A Mulher e o silêncio nas peças de Shakespeare

Abstract

The dialectics between silence and language is often used to define the dramatic relation between characters in a play. The silence of fem ale characters in some plays by Shakespeare reflects the expectations of the 16th. - century society about gender roles and behaviour. Ophelia's and Cordelia's silence in Hamlet and King Lear, respectively, illustrate the absence ofpositive alternatives for women in patriarchal society, and show the consequences of the oppressive and repressive values that characterize the universe of Shakespeare's tragedies