UDK 821.111-2.09 Shakespeare W.

Mothers and Mother Figures in Shakesperean Tragedy in the Social and Psychological Context of the Early Modern Period
 

Summary: The paper deals with the role of women as mothers in England in the early modern period, their social and psychological role within the family and how this corresponds with the characters of mothers and mother figures in some of Shakespeare’s tragedies (Hamlet, Macbeth, Coriolanus). Although women and the values connected with them were despised in the early modern period, mothers and mother figures in some tragedies come across as characters of frightening power.