The Battle of the Sexes
By: Samantha Mock
Battle of the Sexes
• Throughout all of Shakespeare’s plays the
battle of the sexes has been a common
theme
• In Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Much Ado
About Nothing, and The Comedy of Errors
there are a couple that shows the theme of
battle of the sexes
Taming of the Shrew
"I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;
If wealthily, then happily in Padua."
•The battle of the sexes is between Katarina
and Petruchio he has to tame her and he tries
to make himself above her
•Katarina sticks up for herself and causes
conflict
"No shame but mine. I must, forsooth,
be forced
To give my hand, opposed agaisnt my
heart
Unto a mad-brain rudesby, full of
spleen
Who wooed in haste and means to
wed at leisure"
www.tenchimneys.org
The Taming of the Shrew
•"Forward, I pray, since we have come
so far,
And be it moon, or sun, or what you
please.
And if you please to call it a rush candle,
Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me."
•"Thus have I politically begun my reign
And 'tis my hope to end successfully”
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Tamin
gShrew01.JPG/220px-TamingShrew01.JPG
Hamlet
•Hamlet has gotten Ophelia to fall
deeply in love with her, once he has
seen his father’s ghost he decides she
should no longer love him and that she
should go to a nunnery
• " The lady doth protest too much methinks "
" I will speak daggers to her - but use none "
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://michaelontheair.com/blog/wpcontent/uploads/2006/12/hamlet.gif&imgrefurl=http://michaelontheair.com/blog/%3Fp%3D
13&usg=__g9_zpvqZHxvAVkoCguuPO6rfQc0=&h=450&w=321&sz=92&hl=en&start=16&t
bnid=pOqknxjQtItKM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=91&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhamlet%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%2
6safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DG
Hamlet
• " What a piece of work is man!
how noble in reason! how
infinite in faculty! in form and
moving how express and
admirable! in action how like
an angel! in apprehension how
like a god! the beauty of the
world - the paragon of
animals! "
" This is the very ecstasy of love "
•Ophelia is torn between the
love she still feels for Hamlet
and the abuse that he has
exposed her to
www.barbarapaul.com
Much Ado About Nothing
•
http://blog.peoplenewspapers.com/wpcontent/uploads/2008/11/crying-bride.jpg
Claudio and Hero plan
to get married but a
trick by Don John
makes Claudio think
Hero has cheated on
him, thus leaving her at
the alter
O Hero! What a Hero hadst thou been
If half thy outward graces had been
placed
About thy thoughts and counsels of thy
heart!
But fare thee well, most foul, most fair,
farewell
Thou pure impiety and impious purity.
For thee I’ll lock up all the gates of love,
And on my eyelids shall conjecture hang
To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm,
And never shall it more be gracious.
Much Ado About Nothing
•
Beatrice and Benedick bicker and
fight madly but even though they
battle constantly then end up
secretly falling in love
“The savage bull may, but if ever the sensible
Benedick bear it, pluck off the bull’s horns and set
them in my forehead, and let me be vilely painted,
and in such great letters as they write ‘Here is
good horse to hire’ let them signify under my sign
‘Here you may see Benedick, the married man.”
http://www.shakespeare-revue.com/img/srmaan.jpg
“What should I do with him—dress him
in my apparel and make him my
waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a
beard is more than a youth, and he
that hath no beard is less than a man;
and he that is more than a youth is not
for me, and he that is less than a man,
I am not for him.”
The Comedy of Errors
• The Battle of the Sexes is shown in The
Comedy of Errors through romantic joust
and confusion
"The pleasing punishment that women bear."
The Comedy of Errors
• Luciana and Adriana show the
battle of sexes during the time
period. Luciana says Adriana
should obey and do the will of
a man because they are more
important. Adriana thinks she
should be just as important as
a man.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hais.co.uk/page
s/Silhouette%2520of%2520two%2520women%2520arguing%2520ui
d%25201344566.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hais.co.uk/pages/human
sysnew.htm&usg=__vqMdKSYzIVuk-VS6kQvFPrY2GQ=&h=272&w=409&sz=13&hl=en&start=22&um=1&tbnid=2BKgG
BqHezsYtM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwomen%
2Barguing%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa
%3DN%26start%3D20%26um%3D1
Adriana: "Why should their liberty than ours be more?"
Luciana: "Because their business still lies out o'door."
Adriana: "Look, when I serve him so, he takes it ill."
Luciana: "O, know he is the bridle of your will."
Adriana: "There's none but asses will be bridled so."
Luciana: "Why, headstrong liberty is lash'd with woe."
Works cited
"NovelGuide: The Taming Of The Shrew: Top Ten Quotes." Novelguide: Free
Study Guides, Free Book Summaries, Free Book Notes, & More. 21 May 2009
<http://www.novelguide.com/tamingoftheshrew/toptenquotes.html>.
"Famous Hamlet Quote by William Shakespeare - The lady doth protest..."
Find famous quotes, funny, movie and motivational. 22 May 2009
<http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/hamlet-quotes/hamlet-quote-the-lady-dothprotest-04.htm>.
"NovelGuide: The Comedy of Errors: Top Ten Quotes."
Novelguide: Free Study Guides, Free Book Summaries, Free
Book Notes, & More. 27 May 2009
<http://www.novelguide.com/TheComedyofErrors/toptenquotes.
html>.
"SparkNotes: Much Ado About Nothing: Important
Quotations Explained." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular
Study Guides. 27 May 2009
<http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/muchado/quote
s.html>.