Shakespeare’s Queens: the rule of the female within a Patriarchal society

Kristie Bush ‘07

Shakespeare's works are defined as timeless and therefore are seen as pictures or mirrors of humanity, he is skillful at pointing out faults and triumphs within civilization that can continuously be applied within history and society.

Shakespeare wrote his plays in such a way that it is possible to manipulate certain aspects of the play to conform to different time periods and perceptions. Within the confines of his work we find the debate of gender visited and questioned repeatedly. In the play Antony and Cleopatra we can find gender being examined directly through the role of Cleopatra and we can find impressive similarities between the Queen of Egypt and the queen of Shakespeare's lifetime, Elizabeth I.

The concept of gender and what it means to be male or female is a controversy that has been written about since the beginning of time. How one is defined by society and is believed to live and act within that society has been questioned and defined repeatedly. Shakespeare is one author who is well known for his contribution to written language and an author who is continuously looked at for his opinion on the topic of gender. Within Shakespeare's plays we find an array of characters that can be studied to give us insight as to how Shakespeare felt about the roles with which we use to define or question what is masculine or feminine. "Certain characteristics were associated with the male and a different set with the female. Shakespeare reflects this Renaissance distinction between, and joining of, the masculine and the feminine, a juxtaposition which is also apparent in the female monarch of his day, Queen Elizabeth" (Gerlach).

The Renaissance and the Roman Empire can be equally placed within the definition of Patriarchal societies that base all the key positive attributes of human nature on the male. Within this type of society women would not be expected to hold any power of stature or even rule the household. In these societies "chastity, silence, and obedience were oft the repeated orthodox ideals of both maidenly and matronly comportment" (Montrose 116). The male is connected with images of knowledge, power, and strength; Renaissance culture along side of the Roman's would have a cultural understanding that "women [must] be under the guidance and control of men in positions of authority-primarily their husbands, but also variously their fathers, masters, and magistrates" (Montrose 116). That is why we find a great deal of disbelief and bad feelings toward Cleopatra from the Romans. It would cause both Renaissance and Roman societies anxiety to see a woman in control of such a powerful area as Egypt; therefore she is viewed as "a source of pollution" (Callaghan 44-45). Cleopatra's sexuality and power would seem foreign and frightening to Shakespeare's audience.
Within the confines of Shakespeare's world as well as his play Antony and Cleopatra it is interesting to look at the idea of women in power. The publication of this particular play was registered in 1608; this is significant given that the rule of Elizabeth had just ended in 1603. Elizabeth ruled England as a monarch without a husband to guide her for forty-five years, but she went about it in a very different fashion than the way Shakespeare portrays his Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra. We see that Elizabeth "was not above playing with gender distinctions when it was to her advantage. In her famous speech of the Spanish Armada, Elizabeth played both the female and the male role: 'I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too…I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field'" (Gerlach). We see Elizabeth using her wit and language to produce an illusion of male within her. She blankets her wisdom and strength behind a veil of masculine traits so that she may keep her place without causing controversy within her own culture. Elizabeth was known as the virgin queen and is sometimes compared to Mary the mother of Jesus; she was very careful about the way she was perceived by her parliament and her people.

It is hard to know exactly how long Cleopatra ruled over Egypt but we do know that she ruled long enough to be married once, perhaps twice as well as entice two rulers from one of histories most powerful empires, Rome (Nardo 156-159). It is in the later part of her life that Shakespeare's play takes place. In contrast to the Virgin Queen of Shakespeare's time Cleopatra was known for being an openly passionate queen and out spoken ruler. Equally, both women ruled for many years within male dominated societies and were able to rule with great power and success. Cleopatra also uses a method of veiling herself but not under the veil of the masculine. In her land of Egypt there is no need for her to pretend to have masculine qualities, she simply embodies them while being a strong, intellectual leader that just happens to also be an exotic and sexual creature. She is the ruler of a foreign country and therefore unknown territory, causing her and her realm to seem as a "dangerous mystique" (Darraj 2).

Cleopatra in the opening of the play is very quickly set off as the "other." According to Antony's men she has bewitched Antony and controls him with her beauty and sensuality.

"Those his goodly eyes,
That o'er the files and musters of the war
Have glowed like plated Mars, now bend, now turn
The office and devotion of their view
Upon a tawny front. His captain's heart,
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper
And is become the bellows and the fan
Too cool a gypsy's lust."
(I.i.2-10)

But in Act I scene iii, we see the banter between Cleopatra and her Antony and it seems apparent that she is more than just the prostitute the Roman's label her as. Cleopatra is strong and conducts her life in a very theatrical fashion. She has learned to change her mood to fit the situation she is trying to control. We watch her recover from a fainting spell and swell into a fit of anger over Antony's decision to return to Rome. As he leaves she says,

"But sir, forgive me,
Since my becomings kill me when they do not
Eye well to you."
(I.iii.96-98)

Her "becomings" refers to her ability to transform. We see that Cleopatra is more complex than the Roman's believe she has many moods and many different versions with which she uses to portray herself in the most pleasing fashion.
We find in both Elizabeth and Cleopatra a need to become strong and perhaps deny themselves at times in order to successfully rule, but Cleopatra's veil is one that is more transparent than Elizabeth's. Cleopatra becomes different roles but each of these roles is a part of her, she is not putting on a masculine façade in order to make reason out of her strength and emotions. We can only conclude in our interpretation of Cleopatra's character, that Shakespeare is not only comparing the reign of these two queens but perhaps challenging his own society to view the error of causing their own great queen to take on a role of the masculine rather than allow her to portray her strengths and intelligence as openly as Cleopatra. When she was a young girl Elizabeth's tutor Ascham once wrote that "Her mind has no womanly weakness, her perseverance is equal to that of a man" (Hanson). History does not always tell the truth anymore than a storyteller. Perhaps it is through the opinions of authors that we may seek the truth of how monarchs and individuals of the past really could have been. The gender bias Patriarchal societies may not have always portrayed these eminent leaders as they truly could have been, powerful, strong, sexual and intelligent.

Works Cited

Cassius, Dio. “The Death of Cleopatra, Last of the Ptolemies.” World History by Era: Classical Greece and Rome. Vol 2. Ed. Don Nardo. California: Greenhaven Press, 2002. 156-160.

Darraj, Susan Muaddi. “The Sword Phillipan: Female Power, Maternity and Genderbending in Shakespeare’s ‘ Antony and Cleopatra.’” Fall (2001): 2. GradMag. 2006. Temple University. 16, Oct. 2006.

http://www.temple.edu/gradmag/spring01/darraj.htm

Gerlach, Jeanne, Rudolph Almasy, and Rebecca Daniel. “Revisiting Shakespeare and Gender.” Fall (1996). WILLA. Ed. Patricia Kelly. Vol 5. 3 March 2003. Virginia Tech. 16, Oct. 2006. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/old-WILLA/fall96/gerlach.html

Hanson, Marilee. "Queen Elizabeth I." EnglishHistory.net. 2001. 1 November 2006. http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/eliz1.html

Montrose, Louis. The Subject of Elizabeth. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 2006.

Rackin, Phyllis. “Misogyny is Everywhere.” A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare. Ed. Dympna Callaghan. Massachusetts, 2000. 44-45.

Shakespeare, William. “ Antony and Cleopatra.” The Necessary Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. New York, 2005. 752-800.

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