Shakespeare’s Heroines
Ashim Kumar Paul
“Shakespeare
has no heroes but only heroines” is one of the proclamations that
is often asserted by the critics. Arguably, Shakespeare, the greatest dramatist
of all ages, is said to not have heroes notably in the comedies because of the
significant role led by female characters in the plays. Critical view claims that in his comedies,
one thing Shakespeare aimed for was to honour the qualities of Queen Elizabeth
since other Elizabethan Renaissance writers similarly honoured the Queen
Elizabeth in their writings, most notably Edmund Spenser in “The Faerie Queene”.
Since Shakespeare aims to honour Elizabeth, he endows his heroines with
qualities and attributes widely known to belong to the Queen.
The heroine of “As You Like It”, Rosalind, favoured with youth, beauty,
intelligence, wit, and depth of feeling, is one of Shakespeare's most appealing
creations. She is frequently regarded as the ideal romantic heroine — very warm
and very humane. So fully realized is she in the complexity of her emotions,
the subtlety of her thought, and the fullness of her character that no one else
in the play matches up to her. Rosalind is much admired of her verve and ability
to subvert the limitations that society imposes on her as a woman. Rosalind outdoes
everyone else, male and female, in the play. With confidence and imagination,
she disguises herself as a young man for the majority of the play in order to parry
the untoward experiences as a woman as well as woo the man she loves and
instruct him in how to be a more accomplished, attentive lover—a tutorship that
would not be welcome from a woman. Thus, there is endless comic appeal in
Rosalind’s lampooning of the conventions of both male and female behaviour.
Besides, Rosalind is a discerning judge of character. Jaques, for all of his ‘Continental’
pretensions, does not impress her at all. Rather, she lauds the wisdom, as well
as the occasional witty foolishness of Touchstone. “Thou speak'st wiser than
thou art ware of’ she tells in response to Touchstone's speech about his
courting with a ‘peascod’. However, Rosalind is not beyond the humanely
affection that gets exposed due to her rashly impatience to identify the
forester who has been decking the trees with verses in praise of Rosalind. When
she is told that it is Orlando, she questions her cousin Celia breathlessly and
becomes concerned about her appearance — forgetting momentarily that she is in
disguise as a man and shouldn't worry about such things. This sudden weakness
is humorous. Despite that, it is very human and girlish, and it receives
understanding sympathy from the audience.
Quick-witted,
wealthy, and beautiful, Portia in “The Merchant of Venice” is the embodiment of
the virtues that are typical of Shakespeare’s heroines. She stands out as the
antidote to Shylock’s malice. At very outset of the play, Portia’s potential
for initiative and resourcefulness is not found as she is a near prisoner,
feeling herself absolutely bound to comply with her father’s dying wishes. This
opening appearance, however, exhibits a revealing introduction to Portia, who
emerges as that rarest of combinations—a free spirit who abides rigidly by
rules. Rather than ignoring the stipulations of her father’s will, she watches
a stream of suitors pass her by, happy to see these particular suitors go, but sadly,
she has no choice in the matter. When Bassanio arrives, Portia proves herself
to be highly resourceful, begging the man she loves to stay a while before
picking a chest, and finding loopholes in the will’s provision that can hardly
be thought. In addition, in her defeat of Shylock, Portia triumphs by applying
a more rigid standard than Shylock himself, agreeing that his contract entitles
him to his pound of flesh, but adding that it does not allow for any loss of
blood. Anybody can break the rules, but Portia’s effectiveness comes from her
ability to make the law work for her. Portia's
second characteristic that is most readily obvious is her graciousness — that
is, her tact and sympathy. Despite her real feelings about the Prince of
Morocco, Portia answers him politely and reassuringly. Since the irony of her
words is not apparent to him, his feelings are spared. She tells him that he is
‘as fair / As any comer I have look'd on yet / For my affection.’ She shows
Morocco the honor his rank deserves. But once he is gone, she reveals that she
did not like him. ‘A
gentle riddance,’ she says; ‘Draw the curtains.’
Viola in “Twelfth
Night”, for most critics, is one of Shakespeare’s most delightful and beloved
feminine creations of his comedies. Viola, surrounded by characters who express
the extremes of emotionalism and melancholy, is caught between Duke Orsino’s
extreme melancholy and Lady Olivia’s aggressive emotionalism. She represents
the norm of behaviour in this strange world of Illyria. She is, first of all, a
very practical and resourceful person. As a shipwrecked orphan, who has no one
to protect her, she must resort to some means whereby her safety is assured.
