Shakespeare lovers gathered in BookHampton's East Hampton store on Saturday to welcome CUNY professor Mario DeGangi as he discussed the roles of women in Shakespeare's plays. DeGangi divided his talk into three archetypes of women featured in Shakespeare's works: maids, wives, and widows.
Reading selections from plays we all know and love, including Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and The Taming of the Shrew, DeGangi showed the audience just how sympathetic Shakespeare was to women and how he recognized the constraints of the traditional trajectory of women's lives. He also touched on Shakespeare's empathy for women whose lives were outside Elizabethan expectations, including witches, nuns, and prostitutes.
DeGangi accompanied his lecture with illustrated handouts depicting fascinating aspects of women's lives and cntemporary attitudes and practices. His scholarly expertise, combined with his dramatic skills as a reader of Shakespeare made for a wonderful evening and led to a lively discussion.
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Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is truly a heroine for every age, and the newest film version which is receiving rave reviews, has put her in the spotlight again. BookHampton is especially thrilled to have Carole Stone, Professor of 19th Century literature and a well-recognized authority on the Bronté sisters, join us at the next BookHampton Winter Lecture on Saturday, March 19 at 5:00pm. The topic will be: "The Brontës: The Female Legacy of the Sisters." We hope you'll be there!
