User:Pietrzak.j/Bird Imagery in Shakespeare

Bird Imagery as Evidence of Shakespeare's Sole Authorship
The Shakespeare authorship question has been a topic of interest in English literature for centuries. While many scholars believe that William Shakespeare was, in fact, Shakespeare, others believe his works were written by either a group of authors or an individual author other than Shakespeare.

Introduction
While many critics doubt Shakespeare’s authorship of his plays and poems, the consistent use of particular imagery in many of Shakespeare’s works supports the theory that they were written by an individual author and not a group of authors. While this is not evidence that Shakespeare himself wrote the plays, it does support the claim that the works were written by an individual author because of their consistency. Throughout his work, Shakespeare uses animal imagery to describe a characters’ personality. Through the use of birds, lambs, wolves, sheep, dogs and horses, Shakespeare highlights the morality, goodness, and corruption of all his characters. In particular, bird imagery is often used to illustrate feminist thought, a topic of many Shakespeare plays. Shakespeare uses bird imagery in The Rape of Lucrece, Venus and Adonis and Romeo and Juliet to highlight innocence and purity in societies that follow traditional gender roles. Scholar Caroline Spurgeon notes that “His bird images are remarkable for the intense feeling they reveal for the trapped, limed or snared bird, which rouses in him a passion of pity and sympathy”. Through the use of birds to highlight innocence and purity, Shakespeare introduces feminist thought by characterizing women as weakened birds oppressed by the male societies by which they are surrounded.

The Rape of Lucrece
In The Rape of Lucrece, Shakespeare uses bird imagery to vilify Tarquin and victimize Lucrece through her moaning during the rape. This is then juxtaposed against the bird’s song. “The little birds that tune their morning’ joy / Make her moans mad with their sweet melody / for mirth doth search the bottom to annoy / Sad souls are slain in merry company” (1107-1110). Ultimately, Shakespeare uses bird imagery in order to characterize that Lucrece’s naivety is a result of a society that has bred her to be a victim. “This earthly saint, adored by this devil /Little suspecteth the false worshiper/ For unstained thoughts do seldom dream on evil/Birds never lim’d no secret bushes fear” (85-90)

Venus and Adonis
Venus and Adonis highlights the destruction of women when traditional gender roles are reversed. Venus is deceived through her own lust and pathetic hunt for Adonis, which is paralleled by his hunt for a boar. Her lust is blind to the reality of her eventual demise. Venus’ deceit is evident when Shakespeare says, “Even so poor birds, deciev’d with painted grapes / Do surfeit by the eye and pine the maw / even so she languishes in her mishaps / As those poor birds that helpless berries saw” (601-605). Venus is compared to a deceived bird, lusting for something that is false and incomplete. Her ignorance towards Adonis’ lack of affection for her is what leaves her ultimately damaged at the end of the poem; much like Lucrece’s innocence leaves her damaged/devastated at the end of The Rape of Lucrece. Through comparing women to birds that have been devastated, Shakespeare uses bird imagery to characterize that women are beautiful and yet innocent and ignorant to the realities and corruption from the societies around them. This is a direct result of a male society that has raised them to be that way.

Romeo and Juliet
Bird imagery to promote feminism is further exampled in Romeo and Juliet, where the idea of being a trapped bird is perceived in a positive way and not in a negative manner as usual. This is evident when Juliet uses bird imagery to emphasize how she wants to keep Romeo close to her in a loving and passionate way, and Romeo uses bird metaphors to emphasize how he wishes to be hers. Juliet says, “Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone-/And yet no farther than a wanton’s bird / that lets it hop a little from his hand / like a poor prisoner in his twisted gives” (I.ii.176-179). Romeo responds by saying “I would I were thy bird” (II.ii.180). They both long for one another, the entrapment that a “caged” bird would feel is something they long for instead of something they want to break away from. Their longing to be caged birds together is a result of their romance, innocence and youth.

Bird Imagery as feminist thought
Through the bird imagery, Shakespeare characterizes Juliet as a strong female character while making a commentary on society. Her devastating end is a result of her purity and innocence, particularly by the fault of Romeo, who prematurely kills himself and ruins an otherwise brilliant plan only moments before Juliet awakes. Furthermore, Juliet’s hands are made masculine and are seen as large compared to the little bird (Romeo) that the hand wishes to hold. Regardless of portraying her as strong, Shakespeare leaves Juliet ultimately devastated at the end of the play. Although female characters can be superior to men, their superiority and strength is useless in a society that is intolerant of them. As mentioned earlier, Spurgeon notes that Shakespeare often uses the imagery of a trapped bird in order to “arouse” sympathy from the reader. Through sympathizing with the victim or innocent bird, the reader is then able to further demonize and bestialize the predator, attributing human morale to a situation that is purely natural in real life. This is clearly present in Venus and Adonis and Romeo and Juliet. In both cases the reader sympathizes with the characters, and both characters are “trapped” in one way or another by love. While the love stories of these four characters seem very different at first, for one is forbidden love and one is unrequited love, they are both characterized through similar imagery, and they both end similarly as well: in tragedy. Shakespeare here is not criticizing the morale of the characters but that of a society that is unable to allow them to be together. Adonis is uninterested in Venus as he pursues his own “manly” pleasures while the conformity of family rivalries destroys the lives of Romeo and Juliet.

Conclusion
Shakespeare’s use of bird imagery throughout almost all of his work for some pedagogical purpose is key in understanding that Shakespeare’s works were written by one sole author and not a group of authors. The hidden agenda and meaning throughout his imagery is consistent throughout all of his plays and poems suggesting further proof of individual authorship. While this does not prove that Shakespeare was ultimately “Shakespeare”, it does disbar the theory of multiple authors.