The images of women in some of william shakespeares plays

I I HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INFORMA nON TECHNOLOGY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT GRADUATION };1APER THE IMAGES OF WOMEN IN SOME OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S PlLAYS ADVISER STUDENT ill NUMBER: CLASS : NGUYEN TUAN PHUC : NGUYEN TH! THU HIEN 0171092 : BA0101 HO CHI MINH CITY, JULY 2005 I I Graduation paper Adviser's comments Nguyen Thi Thu Hien I Examiner's comments ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• I 'glJyr,r; Thi Tim EitOn I TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOW LEDGEM ENT: ABSTRACT: : CHAPTER ON E: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER TW 0: L1TERATURE REVI EW CHAPTER TH REE: BACKG ROUND Renaissance and England in Renaissance 1.1 What is Renaissance 1.2 Renaissance men's ideas and attitudes 1.2.1 The Reformation - change in political attitude 1.2.2 Changes in religious belief- Protestant and Catholic struggle 1.3 England in Renaissance 10 1.3.1 Economy and society 10 1.3.2 Domestic life 12 1.3.3 Language and culture 13 Elizabethan and Jacobean drama 14 2.1 What is drama and origins of drama 15 2.2 The origins of the Elizabethan drama 17 William Shakespeare - The greatest of the Renaissance Ages ; 20 3.1 His life 20 3.2 His works 21 CHAPTER FOUR: THE IMAGINES OF WOMEN IN SOME SHAKESPEARE'S PLAyS 27 I The innocent, faithful women striving for true love and fighting to protect their love and happiness 27 Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet" 27 1.1 A brief summary of "Romeo and Julief' 27 1.2 Juliet 28 Desdemona in "Othello" 35 I I I , 2.1 A brief summary of "Othello" 35 2.2 Desdemona 36 II The intelligent woman - Portia in ''The Merchant of Venice" 41 A brief of ''The Merchant of Venice" 41 Portia- the intelligent woman 43 III The fearless, stubborn and valiant women 51 Emilia in "Othello" 52 Cordelia in "King Lear" 55 2.1 A brief summary of "King Lear" 55 2.2 Cordelia 57 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSiON 62 REFERENCES 64 I I ABSTRACT Students who study literature, either for an examination or simply for pleasure, experience the same problem: how to understand and respond to the text of literary works Especially, they find it difficult to focus on the mass of details, characters, events and so on To help students to overcome these barriers, this study tries to analyse some characters in Shakespeare's plays However, characters in Shakespeare's plays are very various Thus, the study is to choose and collect some typical characters, particularly the images of women, such as Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet", Desdemona in "Othello", Emilia in "Othello", Portia in "The Merchant of Venice" and Cordelia in "King Lear" Due to the limitation of available books and the author's knowledge, we think that further research on characters of Shakespeare's plays, should be done literary works, specially characters in I I CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The first problem every student of literature faces is a feeling of blankness They usually raise their own questions I have read the text, now I am supposed to study it How I start? Teachers and critics sometimes make this stage more difficult by pretending that literature is a special subject which only experts can understand And the difficulty the students face at the beginning is simply one of choosing what to focus on the rich mass of details, characters, events, and so on, which they have met in reading the text They are faced with the intricate complexity of a literature work as they have to decide what to study first and where to start Beside these, to analyze characters in a play is truly difficult because the author does not always describe thoughts and feelings or make comments about the characters How can the students understand the characters in a play To deal with this problem, this study tries to analyze some characters in William Shakespeare's plays However, the characters in plays of Shakespeare are various Therefore, this study's purpose is to focus and analyze the images of women in some of Shakespeare's play To help learners have clear views on characters in Shakespeare's play, many research have been done so far Liz Lewis (2001 :3) studied Shakespeare' treatment of women in the tragedies Hamlet, Othello, and Antony and Cleopatra In this study, he explored mainly Shakespeare's treatment of three heroines' Ophelia, Desdemona, Cleopatra with an exploration of Shakespeare's representation of the effects of patriarchal system upon the characters In Othello, he pointed out that men's misunderstanding of women and women's inability to protect themselves from Society's conception of them William Hazlitt (1990:5) wrote essay about the characters of Romeo and Juliet