Gender_Text

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 * [[image:Genderbannertext.jpg]] ||
 * Design a T-Shirt from a quote from the play. Sydney Engel
 * Design a T-Shirt from a quote from the play. Sydney Engel
 * Design a T-Shirt from a quote from the play. Sydney Engel
 * **Select a passage from the play that deals with gender and explain what it means in terms of the play's plot or character development. (minimum 500 word analysis)**


 * //[…] Then if he says he loves you,//**


 * //It fits your wisdom so far to believe it//**


 * //As he in his particular act and place//**


 * //May give his saying deed; which is no further//**


 * //Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.//**


 * //Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain,//**


 * //If with too credent ear you list his songs,//**


 * //Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open//**


 * //To his unmaster'd importunity.//**


 * //Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,//**


 * //And keep you in the rear of your affection,//**


 * //Out of the shot and danger of desire.//**


 * //(1.3.3)//**

I chose this passage spoken by Laertes to Ophelia because it demonstrates obvious qualities that add to the theme of gender. This quote is saying to guard your virginity; “guard your chaste”. The man speaking isn’t saying to “guard” it because it is in her moral beliefs to stay a virgin but more so because of her worth to him and is father. In the time of Shakespeare, a woman could be bought and sold for marriage. The money and objects she was sold for, unfortunately, never even actually went to the women herself. It went to her father and the family. A virgin girl was seen as unused and precious like a rare and expensive gem whereas a women who wasn’t “pure” was worth significantly less. Their dowries were also priced on their looks and the family they came from meaning; the prettier the girl, the more they are worth and the richer the family they came from meant they are from a higher class and definitely worth more. As well as being worth less, the children the non-virgin woman would later have with her husband would be illegitimate children due to the fact that she was not a virgin. In this quote, LaertestellsOphelia to holdontoher virginity, asI stated above. He believes that it is valuable and will raise her dowry. He will inherit his father’s land and money one day and if his sister gets a high dowry, he will have even more for himself and his future family. This quote perfectly demonstrates the gender roles at the time. The world was a male dominant society with the women seen as lower than and never equal to the men. They were looked at and seen like objects and held worth like an object too instead of holding morals and values as a person. Their opinions weren’t nearly as important and it seemed they could just be replaced. Digging deep into this passage shows how Laertes feels about his sister; how she isn’t much more to him than something that could be sold. He might see it as “protecting” his sister but in the grand scheme of it, he is simply insuring his future is easier for himself. It develops Laertes to look like a caring brother, that seems to be worrying for his sister’s wellbeing and happiness but it also shows us the way he thinks (Which would have been the normal way to think during this time period). ||
 * Aleka Duguay ||
 * Design a T-Shirt from a quote from the play.
 * Design a T-Shirt from a quote from the play.
 * Design a T-Shirt from a quote from the play.
 * Design a T-Shirt from a quote from the play.
 * Design a T-Shirt from a quote from the play.
 * Design a T-Shirt from a quote from the play.
 * Design a T-Shirt from a quote from the play.

|| Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven." (1.3.47-48) ||
 * "Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
 * "Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,