Facets of Female Agency in three of Shakespeare's Works (PDF)

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Duisburg-Essen (Anglophone Studies), language: English, abstract: In this Bachelor thesis I will analyse Juliet, Beatrice and Lady Macbeth's agency in relation to the plays' plots, the outer and inner processes of the plays and characters, their relationships to men and their own character traits. I will do so against the background of the usual image of women in Shakespearian times.

In order to do so, I will first outline the typical gender roles in Shakespearian times, focusing especially on activity and passivity. This will then be applied to Shakespeare's plays. First, Juliet will be the focus of this paper, followed by Beatrice and after that Lady Macbeth. I will look at their characters development following the chronological order of events in the plays. This will illustrate the development of agency in Shakespeare's plays and also its limits. In the sixth chapter, the similarities between the examined characters will be pointed out to illuminate Shakespeare's approach in more general terms and to make a final judgement about Juliet, Beatrice and Lady Macbeth as non-typical women in the 16th and 17th century.

All in all, the Bachelor thesis in hand aims at answering the following questions: What are the typical gender roles in Shakespearian times with special reference to agency? In how far does Shakespeare establish a new female agency in the exemplary plays Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth, and how is this agency represented individually by the characters Juliet, Beatrice and Lady Macbeth?