He stated that whatever is most intoxicating in the r'!gnYI~n Thi Thu J-fien I I I I I I sharp rock circled by the eddying whirlpool that foams and beats against it I We all know that different authors have different ways to approach the aspect of the I odour of southern spring, languishing in the song of the nightingale, or voluptuous in the first opening of rose, is to be found in this play Specially, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (2001 :9) wrote a famous critique about King Lear based on his legendary and influential Shakespeare notes and lectures He said that the mind of Lear, staggering between the weight of attachment and the hurried movements of passion is like a tall ship-driven about the by the winds, buffeted by the furious waves, but that still rides above the storm, having its anchor fixed the bottom of the sea, it is like the characters in one play However, this study is limited to analysing the female characters in some of Shakespeare's plays by classifying these characters in some groups The first group is the innocent, faithful women striving for true love and fighting to protect their love and happiness They are Juliet in "Rome and Juliet" and Desdemona in "Othello" The second group is the intelligent woman, she is Portia in 'The merchant of Venice" The last group is the fearless, stubborn and valiant women They are Emilia in "Othello" and Cordelia in "King Lear" The result should be useful for studying English literature Therefore, collecting, describing, analysing are the principal methods of this study This study is divided into five chapters Chapter is the introduction It presents the study, its aim and its tasks Chapter is the literature review It introduces some research that had been done up to now Chapter is background It provides some information about Renaissance and Elizabethan drama And it also presents some interesting information about Shakespeare' life and his works Chapter is the main part of the study It investigates the images of women in some of Shakespeare's play The final chapter is the conclusion with some suggestions for further research i"gn;ir;Ji Thi TJm Bien I I I CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW r " No household in the English - Speaking world is properly furnished unless it contains a copy of the Holy Bible and one of the works of William Shakespeare It is not always thought necessary that these books should be read in mature years but they must be present as symbol of religion and English culture Shakespeare has not always been so symbol a figure He was an actor and playwright when neither actors nor the stage were regarded as respectable or of any importance The notion that he was the supreme genius of the English race did not began until he had been dead more than a century but since then it has become so firmly accepted that no schoolboy can avoid a detailed study of at least one of his play" (G.N Harrison, 1996:32) More than three centuries and a half have passed since Shakespeare's death but scholars in different countries continue to study his works and his plays are still performed and will be performed for many years to come When studying Shakespeare characters in " King Lear", Seth Godin (1992: 145) states that King Lear is considered to be one of Shakespeare's finest plays It is a tragedy of full scale emotion and powerful characters that revolves around the timeless themes of loyalty versus deception In Lear, Shakespeare created his most highly character ever According to Liz Lewis (2001:1), he says in his study, Shakespeare's treatment of women in the tragedies Hamlet, Othello and Antony and Cleopatra, that Shakespeare was a feminist He necessarily depicted the condition of women within a patriarchal system and created women characters which in their richness, transcend the limitation of his time Moreover, Chi Trung Nguyen (2000:13) stresses that Shakespeare was a great humanist He was the enemy of medieval ideas, religious and racial discrimination In his works, he affirmed the principle of equality, the equal moral value of people of all classes and races Beside these opinions, when analysing characters in "Romeo and Juliet" G.C Thorlnley and Gwynneth Roberts (1998:41) I'TguYI;D Tlli Thn Flit;Jj show that "Romeo and Juliet " is the first of I Graduatinn pap(,r Shakespeare's great tragedies The plot of this story of pure and tragic love is known in all parts of the civilized world The deaths Romeo and Juliet are necessary: their families are enemies and death is the only way out of their hopeless situation William Shakespeare still lives on as a super playwright and poet not only of England but also of the world He was neither a purely tragic nor a purely comic writer He dealt with both the tragic and comic sides of life because in actual life, these two sides are closely connected