Free Essays on Shakespeare’s Portrayal Of Women

Shakespeare tends to portray women very much alike in both Othello and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In both stories one can clearly see that Shakespeare sees women as very dependant people. He portrays them to be nothing without their male counter-part in both plays. In Shakespeare’s play Othello, the three women play a vital role. Only one of the women in the play survives, and all the women have no separate identity within the play. Bianca is the mistress of Cassio, Emilia is married to Iago, and Desdemona is married to Othello. This same type of scenario is present in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hermia and Helena are chasing Lysander and Demetrius throughout the entire play. Right away you can see how Shakespeare must have viewed women. He obviously viewed them as people of society whose existence was only relevant to that of a man. In both plays the women are almost laughed at as well. There is a cruel sense of insecurity that lies in Helena throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, that even when Lysander falls for her because of the love potion, she won’t believe it. She feels as though Lysander and Demetrius are mocking her and she becomes even more embarrassed about the situation. In Othello, Iago easily persuades Desdemona when she retrieves the handkerchief for him. It is also interesting that she does not even question him when she gives it to him, this may also be an example of the females ability to trust in the play. However she also remains ignorant of the entire plot until the end, when her life comes to an abrupt ending, at the hands of her husband, Iago. This is also a situation that we see in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, during the play-within-a-play, when Pyramus commits suicide because he thinks he has lost Thysbe. As a result, Thysbe finds her Pyramus dead and wastes no time at all committing suicide herself. These are all signs that the women are very dependant on the men, and some may argue... Free Essays on Shakespeare’s Portrayal Of Women Free Essays on Shakespeare’s Portrayal Of Women Shakespeare tends to portray women very much alike in both Othello and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In both stories one can clearly see that Shakespeare sees women as very dependant people. He portrays them to be nothing without their male counter-part in both plays. In Shakespeare’s play Othello, the three women play a vital role. Only one of the women in the play survives, and all the women have no separate identity within the play. Bianca is the mistress of Cassio, Emilia is married to Iago, and Desdemona is married to Othello. This same type of scenario is present in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hermia and Helena are chasing Lysander and Demetrius throughout the entire play. Right away you can see how Shakespeare must have viewed women. He obviously viewed them as people of society whose existence was only relevant to that of a man. In both plays the women are almost laughed at as well. There is a cruel sense of insecurity that lies in Helena throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, that even when Lysander falls for her because of the love potion, she won’t believe it. She feels as though Lysander and Demetrius are mocking her and she becomes even more embarrassed about the situation. In Othello, Iago easily persuades Desdemona when she retrieves the handkerchief for him. It is also interesting that she does not even question him when she gives it to him, this may also be an example of the females ability to trust in the play. However she also remains ignorant of the entire plot until the end, when her life comes to an abrupt ending, at the hands of her husband, Iago. This is also a situation that we see in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, during the play-within-a-play, when Pyramus commits suicide because he thinks he has lost Thysbe. As a result, Thysbe finds her Pyramus dead and wastes no time at all committing suicide herself. These are all signs that the women are very dependant on the men, and some may argue...

The Treaty of Tordesillas

The Treaty of Tordesillas Just months after  Christopher Columbus  returned to Europe from his maiden voyage to the New World, the Spanish-born Pope Alexander VI gave Spain a head-start in the quest for domination over newly discovered regions of the world. The Lands of Spain The Pope decreed that all lands discovered west of a meridian 100 leagues (one league is 3 miles or 4.8 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands should belong to  Spain  while new lands discovered east of that line would belong to  Portugal. This papal bull also specified that all lands already under the control of a Christian prince would remain under that same control.​ Negotiating to Move the Line to the West This limiting line made Portugal angry. King John II (the nephew of  Prince Henry the Navigator) negotiated with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to move the line to the west. King Johns rationale to Ferdinand and Isabella was that the Popes line extends all around the globe, thus limiting Spanish influence in Asia. The New Line On June 7, 1494, Spain and Portugal met at Tordesillas, Spain and signed a treaty to move the line 270 leagues west, to 370 leagues west of  Cape Verde. This new line (located at approximately 46 ° 37) gave Portugal more claim to South America yet also provided Portugal with automatic control over most of the Indian Ocean. Treaty of Tordesillas Accurately Determined While it would be several hundred years before the line of the Treaty of Tordesillas could be accurately determined (due to problems determining longitude), Portugal and Spain kept to their sides of the line quite well. Portugal ended up colonizing places like Brazil in South America and India and  Macau  in Asia. Brazils Portuguese-speaking population is a result of the Treaty of Tordesillas. Portugal and Spain ignored an order from the Pope in enacting their treaty, but all was reconciled when Pope Julius II agreed to the change in 1506.