By Amy Engle

What’s Up with the Bard’sMissing Mothers?

Let’s Brainstorm!How many Shakespeare plays can

you think of that have mothers?How many have fathers/father-

figures?Why do you think there is such a

drastic difference?

Plays with MothersAll’s Well That Ends

Well Antony and Cleopatra The Comedy of Errors Coriolanus Cymbeline  Hamlet Henry VHenry VI, part one Henry VI, part two Henry VI, part three

King John Macbeth Merry Wives of

Windsor Pericles, Prince of Tyre Richard II Richard III       Romeo and Juliet Titus Andronicus The Winter’s Tale

Let’s Look at the FactsShakespeare wrote around 40 playsOf those 40, about half of those

have mothersOnly 3 of Shakespeare’s plays have

a significant mother character:Gertrude in “Hamlet”The Duchess of York in “Richard III”

Volumnia in “Coriolanus”

Mother/Son RelationshipsMothers use sons to accomplish

their own endsNegative/Dysfunctional

NeglectfulColdCruel

But Why?Shakespeare possibly had

problems with his motherHe wanted to demonstrate male

dominance over womenHe was simply depicting every-day

lifeFathers are more necessary for

certain plots

Moms in Today’s MediaThink about the movies and novels

that are out today, or while you were growing up (Disney).

Is there significant number of missing mothers in the media?

Why/why not?What kind of impact does that make?When there are mother characters,

how are they depicted?

Works CitedArehart-Treichel, Joan. Nurturing an

Alien Concept for Shakespeare’s Mothers. 18, Aug., 1996. Web. 21 Nov., 2010.

Jensen, Michael P. Shakespeare’s Missing Mothers. 2009. Web. 21 Nov., 2010.

Tsujimot, Aileen Miyuki. Where are the Mothers? 1997. Web. 21 Nov., 2010.