There was a drama in England before Shakespeare, but it was he who created or real drama, and it was he who raised the English theatre to the heights it has never since reached I I he is bankrupt now, so he would rather die than live He advises Bassanio to his noble wife about him and what he sacrifices for him Bassanio says that he has married a wife who is as dear as his life, but for him the life of them, even all the world are not esteemed as much as Antonio;s life And Gratiano also adds that he has a wife whom he loves but he wishes her to have been in heaven if there she could have some power to change the currish Jew Both Bassanio and Gratiano shows their true words without knowing the presence of their wives This is a humorous incident inserting the scene of the serious and strict court Shylock commends Portia's judgement in favor of him She states that the Venetian laws allow him to what he has written in the bond However, to his surprise, she declares that he must cut a pound of Antonio's flesh and drop no blood If he drops a blood of Antonio All his estate will belong the state: This bond doth give thee here not jot of blood The words expressly are" a pound of flesh:" Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh But in the cutting it, if thou dost shed One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods Are by the laws of Venice confiscate Undo the state of Venice (Act IV, Scene 1) Shylock cannot believe what Portia has said, and then Portia impresses " justice" which he has required Thus, he decides to receive thrice the sum of money and let Antonio go As Bassanio is preparing to pay him, Portia prevents him and asks Shylock to cut just a pound of Antonio's flesh, if he takes more or less than just a pound, he will die and his wealth will be confiscated Then, Shylock begs to give his principal and let him go However, his requirements are not accepted Shylock has lost his original loan, and he wants to leave but there is now a case against him Portia reminds, in the laws of Venice, if a foreigner is proved to have direct or indirect attempts against the life of any citizen of Venice, half his good will be seized for victim 50 I I and the other half comes to the privy coffer of the state, and only the Duke can spare the offender's life Shylock is in this same case, so Portia advises him to beg mercy of the Duke The Duke announces that he pardons him his life before he asks it, and half his wealth belongs to Antonio, the other half comes to the general state as a fine And the last punishment for him is that he must become a Christian and can keep half his wealth, but give other half to Lorenzo and Jessica and after he dies, all his wealth will also belong to them After Shylock is forced to accept the sentence of the court, Portia has him sign in the deep of guilt but he is not well that he cannot it and asks her to send it to him later Thus, Portia is very successful in the role of Antonio's excellent young lawyer The Duke invites her for the dinner but she refuses Then Bassanio and Antonio show their gratitude to Portia and want to offer her some presents Portia only agrees to get Antonio's gloves and the ring of Bassanio At first Bassanio says that his wife gave him it and he swore to her neither to sell nor to lose it But then he decides to have Gratiano takes it to the lawyer, and Gratiano also offers his ring to the clerk Portia and Nerissa come back to Belmont before their husbands Just a moment later, Bassanio and Gratiano also go to Belmont Wives and husbands meet each other again in joy and happiness In this scene, Bassanio extols the resplendent beauty of Portia like the sunshine: We should hold day with the Antipodes If you would walk in the absence of the sun (Act V, Scene 1) One more interesting story in the play is that of the rings Portia and Nerissa pretend to asks their husbands about the rings and why they lost them They tell their wives how a lawyer and clerk have helped them in the court and they offer the ring to them They beg their wives to forgive them Then Portia gives Bassanio a ring and recommends him to keep it better than "the other" Suddenly, Bassanio realizes that r"glJ;l'm Thi TIm Hien 51 (iradllaiinfj parer is the ring which the lawyer has got At the same time, she asks him to read the letter from Bellario in other to show that the lawyer is his wife and the clerk is Gratiano's wife The humorous story of the rings ends happily Their joy is doubled by the good news of the safety of Antonio's ships After analyzing the image of Portia in the play" The Merchant of Venice", we clearly see her beauty and her wonderous virtues She seems to be a fighter when she overcomes the difficult situation at the beginning of the play, she only loves Bassanio but she has no right to choose him, but fortunately, her desire comes true, Bassanio wins