Question: The beginning of Act2 scene 1 Mamillus exchanges ideas about women with his mother and ladies in waiting. How might his conversation evoke larger social arguments about men and women in Shakespearean culture?
In the Winter’s Tale Act 2 scene1 looks at the character Mamillus portraying his views of women to his mother and her Ladies in waiting. This conversation may evoke social arguments of women being judged differently to the idea members of Shakespearean society would disagree with his sentiments. The Shakespearean society viewed women as the weaker sex and men were always the ones in the right. They saw Beauty as a mask and the nature of women to be unrefined as men.
Mamillus sees that women should be judged based on their beauty and nature. However to Shakespearean societal views women should be judged on their actions and the society’s view of them. In Shakespeare’s era women were expected to be submissive to the men at all times no matter the male’s age. Mamillus judges women based on his mother and Ladies in waiting. He sees them as being different in the society in the fact they are bolder than and not as submissive as the ordinary woman. Due to this fact he bases his judgement on what he sees through his mother and her ladies- in –waiting and what he is taught by his father. Furthermore he puts his power as a boy and decides to judge on beauty and their nature. As it is shown in the scene as he chooses his maid by her beauty and her treatment of him. Society would argue that women are not to be judged by their beauty.
It can be said that beauty is used by women as a mask to cover whatever crimes such as adultery that they commit. Beauty according to a saying “is in the eyes of the beholder” which is exactly what Shakespearean culture based their lifestyle upon. It was forever strife for women to attain what was termed as beauty for that era. In the aspect off cuckoldry men were always seen as the victim due to the fact of the women being the weaker sex in society’s eyes are seen as the Eves of society. Eve’s down fall in the creation was always seen as woman’s demise. Women being the weaker sex were prone to subdue to desires and trickery to which men fall prey because of what is termed as “Beauty”. Mamillus displays his like for physical beauty when he judges his ladies in waiting upon their eyebrows. Society would state clearly do not judge a book by its cover as women were forever deceivers.
For a woman to treat a boy or man as a baby was an insult, she should not assert herself in any form or even aspire to be better than the man. The nature of a woman was to be gentle and submissive at all times. Mamillus tells a lady in waiting he does not like her because she will kiss him too hard and talk to him as a baby. Thus he judges her on her nature of being overly affectionate as she knows him from a baby. This in most cases is within a woman’s nature to keep close and show affection for a small child. Mamillus to this effect now portrays societal views of what a woman ought to do. He chooses the other maid because she treats him society’s view of the perfect eyebrow for a woman the object of beauty. Society would agree to the point of her beauty however, based on the other lady in waiting treatment of the prince they would say she has no right to treat him as such because she should know her place in society which is below the male.
In conclusion it is seen that upon the views of Prince Mamillus on women it can be said that society would argue against his views strongly. They would state that beauty and Nature are not what defines a woman, it is her actions. Beauty is only a mask to cover the true nature of women which is to be deceivers so to that extent women are judged by what they display in the eyes of the public and also the standards set such as them being submissive to men who are the higher beings over them.
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