreLiberal Democracy Vs. 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