As seen in the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and in the play, King Lear by William Shakespeare, there are various remarks about behavior and attitude that are considered to be appropriate based on their gender. As a result, these remarks bring attention to the status, support, and possibilities they may receive, which may result in a positive or negative possibility of men and women. This can be seen in King Lear with numerous characters like the three daughters of Lear: Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan, Albany, and King Lear himself. In Things Fall Apart, this is seen with Okonkwo, Uzowulu, and Nwoye. Characters from both pieces of work expose how remarks about behavior and attitude result in reward or punishment.
Seen in Shakespeare's play King Lear, it is set in a patriarchal society where there is male dominance over the country. As a king, Lear is portrayed to be a powerful figure who commands those around him and expects obedience. He challenges the traditional gender roles and proposes that when women are given a position of power, failure is certain. Seen with his three daughters, Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan, he demands them to tell him how much they love him, and the winner would obtain the largest bounty. Goneril and Regan flatter Lear but Cordelia refuses. Both Goneril and Regan display loyalty and obedience to their father but not to their husbands. Cordelia, however, is loyal to herself by being honest to her father as she says, “You have begot me, bred me, loved me … sure I shall never marry like my sisters, (To love my father all)” (1.1.106-115) meaning he raised and loved her, and in return returning she would obey, love, and honor him. Also, she questions the love her sisters have for their husbands because if they only love their father, then do they not love their husbands? She tells Lear that when she gets married, she wouldn’t be like her sisters to only love her father, but to give half of her love and half of her sense of duty to her husband which led her to be banished and to not be his daughter. Goneril and Regan treat Lear with disrespect whereas Cordelia cares for Lear even after being banished. She sent out a search party when he ran from his caretaker and took care of Lear. Goneril and Regan are portrayed to be villains because they both go after Lear. Goneril instructs Oswald to be rude to Lear in Act 1 scene 3, whereas Regan insists the gates of Glouster’s castle to be locked against him despite the storm in Act 2 scene 4. When they are given power, they misused it, taking advantage of it whereas Cordelia had no power, leaving her with nothing. We see how Goneril and Regan break gender stereotypes through the play whereas Cordelia is a stereotypical woman who holds predictable values. In addition, when Goneril reduces Lear’s knights, Lear accused her of stripping away his masculinity because he feels he is losing authority. It isn’t expected for men to express their emotions but, Lear reveals a feminine side to men in Act 4 scene 6 when he says “No seconds? All myself? Why, this would make a man of salt, To use his eyes for garden waterpots, Ay, and laying autumns dust.” meaning that for him to be left alone would make any man cry, making him look weak. Goneril’s husband, Albany, also reveals a feminine side to men as he failed to defend his country when France invades Britain but instead, acts emotionally rather than physically. To add on, Goneril insults his manhood as she says “Marry, your manhood! Mew!” (4.2.83) suggesting that Albany isn’t acting like a man. She tends to rise to the occasion of being the man of the house as seen in Act 4 scene 2 as she says “I must change names at home and give distaff into my husband’s hands” meaning she would take charge of the household and she would wear the pants while her husband plays the housewife. We see how gender roles are switched in King Lear so that female characters like Regan and Goneril possess masculine traits whereas men like Albany and Lear reveal feminine traits.
Seen in Things Fall Apart, life in Igbo isn’t structed on the loyalty of one another, but on gender roles. In Igbo, “a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father.” (5) Okonkwo is first introduced, he is portrayed as a successful man because of his achievements like defeating Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling contest whereas his father, Unoka, is seen to be unsuccessful and has to repay the debt he owes. He is given the name agbala which translates to be a man without a title, or an old woman. When Unoka died, his stomach and limbs swelled up meaning he lived a lousy life, resulting in him to be left in the Evil Forest to rot and die because he was not allowed to die in the house. Compared to Unoka who is seen as a coward who dislikes war because he couldn’t bear the sight of blood, his son Okonkwo was a “man of action” who could bear the sight of war, portraying himself to be seen as manly. He never showed any emotion unless it was anger because showing affection meant showing weakness, “the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.” (24) He dominates his wives and children and is seen to be a short-tempered man. For example, he violated the Week of Peace when he beats his youngest wife, Ojiugo, because she didn’t return home early enough from her friend’s house to prepare the afternoon meal and feed them. Although it wasn’t a surprise he would beat his wife, it was frowned upon to do it on the Week of Peace, displaying his short temper. Another example is when he beats and shoots a gun at his second wife, Ekwefi, because she took leaves from his banana plant to wrap food for the Feast of the New Yam. He views this as disrespect. To add on, he participates in murdering Ikemefuna because he believes it would show a sign of weakness if he didn’t. The murder of Ikemefuna led, Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, to have less respect for his father similarly with Lear towards Cordelia when she doesn’t express her love for him. Both Cordelia and Nwoye go against their expected behavior whereas Lear and Okonkwo do things, so they would benefit. Nwoye converts to Christianity as a way to escape from his father but his betrayal to convert outraged Okonkwo. Throughout the story, we see the violent actions of Okonkwo but when he notices the clan became weak and no longer fights their enemies, he hung himself because he didn’t want to take part of a clan that was seen to be weak and didn’t want to be like his father, a disgrace to his clan. He followed one passion which was “to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.” (9) In the trial, that is dominated by men, we see how women are treated lesser than men. Uzowulu is accused by his wife and brothers of beating her. The Evil Forest response was “Go to your in-laws with a pot of wine and beg your wife to return to you. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman.” (82) meaning he must give gifts to his in-laws, beg for his wife’s forgiveness and that he shouldn’t beat his wife again when she returns. We see how Uzowulu’s action towards his wife is frowned upon but didn’t receive immediate consequence for his actions. Women are controlled and ruled over whereas men are allowed to behave however they want.
Both the novel Things Fall Apart and the play King Lear express behavior that are considered to be appropriate depending on their gender. These actions display their status to their society that result in a positive or negative result of men and women. Seen in King Lear, we see how gender stereotypes are evident similarly to Things Fall Apart.