FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN THE STATE IN MUSTAPHA AND MACBETH: A HEGELIAN APPROACH

Abstract

Queen
 Elizabeth’s reign informs dramatists to deal with the themes of power and
 politics in this era, since the sovereign’s gender is one of the fundamental
 social and political considerations of Elizabethan period. The English display
 an ambivalent reaction to the idea of woman ruler, as a ruler is always
 identified with masculinity. Queen Elizabeth’s reign arouses a vague anxiety
 among the English people who perceive an inherent danger within female rule. In
 this context, this study aims to analyze perception of inherent danger within female
 rule in Fulke Greville’s Mustapha
 (1594) and W. Shakespeare’s Macbeth
 (1606) by focusing on the representation of female participation in state
 affairs in the light of Hegel’s construction of the state. According to Hegel,
 nature assigns man to the state, and woman to the family; man maintains his
 power in public affairs while the woman is expected to fulfill the
 responsibility of training children to be citizens of the state rather than
 participating in public affairs. In Mustapha,
 Greville sets his play in the Ottoman state and depicts Rossa (Hurrem Sultan)
 as an ambitious, manipulative, and intriguing character. Similarly in Macbeth, Shakespeare stages Lady Macbeth
 as a power-hungry and intriguing character. Rossa (Hurrem Sultan) and Lady Macbeth’s
 preference of political to familial is depicted as unnatural by their nature
 that results in disorder for the state. This study aims to demonstrate that Greville
 and Shakespeare represent female participation in the state as a disruptive
 force in the light of Hegel’s construction of the state.