FATHER FIGURES IN SELECTED SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS

Abstract

Shakespeare and his works are widely analyzed and studied, however, you can always find something to discuss about or study, since Shakespeare’s works are always challenging and attractive. This time my focus is on the father figures that appear in some of his greatest works, like King Hamlet and Polonius in Hamlet, Barbantio in Othello, Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and Gloucester in King Lear, Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, etc. Actually, this paper aims to give an insight and compare the major characters as fathers. It covers an analysis of father-son relationship and the father-daughter relationship, fathers’ attitude towards their children, the influence they have in the life of their children, their love and authority, expectations, their image in the eyes of their children and so on. Each and every one of these characters has a specific relationship with their child; they are all authoritative, some more and some less, they are proud and they influence their children’s lives by accepting their decisions or not, by requesting very important and delicate tasks from them, by deciding themselves for their children, etc. Focusing on the issue of authority, power and ownership, the article aims at showing how stereotypical social and gender roles resonate with various political and social contexts of power. However, the paper will also analyze the dreams, duty, as well as defiance children have, show or express towards their fathers. A special importance in this paper is given to the relationships between fathers and daughters, having in mind the social position women had at that time, the role they had in their families etc. In these relationships, it is clearly that there is more likely to find a tyrannical possessiveness in excess of normal parental affection in the father's behaviour—or, as the case may be, a capriciousness, coldness, or disloyalty unwarranted by the daughter's exemplary conduct, which in fact results in the creation or not of a father figure in these plays. Namely, it is clear that Shakespeare depicted the struggle and entanglement of a father character who realizes the lonely emptiness he has to face after fulfilling the happiness of his child. As I mentioned, no matter the uniqueness of these relationships that are presented between parents and children, we can find some similarities as well, as many of the plays depict the same situations but with similar circumstances. Consequently, I hope that this paper will be just a small contribution in the field of literature and that future scholars will find it useful in their further studies and analysis of Shakespeare’s works, which is really a never-ending ‘struggle.’