Comparison of Comparable Female Characters, Essay Example

The three plays namely Spanish tragedy, Tamburline and The Revenger are old literary works of the past centuries. The themes in all the play vary from violence; to role of women in the society but the strength of female characters remain the same across the three plays. All the female protagonists like Bel-Imperia, vindice, and Olympia, the wife to the captain are portrayed as domineering women. The authors wanted to use these characters to show how powerful women can be in the society. The plays examine how the female characters apply their wit to overcome problems in the society and perpetuate their influence.

The situation is the same when comes to revenge play. The main character by Kyd, although the play is littered with mad scenes, several gory scenes and a vengeful ghost. Castiza, Vindice’s sister finds herself an object of desire from men who wish to exploit her sexually. Her experiences in the play illustrate the suffering of women. The fact that she has moral uprightness and is a virgin makes her desirable since she posses a rare quality. Elizabethan resonates with Bel-Imperia in that they both later do not appear like victims in all traumatic experiences that seemed to follow them. The author Thomas Kyd wanted to portray her as a very strong woman. In the revenge tragedy, Gratiana, who is the female protagonist secretly, pulls the strings. She influences most of her son’s decisions. She is quite active behind the scenes; the plot mostly rotates around her. This is quiet similar in Christopher Marlowe’s play Tamburlaine. The plot in this play is about power, religion and the motive of overreaching among other issues. The female characters notably the wife to the captain of Balsera appears resigned but she is a very shrewd character. Her influence has a bearing to all decisions made by the captain. The women here just like in the first two plays are very active in decision-making. Although the author used male characters to show what men are capable of achieving in the society, women were also well represented in their roles. In particular, a female character appears very courageous among her pears. She constantly urges on her colleagues to be more proactive in the society and take part in the things that are mostly regarded as male dominated.

Women in all these plays come out strongly and want play active roles in society. In the Spanish tragedy, Bel-Imperia is presented as a very strong woman. She does not easily become devastated. She is a strong woman contrary to a popular believe that women are a weaker sex. This strong character helps her to overcome many challenges in her life. She does not get discouraged, she solders on strongly with vigor until eventually she succeeds in life. The same spirit is captured in the revenge tragedy. The woman by the name vindice is a very determined woman. She is not easily intimidated in life.

Conclusion

All the female characters in the three plays are portrayed as very strong people. The authors wanted to use their skills in play writing to explain how strong women are in the society. All the characters have been portrayed as strong individuals in various aspects. The plays show women as a major component in the society, even though men are presumed as strong and always on top of things. The plays highlighted the various ways in which woman act in the society.

References

Boyce, F & Middleton, T. (Producers) Alex Cox (Director). (2004). Revengers Tragedy. Fantoma: San Francisco

Smalley, W. (1963). Five plays by Langston Hughes. Indiana University Press: Oakland.

Kyd, T. (2007). The Spanish Tragedy. Book jungle: