The I of Woman through the Eye of Shakespearean Drama

Abstract

Life is gendered. Most of our experiences are grounded on gender. Every newlineindividual in a sincere self search will have a hiatus at the inevitable stopover called newline gender studies before edging toward the transpersonal. A skewing of gender values newlineovershadows the individual s engagement with both her/himself as well as the newlineexternal world. Most often, the anxiety to conform to the unwritten laws of newlineoverweening patriarchy creates hurdles in self-definition, self-acceptance and selfprojection, not only in women, but in men as well. newlineThe rubric Gender Studies has almost fully infiltrated the feminist academia, newlineemphasising the co-dependency of the structure that gender is. By acknowledging that newlinetackling the enigma of woman s identity can only be via an understanding, also, of the newlineconstruction of masculinities and femininities, as well as all other sexualities and newlinegenders in between, Feminism and Gender Studies (the way I like to use them in newlineconjunction) is more ecumenical, inclusive and pluralist than ever before. newlineLiterature mirrors life and affects life in more than one way. Being a newline discursive practice, literature encrypts social conventions which are often newlineideologically complicit. What is crucial is that each invocation of a code is also its newlinereinforcement or re-inscription. Thus, literature does more than transmit ideology. It newlineactually creates new systems of thought and has vested power to be a real gamechanger in structuring our sense of the world. So, it becomes imperative that the newlineimages of women long promulgated by literature are examined and the patterns of newlineconstructing and containing gender are exposed. The metaphorical pen is mighty newlineenough to provide role models which indicate to women, and men, what constitutes newlinecorrect versions of the feminine and acceptable feminine goals and aspirations. The newlinefeminist movement has been unfailingly acknowledging literature as one of the newlinepowerful and pragmatic ways of influencing quotidian conduct and popular attitudes newlineof many people from the different strata of life.