Shakespeare and Masculine Hegemony
Shakespeare and Masculine Hegemony
The sociological notion that the hierarchy of society is habitually patriarchal, an idea formally named “masculine hegemony”1, is influenced by literature beginning as early as the Medieval times and remains unchallenged until the appearance of the works of William Shakespeare in the heat of the English Renaissance. Masculine hegemony as a concept arises from the prison writings of Marxist scholar Antonio Gramsci meanwhile he was imprisoned within a fascist jail in the 1920s.2 Creating a sexist doctrine that rules over early societies it filters itself into the pages of some of the most renowned historical pieces of literature. The Iliad by Homer, the Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus, the Old Testament, and Decameron by Boccaccio can all be studied from a feminist viewpoint in criticism of their show of masculine hegemony. Eternally famous playwright and innovator of our English language William Shakespeare is the first author to break the chains of this dangerous cultural concept with his powerful, diverse female characters.
As a founding member of the Communist Party of Italy, Gramsci was intrigued by power. He was convinced that culture, both in an aesthetic and anthropological sense, was naturally and subconsciously led by a power that was seemingly correct or just.3 Deriving from this concept is the idea of masculine hegemony. This idea developed the notion that societies are always coerced by the male class, and that women are subordinate by nature. Superiority of men and submission of women was an apparent theme in period pieces throughout history, and it further impacted the society that read and studied this sexist literature.4 Masculine hegemony is a strong undercurrent in the works of Greek epic poet Homer. Homer’s time was undoubtedly a conflicted time of history. As shown in The Iliad, arguably history’s most famous epic, society was focused on cultivating war power, and there was no place for a
The sociological notion that the hierarchy of society is habitually patriarchal, an idea formally named “masculine hegemony”1, is influenced by literature beginning as early as the Medieval times and remains unchallenged until the appearance of the works of William Shakespeare in the heat of the English Renaissance. Masculine hegemony as a concept arises from the prison writings of Marxist scholar Antonio Gramsci meanwhile he was imprisoned within a fascist jail in the 1920s.2 Creating a sexist doctrine that rules over early societies it filters itself into the pages of some of the most renowned historical pieces of literature. The Iliad by Homer, the Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus, the Old Testament, and Decameron by Boccaccio can all be studied from a feminist viewpoint in criticism of their show of masculine hegemony. Eternally famous playwright and innovator of our English language William Shakespeare is the first author to break the chains of this dangerous cultural concept with his powerful, diverse female characters.
As a founding member of the Communist Party of Italy, Gramsci was intrigued by power. He was convinced that culture, both in an aesthetic and anthropological sense, was naturally and subconsciously led by a power that was seemingly correct or just.3 Deriving from this concept is the idea of masculine hegemony. This idea developed the notion that societies are always coerced by the male class, and that women are subordinate by nature. Superiority of men and submission of women was an apparent theme in period pieces throughout history, and it further impacted the society that read and studied this sexist literature.4 Masculine hegemony is a strong undercurrent in the works of Greek epic poet Homer. Homer’s time was undoubtedly a conflicted time of history. As shown in The Iliad, arguably history’s most famous epic, society was focused on cultivating war power, and there was no place for a