She knows that a single woman unattended in a foreign land would be in an
extremely dangerous position. Consequently, she evaluates the sea captain's
character, finds it suitable, and wisely places her trust in him; then she
disguises herself as a boy so that she will be safe and have a man's freedom to
move about without protection. Accordingly, Viola is immediately seen to be
quick-witted enough to evaluate her situation, of sound enough judgment to
recognize the captain's integrity, resourceful enough to conceive of the
disguise, and practical enough to carry out this design. Viola also has a
native intelligence, an engaging wit, and an immense amount of charm. These
qualities will help her obtain her position with Duke Orsino and they are also
the same qualities which cause Lady Olivia to immediately fall in love with
her. It was her charming personality, which won her the sea captain’s loyalty,
without whose help her disguise would have never succeeded. And within a short
three days’ time, her wit, charm, loyalty, and her skill in music and
conversation won for her the complete trust of Duke Orsino. Even though she is
in love with the duke, she is loyal in her missions when she tries to win Lady
Olivia's love for him. However, Viola's charm lies in her simple,
straightforward, good-humoured personality. She could have used her disguise
for all sorts of conniving, yet she is forthright and honest in all of her
dealings with Lady Olivia and with Duke Orsino, even though she does use her
disguise to entertain the audience with delightful verbal puns. Perhaps the
most surprising thing about Viola is that a young lady in possession of so many
attributes falls in love with someone who is as moody and changeable as the
duke.
Apart from the comedies, in the
tragedies like “Macbeth”, “Othello”, the female characters dominate superbly
over the development of the plot. Desdemona from “Othello” stands for the
incarnation of, what most would believe to be, the perfect woman. She is loyal
and trusting, innocent and pure, and her outer experience matches her inner
beauty. Her somewhat naïve personality, however, leaves her exposed to the more
worldly individuals who have learned how to take advantage of others through
experience. Her downfall and her inexperience with the evils of the world leading
to her demise initially attract many to Desdemona. One's innocence attracts all
types, yet this attraction may become lethal. Desdemona does not know how to be
unloving to one in need. When Cassio cannot amend his friendship with Othello,
she willingly lends a helping hand. Her vow to “perform it to the last article”
is fulfilled when her death is caused by her loyalty to this friendship.
Desdemona is also completely blinded by her love for Othello. “Unkindness may
do much, And his unkindness may defeat my life, But never taint my love.” This
quote could be said to summarize all of the character of Desdemona. Her own
words foreshadow her death, yet her love for her husband keeps her from seeing
the truth of this statement. Desdemona does not know how not to love even those
who, whether intentionally or unintentionally, mean her harm. The loyalty
Desdemona feels towards all she meets keeps her from seeing their true colours.
Her trust in the Moor that he was born without jealousy keeps her from noticing
the changes in his everyday demeanour. Her loyalty to her husband also displays
her innocence of the world. When Desdemona asks Emilia if there are really
women who would cheat on their husbands, she puts her lack of worldly
experience on display for all to see. Her ignorance of how the world works, and
her supposedly trusting husband's belief in false statements, eventually leads
her to the ultimate betrayal. The attributes of one such as Desdemona appear to
be the perfect qualities that a woman can possess. Yet it is these same
seemingly wonderful qualities that turn against their host, blinding them to
the realities of society. Her trust in her husband does not allow her to see
the beast he has become. Her loyalty to her friends blurs how the relationship
may be seen from outside sources. Overall, this ‘perfect’ Desdemona leads
herself to her death, yet has no knowledge of doing so while on her life’s
journey.
In contrast with Desdemona of “Othello”, Lady
Macbeth of “Mactbeth” is one of the most powerful as well as frightening female
characters female characters in literature. Unlike her husband, Macbeth, she is
short of all humanity, as we see well in her opening scene, where she calls
upon the “Spirits that tend on mortal thoughts” to deprive her of her feminine
instinct to care. Lady Macbeth Her smouldering ambition to be queen persistently
manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all
his objections. Besides, she
is able to act as the consummate hostess, enticing her victim, the king, into
her castle. Lady Macbeth’s incredible strength
of will persists through the murder of the king—it is she who steadies her
husband’s nerves immediately after the crime has been perpetrated. Later, however, she begins a slow slide
into madness—just as ambition affects her more strongly than Macbeth before the
crime, so does guilt plague her more strongly afterward. She becomes mentally deranged, a mere shadow of
her former commanding self, gibbering in Act V, Scene 1 as she ‘confesses’ her
part in the murder. Her death is the event that causes Macbeth to cogitate for
one last time on the nature of time and mortality in the speech “Tomorrow and
tomorrow and tomorrow” (Act V, Scene 5).
Truly speaking, William Shakespeare,
the greatest playwright, has enriched the world of dramas with his marvellous
creations. It would not be exaggerated to say that dipping into the unknown
horizon of human psychology and analysing that enigmatic sphere was his key
interests that have again and again been reflected through his splendid plays. However,
her female characters appearing as supporting and central characters in the
plays have been endowed with a rarely brilliant set of beauty, wit, humour and
of course, a blend of human and passionate quality. Without their presence, the
dramas may lose their savour. In a word, the heroines portrayed in
Shakespeare’s plays have been gifted with undying qualities.
