As You Like It (Vol. 34) | Susan Carlson (essay date 1991)
Susan Carlson (essay date 1991)
SOURCE: "Shakespeare's Rosalind: The Strong Woman in the Comic Tradition," in Women and Comedy: Rewriting the British Theatrical Tradition, The University of Michigan Press, 1991, pp. 43-67.
[In the following excerpt, Carlson observes the character of Rosalind in terms of gender roles, specifically as a temporary inversion of the patriarchal status quo in the play.]
Women in British comedy have often been illusory, weak, or—to the feminist, at least—simply objectionable. In Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, Kate's seeming capitulation plagues feminist critics who defend Shakespeare's women and creates problems for contemporary theater directors. In Jonson's plays, women either have minor roles (Volpone) or are most palatable when they are actually men in disguise (Epicoene). In Wycherley's cynical world, the women are present as either pure virtue or despicable weakness. And in...
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