For my potential project, I want to look at Shakespeare’s plays and how men and women use power differently.  I know we haven’t looked at feminist theory yet, but its still something I want to use.  I have noticed in many of Shakespeare’s plays, men tend to show their power through their actions while women tend to show their power through words.  Like how in the Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio shows his power over Katherine by forcing her into marriage, but Katherine shows her power over Petruchio by mocking him.  Or how in Richard III, Queen Margaret, who is supposed to be a very powerful figure, has to show her power over Richard by verbally cursing him multiple times, while Richard just murders people.  My topic is the how gender in Shakespeare’s plays.  My question is how gender affects the way the characters show that power.  My response is that gender causes male and female characters to show power differently because of their gender.  A critical article that I could potentially look at is “Silence, Speech and Gender in Shakespeare’s Othello: A Presentist, Palestinian Perspective” by Bilal M.T. Hamamra.  It looks at the different ways that male and female characters speak in Shakespeare’s Othello and could really help me draw a distinction between the speech and actions of the characters in that specific play.

Bilal M.T. Hamamra. “Silence, Speech and Gender in Shakespeare’s Othello: A Presentist, Palestinian Perspective.” International Journal of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies, no. 4, 2015, p. 1. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.107b55b5158489cbcfbde6fd2f00246&site=eds-live.

Found with OneSearch from the Washington College Library and Academic Technology page.