An exploration of how language and context augment the construction of a prototypical female identity represented in the portrayal of Desdemona and Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s Othello and Macbeth.

Abstract

My research is based on a qualitative study of the characterisation of females in two Shakespearean tragedies, Othello and Macbeth. The focus of the study is the impact of language and contextual factors of the Shakespearean era on the construction of a female prototype. Since ideals of male dominance have severely confined Shakespeare's female characters, either villainy or passivity seems to predominate. In my study, I aim to highlight how these stereotypes depict the most typical character traits in females, which create prototypes. Shakespeare used conventional notions of women being either evil or subservient and dutiful and these notions became entrenched as female stereotypes which to an extent justify their inevitable downfall and demise. This study will attempt to provide diagnostic evidence from the language in the plays, to accentuate the role of language in reinforcing the inequity between the roles of men and women. A comparative textual analysis will be conducted of the character traits of the leading females and their foils. This study will gain insights into patterns as suggested by Irving Ribner (1960) which were elaborated by Melodie Fox (2011) using Eleanor Rosch’s prototype theory, which augment the construction of the prototypes of passivity or villainy in the female identity.