English

How do I define metadrama in Midsummer Night's Dream?

A Midsummer Night's Dream has one of the most humorous examples of metadrama to be found in all of Shakespeare's plays. It is a technique he often employed to great effect. In its simplest terms, metadrama is a play staged by characters that are actually in a play. In other words, it is a play within a play. Metadrama enables the playwright to comment upon his own play and society as well. We can clearly see this in the farcical presentation of "Pyramus and Thisbe" performed by the "rude mechanicals." There is social commentary laced throughout this scene (think about the "tongue tied officials" line by Theseus). There is also the juxtaposition between the various love partnerships in the play and the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe. The reduction of poor Pyramus and Thisbe to French farce makes a powerful comment on the helpless (and unavoidable) foolishness of human love. Metadrama enables the playwright to detach the audience from their involvement with the play in order to make the audience pay attention to a "message" or "lesson." I hope this helps and good luck!

Discuss the relevance of gender issues in following works - The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, Jane Eyre and King Lear.

My solution involves a discussion of all the texts listed and an explanation on how to sort out relevant issues in a text (please note that I do not give specific page numbers for the scenes I discuss since there are many different editions of these texts).

A text is constructed to display and unravel subject-matter in the world that confound humankind. Texts give voice to difficult issues like gender. Gender is a universal, timeless hotbed of tension and contention. Is it any wonder that professors want students to think about how these texts deal with masculinity and femininity.

In short, this is what the question wants: how are the masculine and feminine being represented in these texts. When you are confronted with a question such as this, try to think of the specific situations within the text that exemplify gender issues. What are gender issues? Think of women's rights, patriarchy and other terms that apply to the delineation and regulation of the sexes. For example in The Wife of Bath Prologue Alison makes a convincing argument against the anti-feminist literature that would have been very well known to Chaucer's readership. This is definitely a gender issue. Alison is attempting to redefine common attitudes propagated about women and supported with biblical authority. She seizes the arguments that are being used against her and turns them around to support her position. With this act of rhetorical genius, Alison proves that women are the intellectual, spiritual and sexual equals to men. Of course, Alison does not want equality but she wants superiority, and this can be worked into your argument as well.

Jane Eyre uses a similar tack to construct a definition of femininity and masculinity that defies Victorian convention. That is to say that the biblical authority that is used to undermine women and present an unattainable representation of masculinity is shown to be farcical and incorrect. The scene that tends to deconstruct popular representations of woman and manhood is when Jane is about to leave Rochester. Her determination, will and moral fortitude is supported with biblical authority. This is in direct contradiction to the Victorian ideal of the frail angel in the house that could never live without a man. Rochester does not solve problems with the ideological, rational mind that Victorian males laid claim to. He is very emotional and irrational. Certainly, keeping his mad wife in the attic attests to Rochester's unsound logic. He possesses qualities normally applied to the female: "Oh, Jane! My hope, my love, my life…" broke in anguish from his lips. Then came a deep strong sob. Rochester's masculinity is not in question with his square physique and his sobs are rendered more masculine with the adjectives strong and deep. I do not wish to reassign Rochester's masculinity but suggest that he does not conform to an ideal.

It is clear that questions about universal issues like gender abound all throughout these texts. If a text has males and females then debate and contention will be found. However, the issues are not always as clear and righteous as portrayed in Jane Eyre and The Wife of Bath (arguably Alison is not very wholesome but she is clearly not evil).

King Lear is an excellent example of inverting gender conventions in order to produce a grotesque and horrific effect. Lear's daughters, Goneril and Regan are examples of inverted femininity. They maim and murder instead of nurture and engender life. A discussion of the scenes where the sister's murder and torture others would provide more than enough evidence of gender relevance within this text. Shakespeare uses gender to great effect in King Lear in order to shock the audience and to this day the audience squirms while Gloucester has his eyes gouged out not only because of the visceral horror but because it is an act perpetuated by a female.

I hope this helps.