the competition and he gets married to her Besides, we also find that her talents are shown through her solution in the court, she is very successful in saving Antonio who is her husband's friend The story has a happy ending, Antonio is released, Shylock is punished, lovers can love freely And the intelligent Portia seems to become one of the immortal images of literature in general, and Shakespeare's plays in particular III The fearless, stubborn and valiant woman Emilia in " Othello" Emilia is one of the subordinate characters in the play" Othello" She is the wife of the wicked lago and the maid of the noble Desdemona She is not in such a high position in Venice's society as Desdemona but this wonderful woman has good qualities in her spirit We are impressed by her loyalty to her husband in the early scenes of the play However, in the last scene, she dares denounce his guilt straightforwardly, and so she is considered a fearless, stubborn and valiant woman Emilia is always loyal and obedient to her" sometimes abuses her with his rough humour wayward husband" lago, who She picks up Desdemona's handkerchief which lago has asked he to steal many times, and gives it to lago although she does not understand why he wants it She knows clearly that it is an important thing to Desdemona who shall go mad if she discovers that she has lost it That is the reason why Emilia requires her husband to give it back if it is no used for 52 I some purposes of importance In this situation, Emilia obeys her husband as a good wife but her bad husband uses her as a means to carry out his evil plans It is clear that Emilia's action of stealing the handkerchief indirectly makes the jealousy of Othello develop to the highest degree, and even leads to the tragic and of their lives Emilia is also a good woman, she defends Desdemona when Othello asks her about the meeting between Desdemona and Cassio She tries to prevent Othello from suspecting Desdemona's faithfulness, she says to Othello that: I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest Lay down my soul at stake If you think other Remove your thought: it doth abuse your bosom (Act IV, Scene 2) besides, she comforts the sad of Desdemona after Othello accuses her of having a love affair with another man It seems that she is the only person who is always beside Desdemona in this situation and understands the innocence of Desdemona most She states that her mistress had to for sake of her father, her country and all her friends to love Othello and to become his wife, but now he calls her" whore", it means that he does not respect his wife any more, and she advises her mistress not to weep at this She is really surprised by Othello's suspicion of Desdemona Shakespeare describes the painful feeling of Emilia deeply when her mistress dies in her bed She cries: a lady, speak again! Sweet Desdemona, sweet mistress, speak! (Act V, Scene 2) She does not want to believe in Desdemona's death and she wishes her to speak again, but this never becomes true When she discover that Othello kills her, she hates him a lot and calls him" the black devil" At the same time, she comes to realizes that her husband is a villain who is responsible for Desdemona's death Immediately, she flatly shows everyone the evil of her husband, and simultaneously asks lago to admit his bad deeds He slandered Desdemona that she is unfaithful 53 I with Othello, provoked Othello's jealousy so that he kills her and had one of his men attempt to murder Cassia She fearlessly tells Othello why Desdemona's handkerchief was in Cassia's hand and that it is a part of the plan arranged by lago Every time she speaks, lago tries to stop her, but she does not fear lago's threat, she is against him stubbornly: Emilia: Villainy, villainy, villainy! I think upon't, I think - I smell't - a villainy I thought so then; I'll kill myself for grief a villainy, lago: villainy! What! Are you mad? I charge you get you home Emilia: Good gentleman, let me have leave to speak "Tis proper I obey him, but not now Perchance, lago, I will ne'er go home (Act V, Scene 2) We are surprised that Emilia changes from the obedient wife, who always does what lago asks, into the valiant woman It sees that the death of Desdemona makes Emilia come to recognize lago's wicked nature It is too late because Desdemona will never be able to live again Emilia feels regretful for helping raga have Desdemona's handkerchief Now, the love of the wife for her husband becomes hate, and decides to tell all the truth in order to expose the villain However, lago is very angry with her, he cannot bear her sincere words to everyone, he suddenly stabs her from behind and escapes Before her death, Emilia sings the song which she heard from her mistress, and once more speaks good words in favour of Desdemona, affirming Desdemona's only love for Othello: What did thy song bode, lady? Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan And dies in music (singing) " Willow, willow, willow" Moor, she chaste: she loved thee, cruel Moor So come my soul to bliss as I speak true: So speaking as I think I die, I die (Act V, Scene 2) 54 I In a word, Shakespeare did not describe Emilia's looks, but he wrote about her kindness and courage Although Emilia is only a subordinate character in the tragedy, she is remembered by her good qualities And " Othello" is considered one of Shakespeare's beat tragedies, for its content, characters, especially the images of women, and language I'Ygnyen Thi Thu Iiien 55 I I Production Title: King Lear and Cordelia Production Date: 1960 56 I Cordelia in •• King Lear" 2.1 A brief summary of •• King Lear" Lear, a king of ancient Britain, feels that he is old, so he decides to delegate his power to his three daughters, but to retain the title of king without having any of the responsibilities for the state His daughters are Goneril, wife of the Duke of Albany, Regan, wife of the Duke of Cornwall, and Cordelia, whose suitors are the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France They in turn have to describe before his whole court the extant of their love King Lear, and the daughter who professes the greatest love for him will get the larger part of the state King Lear is very delighted with the flattery of Goneril and Regan, and he at once announces that each of them a third of his kingdom After two daughters have finished, Lear expects that his youngest and favourite daughter, Cordelia, will outdo the performance of her sisters, but she only says that she loves, honours and obeys him as a daughter should do, and adds she will keep half her love for her future husband Cordelia's words put the king in a great fury He disowns her and divides the remaining part of his kingdom between her older sisters on condition that he and one hundred knights will live for a month with Goneril and a month with Regan As Cordelia is disinherited, the Duke of Burgundy declines to marry her, but the King of France declares that for him Cordelia is " most rich, being poor", he still wishes to marry her, and so Cordelia says farewell to her father and sisters, and go with the king of France to his country After that King Lear and his knights intend to live with Goneril for a month, but the second week has not yet passed, she turns them out of doors Immediately, Lear goes to Regan's house, it is very sad that she also turns against him So he is driven mad and leaves in a stormy night Lear now has very few friends left They are the loyal Earl of Kent, who has been banished by the king when he defends Cordelia, and the Fool, who often cheers the King all the time Kent, realizing that only Cordelia could help the king now, sends a message to her and they move to over, where Lear will get welcome and protection from Cordelia and the king of France's army When Cordelia receives news of her father, she orders a search form him At first, Cordelia finds her father too crazed to recognized her, but a doctor advises her that Lear 57 needs lots of rest, and at the end of a long and deep sleep he is roused by music, and recognizes his daughter and wishes her to forgive him A battle is now imminent between the King of France's army and the combined British forces in which Goneril and Regan also take part However, the French are defeated Lear and Cordelia are put in prison As a result of jealousy of each other, Goneril murders her sister Regan by poisoning her and then slays herself with a knife Before being released, Cordelia is hanged in prison and Lear also dies beside her because of his broken heart 2.2 Cordelia The play " King Lear" is considered one of Shakespeare's tragedies It describes a great and terrible tragedy of King Lear whose daughters, Goneril and Regan, behave him very badly except for his youngest daughter, Cordelia There are three women in the play, but Cordelia seems to be the only heroine deserving to be extolled most She is very different from Goneril and Regan, who are greedy and undutiful Indeed, they gain their father's kingdom by their flattery, and when they are very rich and their old father needs their care, they drive him away him heartlessly But Cordelia, who dares saying her true feelings to her father that she loves him as a daughter should and will never marry like her sisters to love him forever, is a very innocent and lovely princess After her sincere words to him, the king is very angry and banishes her from his kingdom In spite of her father's behaviour and being disinherited of any property, she still loves him and saves him when he is deserted by her wicked sisters The story begins with King Lear's announcement about his intention to hand over his kingdom too three daughters But they have to profess how much they love him While Goneril and Regan are presenting their love with deceitful words, Cordelia listens to them quietly and says to herself: What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent Cordelia! 