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Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare
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15461 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1989 |
6,399 Words |
| Author
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Diane Dreher
Diane Dreher is professor of English and associate dean of
Arts and Sciences at Santa Clara University in California. Her
publications include Inner Gardening (Harper collins Quill,
2002), The Tao of Inner Peace (HarperCollins, 1981), The Tao
of Personal Leadership (HarperCollins, 1990), and Domination
and Defiance: Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare (University
of Kentucky Press, 1986). |
Psychologists are just beginning to understand the importance of the father-daughter relationship. Yet three centuries ago, Shakespeare portrayed it as a bond of deep significance, central to twenty-one of his plays from the early Two Gentlemen of Verona to his late play The Tempest. The father of two daughters himself, he explored this relationship throughout his comedies, tragedies, and romances.
Shakespeare's plays repeatedly depict the fathers at middle life, reluctant to release their daughters as they stand at the threshold of adult commitment in marriage. The passionate conflicts, fears, and insecurities, as each faces a crucial challenge of adulthood, cast new light on questions of moral development, male and female sex roles, and traditional and progressive social norms.
Each father-daughter pair undergoes a developmental struggle as certain as the seasons themselves. The fathers must exchange the power of manhood for a painful journey through autumnal decline to the wisdom of old age. Unwilling to face the specter of aging and death, most of them cling to their daughters, demanding that they remain obedient children to confirm their own illusions of masculine potency and control. At the same time, the daughters blossom into passionate young womanhood, their awakening sexuality creating a powerful antithesis to their fathers demands. The result is a tempestuous confrontation between the bitter chill of life's winter and the ardor of young love, two conflicting currents that reveal our deepest hopes and fears. Shakespeare's fathers and daughters reveal to us the eternal drama of identity, exploring the challenges and crises of adult development.
Stages of life in the Renaissance
The concept of life as a series of passages with lessons, conflicts, even a "midlife crisis," was not unknown to Shakespeare. Renaissance theologians described life as a pilgrimage to spiritual maturity with several distinct stages. Many followed Saint Augustine, who believed people fell from childhood into a state of misery, experiencing a dark night of the soul until finally redeemed by a dramatic conversion to grace. Others saw life's journey as a process of spiritual alchemy in which the soul was painfully broken down to reconcile opposing elements, then "transmuted" into the state of grace. Many Renaissance concepts anticipated modern theories of psychological development. Shakespeare's Jaques describes the seven ages of man in As You Like It, while in our time Erik Erikson divided life into eight developmental stages. Prospero affirms
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