Women of Will – following the feminine in Shakespeare’s plays
By Tina Packer
What a book! I haven’t enjoyed a Shakespeare analysis this
much since Jan Kott and Stephen Greenblatt’s various masterpieces.
In approximate chronological order of when the plays were
written Packer shows how the women characters, though few, are pivotal in carrying
the play, taking power, usurping power, revealing the inequality of society.
For example, Shakespeare attributed soul to Juliet and
Beatrice in a time when the existence of women’s souls was still denied. In Troilus
and Cressida he reveals that in this relationship Troilus has power,
Cressida none, and the glories of war is hypocrisy and the gap between men’s
ideals and their actions is vast.
Packer often touches upon the same analyses that I’ve done
in mine. She too sees Katherina as a crushed victim of vicious sexism in The
Taming of the Shrew. In the history plays she analyses the importance of
Queen Margaret and ends thus: ‘Through writing Margaret, Shakespeare was living
moment by moment with a woman, her natural abilities, her loves, her ferocity,
her innocence.’ (p.32).
We don’t see eye to eye on his relationship with his wife
Anne Hathaway. She neglects to comment on the fact that he returned to
Stratford repeatedly throughout his London years and retired there even before
his play writing was finished.
Nevertheless, this is a brilliant book and I recommend it
warmly to all Shakespeareans.
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