58 And yet not so; since I am sure my love's More ponderous than my tongue (Act I, Scene 1) This speech shows us a struggle in her soul She understands her great love for her father but she does not know how to describe it by sweet words and that makes her worry about She thinks the best thing she can now is to love and be silent She simply says that she loves him basing on the bounden duty of a daughter, she honors him and obeys him because he has begot her She adds that she will never marry anyone to love him all Although these words are very sincere, they are against the king's expectation, and he is shocked by his youngest daughter To her sadness, he disowns and disinherits her The Earl of Kent courageously speak a good word for Cordelia but the angry of Lear commands him to stop or he would be put to death immediately However, the loyal Kent still advises the king not to decide unwisely like that, and he says that Lear's youngest daughter does not loves him the least The honest words of this good Earl of Kent only makes the king more angry, he orders the true servant to leave the kingdom forever Thus, at the same time, Lear has made two wrong decisions, he renounces both his best daughter, Cordelia, and his most faithful servant, the Earl of Kent In this situation, the Duke of Burgundy, one of Cordelia's suitors, refuses to marry her because she has no dowry at all The only man realizes her perfect beauty, her wonderous virtues, and her true love for her father is the King of France He says that for him she is most the richest although she now has not any property He still wishes to marry her and promises she will become the Queen of France, a fairer kingdom than her older sisters: Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor Most choice, forsaken, and most loved, despised! Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon Be it lawful I take up what's cast away (Act I, Scene 1) 59 Eventually, the lovely princess is protected by the King of France He loves and respects her virtues, he says that her fine qualities are worth more than a kingdom Then Cordelia with weeping eyes says goodbye to her father and her sisters and begs them to love their father wee I They tell her that they know their duty and advise her to try make her husband happy, for he has taken her as a beggar And Cordelia leaves them with heavy heart because she knows that her old sisters are very deceitful After Cordelia has gone, unfortunately, the king is driven mad by the ungrateful daughters, Goneril and Regan They forget their responsibilities for their old father He realizes his mistake in dividing the kingdom between two bad daughters He finds how small the fault of Cordelia is in comparison with her sisters, and feels regretful for her Knowing the father's sad plight, Cordelia quickly begs her husband to let her sail to England with an army large enough to overthrow her cruel sisters and put Lear back throne It means that Cordelia never resents her father for how he hah behaved towards her Furthermore, she really worries about Lear's health after she finds him in his quite mad state She promises a reward for anyone who can cure his madness: What can man's wisdom In the storing his bereaved sense? He helps him take all my outward worth (Act IV, Scene 4) According to the doctor's advice, Lear sleeps deeply for a long time When he awakes he recognizes Cordelia and begs her forgiveness It is clear that Cordelia is a good and dutiful daughter, she is ready to forgive her father The action she kisses him is to kiss away all sisters' unkindness She says that they ought to be ashamed of themselves for turning their kind old father with his white beard out into the cold air Cordelia knows that her care of her father is her duty, for she is his daughter Therefore, we more and more admired her noble qualities which make her very different from her cruel and ungrateful sisters No sooner than the father and the daughter meet again in joy and happiness, they have to fight against the British forces In this battle, Cordelia once more protects her father from the ruthless sisters 60 bravely However, the royal army of Cordelia loses, she and Lear are put into prison and die there In sum, Cordelia is not only beautiful and noble, but also fearless and valiant Although she knows clearly that she will be punished by the king, she dares saying her true thoughts to him straightforwardly The sincere princess becomes a fighter when she returns with her army to save her father The story ends with the murder of Cordelia, and the death of Lear with Cordelia's body in his arms Thus, a sad fate has come to Cordelia whose good deeds seem to deserve a better fortune Above all, the tragedy" King Lear" is considered to be one of Shakespeare's finest plays It is a tragedy of full scale emotion and powerful characters that revolves around the timeless themes of loyalty versus treachery, and truth versus deception In it Shakespeare created perhaps his most highly developed character ever Through its character we can see an unstable society at that time Cordelia, who is an example of the good, is considered one of the most wonderful images in Shakespeare's plays 61 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the greatest playwright in the Renaissance, left a rich legacy, consisting of 37 plays and 154 sonnets to the world He has enriched the stage with the wonderful comedies, tragedies and historical plays in which the lower and the upper class people are described such as kings, queens, princes, merchants, soldiers, clowns, servants, money- lenders, murders and so on His character make a vivid picture of England society in the Renaissance They reflect spiritual life, morality, religion and culture of England Through his characters, we can understand his great ideology about love and jealousy, love and hatred, happiness and sad, good and evil, brave and coward, light and darkness, faith and betray, and so on Characters in Shakespeare's plays are unforgettable in audience's memory, specially the images of women The women are the main characters of Shakespeare's plays who carry the author's thoughts All these women display the beauty of their appearances and spirits Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet", Desdemona in "Othello" are women of innocence and faithfulness, they always strive for true love and fight to protect their love and happiness The love of Juliet overcomes the long - standing feud between two families The gentle Desdemona marries the black Othello in spite of his father's opposition The intelligent Portia chooses her future her husband based not only on her feelings but also her father's will, and in the role of a lawyer at the court she saves her husband 's closest friend Emilia in "Othello" and Cordelia in "King Lear" are examples of the fearless, determined effort to overcome difficulties and valiant women The courageous Emilia denounces her husband 's evil actions toward Desdemona, Othello and Cassio The 62 lovely Cordelia saves her old father from wicked sisters although he has treated her badly All of them deserve to have happy lives but they can not fight against the tragedies of their fates except for Portia Juliet swallows the drug in wishing that she will be rescued by Romeo and live with him forever, but by mistake, it leads to her death as well as Romeo's Desdemona is killed by her jealous husband Emilia is stabled by her deceitful husband Cordelia's undutiful sisters hang her in dark prison Shakespeare created the memorable women who take an important part in the success of his plays Ben Jonson, the greater scholar in Renaissance wrote a long poem in praise of Shakespeare: Thou art a monument without a tomb And art alive still while thy book doth live And we have wits to read and praise to give He was not of age, but for all time In Renaissance Shakespeare was a great humanist He was the enemy of medieval ideas, religious and racial discrimination In his works, he affirms the principal of equality, the equal moral value of people of all classes and all races (Chi Trung Nguyen, 2000:13) Due to the limitation of time and available materials, this research cannot analyse the Shakespeare's humanism through the images of characters, particularly the images of women Further research needs to be carried out to provide students a profound knowledge about Shakespeare's plays and his thoughts 63 REFERENCES • Bush, D & Harbage, A (1970) William Shakespeare's Sonnets, Middlesex: Penguin Book Ltd • Coleridge, S.T (2001) Othello Analysis, Middlesex: Penguin Book Ltd • David, M.D (1997) An illustrated History of Britain, 1ih edition, London: Longman Press • Godin, S (ed.) (1992) Quick Lit, 1st edition, New York: Harper Perennial • Hazlit, W (1990) King Lear Character Analysis & Romeo and Juliet Essay, Hertford Shire: Wordsworth Edition Ltd • Harrison,G.N (1996) Shakespeare and Renaissance, 4th edition, New York: Prentice- Hall • Lewis, L (2001) Shakespeare's Treatment of Women in the Tragedies Hamlet, Othello, and Antony and Cleopatra, Oxford:OUP • Thorley, G C & Robert, G (1998) An Outline of English Literature, Edinburgh: Longman Group Ltd • Nguyen, C.T.(2000) English Literature, Da Nang: Education Press • English Literature Website, (1991) Shakespeare Online, URL: http://www.EnglishLiterature.org/essays/Shakespeare.html [accessed June 2005] • Renaissance website, (1993) Renaissance, URL: http://www.Watson.Org/Shakespeare.html 64 [accessed June 2005J