#Shakespeare's women

[shakespearenews]

Anne McElvoy, Hailey Bachrach, Anouska Lester, and Emma Whipday. 

[bethanydelleman]

I was talking about a historical male author I dislike because I found his works misogynistic and the person said, "Oh, well I suppose you don't read Shakespeare either." and I was like, "Shakespeare? SHAKESPEARE?!?! Of course I read Shakespeare, that man loved women."

Shakespeare wrote a wide variety of fleshed out female characters. He wrote Damsels in Distress, Cross-dressing Girlbosses, and Complex Female Villains. He wrote a woman who refused to sell her virtue to save her family and then shamed her brother for suggesting it. He wrote Taming of the Shrew and it's opposite, All's Well that Ends Well, in which the wife hunts down and tames the husband. He wrote men who are good because they listen to, trust, and defend women. He wrote women of all kinds. He wrote women who drive the plot and women doomed by the narrative. He wrote women in love and women who pathetically follow a man who doesn't like them and women in hatred. He wrote sensible women and silly women and everything in between of all ages.

I wish modern authors could write women as well as he did.

[dogzcats]

OPHELIA (details)

But long it could not be Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay To muddy death.

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Paul Gervais (French, 1859-1944) The madness of Titania, 1897 Musèu dels Agustins

[timekilla]

[doesephs]

tamora pregaming the insanity spiral post munching on her cosplay inclined sons

[tuttle-did-it]

Humans, I have found a copy of Much Ado About Nothing with Catherine Tate and David Tennant (2011).

I am not a massive Shakespeare fan, but this is probably my favourite version of the play so far because they have such fun chemistry. If you're a Doctor Who or a 10/14/Donna fan, you might really enjoy this. Tate is PERFECT in this.

EDIT: Lads, she's wearing a suit. You know I cannot resist a woman in a suit.

And if that's not enough, David is dressed like this.

[iamstandingwater]

Shakespeare writing twelfth night: I will create a gender the likes of which you could never imagine

[florencewelchsgrapejuice]

queer classic lit relationships according to me and me alone

Romeo and Juliet- he/him lesbian and his soft femme gf

Mercutio and Benvolio- the other tragic love story in R&J 

Hamlet and Horatio- no explanation needed

Beatrice and Benedick- the B’s in their names stand for bi 

Viola/Cesario, Orsino, Olivia, Sebastian, and Antonio- Shakespeare invented the chaotic polycule 

Helena and Hermia- who the hell are Demetrius and Lysander i only know these two sapphics 

Oberon, Titania, and Puck- they’re a triad your honor 

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy- he’s bi, she’s demi, they’re iconic 

Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth- only demisexuals could have the patience these two do 

Fanny Price and Mary Crawford- get fucking WRECKED Edmund no one even likes you

Emma Woodhouse, Harriet Smith, and Mr. Knightley- Emma has two hands etc etc

Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester- little bi freaks 

Jo March and Friedrich Bhaer- two ace dark academia nerds managed to find each other wow love is real 

Anne Shirley and Diana Barry- *looks at photo of Gilbert* sorry to this man

[from-a-spiders-web]

Ophelia by John Everett Millais, Friedrich Heyser, Alexandre Cabanel, and John William Waterhouse

[lithium-poet]

tag yourself im raskolnikov 𐙚‧₊˚🪓⊹♡

𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒, 𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒷𝑒𝓁𝓁𝒶

[psychologicalwarclaire]

Is this piece of classic literature actually gay or is the author so misogynistic that he wrote the men as characters who actually think and feel and make decisions, never considering that he could do the same with women, so of course we're going to see chemistry between the men because the women are nowhere near as deeply written?

[whenthegoldrays]

Something I haven't seen anyone discussing is the use of hairstyles to tell the story in Greta's "Little Women." The girls are all wearing their hair down in the flashbacks and up in the grown-up scenes. The last time Jo wears her hair down is Meg's wedding, when she's lamenting about childhood being over. The next scene in chronological order is Laurie's proposal, at which point her hair is up and she's being the mature one, refusing him and explaining why. The only times after this that we see Jo with her hair down are when she writes Laurie the letter and when he tells her he's married to Amy. It's like, for a brief moment, after losing Beth and feeling so gutted and lonely, she's reverted to childhood. But marrying Laurie would not help her to mature or be an adult, and her hair, such a tiny detail in the grand scheme of things, is a subtle indicator of this.

[my-own-lilypad]

Side note:

Sophie Okonedo played two famous Greek women. She was just brilliant as Shakespeare's Cleopatra @ The National Theatre

Also got the chance to see her as Medea @ Soho Palace summer just gone

Awesome woman

[bethanydelleman]

Shakespearean Men believing their wife/betrothed is cheating on them by evidence offered, ranked from most sympathetic to least:

1. Othello, Othello: subject to a premeditated slander campaign, handkerchief used as evidence, takes a while for him to believe it. Understandable, if horrible, and very tragic.

2. Posthumus, Cymbeline: proof in the form of a love token and the description of his wife's body. Also kind of understandable because they were subject to a seperation of unknown length. Murder was a little extreme though...

3. Claudio, Much Ado About Nothing: tricked by a man who literally just tricked him, sees two figures in the dark and a woman calling herself "Hero", immediately willing to believe it. Somewhat understandable, I guess, maybe.

4. Leontes, The Winter's Tale: VIBES. Pure vibes, man.

At some point between 3 and 4, did Shakespeare just lose his faith in humanity?