How did William Shakespeare and Sylvia Plath show the strength of feeling of women?
Both William Shakespeare and Sylvia Plath show feelings with themselves in their poems and plays and they use it on a character which is based on their lives. In the poems and the play, all their feelings started very bad, but in the end, they started to go very good. This is how they changed themselves and their strength of feelings in these poems and plays.
Ever since Sylvia Plath was a young child, her star was her father and she loved her father with a lot of happiness and excitement and she was thrilled to see him every day of her life, but unfortunately when she was eight years old, her father passed away and then all of her emotions changed with a lot of anger, nervousness, loneliness and rudeness because she has lost her father and now it has ruined her life and she feels all alone.
When she was a little bit older, she decided to write poems about her life and one of them was involved with her dad and the poem was called, “Daddy” and in that poem there was anger in different types of languages, upset, sadness, loneliness, religion, missing her father, speaks out and says what she feels and she was blaming her dad than herself. She was using quotations like, “Daddy, I have had to kill you, you died before I had time.” This meant she wanted to kill him herself for everything that he has done according to her, which was betrayal and he has ruined her life. Another quotation which she wrote about her dad was, “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through!” This meant she didn’t want to talk about him, she didn’t want to see his grave and she pretended that he never existed ever. She was hurt by expressing her feelings, but also very brave as she shares it to everyone.
Another poem which she wrote was, “The Arrival of the Bee Box” which is a bit different than the poem “Daddy” but there were some similarities. In this poem, she is acting like she is a God and she is taking control over a land which is a small box full of bees. She is happy with what she is doing because she is telling them what to do and they do what she says and she is treating them like slaves, but she also feels a little bit of sadness because she feels sorry for them and one of her quotations in this poem was, “I wonder how hungry they are, I wonder if they would forget me.” At first she was saying it sarcastically like she didn’t care, but then afterwards she really meant it. Another quotation she said was, “Tomorrow I will be sweet God, and I will set them free. The box is only temporary.” What she is saying now is that she wants to free them so that they won’t go hungry or thirsty ever again. All the feelings which are in this poem are sarcasm, scared, sadness and confusion.
“Daddy” and “The Arrival of the Bee Box” all have the same feelings like sadness, and happiness, and taking over control and forgiveness. And one of the characters most of the time blames the others apart from themselves like their dad and the bees and what have they done to them? Have they done something really bad to them? What could they have possibly done to change their feelings?
In my opinion I think the girl in “Daddy” was being very selfish and untrustworthy because it wasn’t the dad’s fault that he died, but she made that as a big situation and she was overreacting. Ever since she was born he took care of her and it was his responsibility to look after her, but when he died she had to take care of herself because she is becoming a grown woman, so she has to do all of her responsibilities and take control for her own actions. In “The Arrival of the Bee Box” I think that the girl took it too far by keeping all of the bees into one small box as they cannot breathe, they were hungry and thirsty and if she was one of those bees in that small box, how does she think she would feel? But then afterwards she forgives them and lets them free so they won’t die of starvation. That is the biggest strength for those two characters in each poem because at the beginning they both were angry, sad, taking over control and lonely and then their feelings changed by showing forgiveness, happiness, bravery and courage.
William Shakespeare loves writing plays ever since he was a young child and most of those plays which he wrote were all violent, romantic and comedy. One of the plays which he wrote was called, “Taming of the Shrew” and in that play there was a main character called Katherina. Katherina wasn’t like any other girls, she was different by her attitude and very rational and she only believes in things which most people do not believe in. Most of her family members and wanted her to find a new partner and most of the boys which she has seen she was not interested in and not attracted to, but the other character liked her, his name was Petruchio and he wasn’t like any other guys as well, he was lonely and was different by his attitude. On quotation they said to each other as they both first met, “Petruchio: Good morrow Kate, for that is your name, I hear. Katherina: Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing, they call me Katherina that do talk of me.” This means that Petruchio was trying to impress Katherina trying to make her like him, but she had no interest and she thinks he is stupid by how he speaks and how he looks.
Katherina had no interest in Petruchio whatsoever until he kept on begging and begging all the time and then she finally agrees. One quotation with Petruchio and Katherina was, “Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail? Katherina: In his tongue. Petruchio: Whose tongue? Katherina: Yours, if you talk of tales, and so farewell. Petruchio: What, with my tongue in your tail?” This quotation means that Katherina thinks that Petruchio is telling lies to her and without him telling the truth, he should leave her alone, otherwise she will “sting” him and he should let her continue with her life without a partner as she was standing up for herself and not letting anyone else control her life.
In my opinion, I think that Katherina is being very selfish and rude to other people as they are trying to be friends with her and make her be a better person than she already is, but she will not accept it, so she is just trying to live her life her own way without any friends so she can be a little bit more concentrated on her family, job, life and herself. However, Petruchio is trying to change it by becoming a new partner and a better man to Katherina to try and change her attitude and see how she is reflecting to herself and others and he thinks he can change that by doing things which Katherina hasn’t done before. In the end she did become Petruchio’s partner and her life started change, but also her feelings were starting to change for herself and others. That is the biggest strength for Katherina because at the beginning she was very angry, sad, lonely, sarcastic and rude and then it all changed and now she had courage, change of emotions/feelings, happiness and forgiveness.
This is how William Shakespeare and Sylvia Plath show their strength of feeling of women.
React!