Enter the Body

McCullough, Joy. Enter the Body. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9780593406755.

Many of the female characters in Shakespeare's plays experience personal tragedies. Ophelia, from Hamlet, is a young woman driven to madness and ultimately death by the tragic events surrounding her father's murder and her forbidden love for Hamlet. Juliet, from Romeo and Juliet, is a young woman whose passionate love for Romeo leads to her untimely death in a desperate attempt to escape a family feud. Cordelia, the youngest daughter of King Lear, is banished for her honest and unwavering love for her father, ultimately sacrificing herself to save him. Lavinia, from Titus Andronicus, suffers horrific sexual violence and mutilation, ultimately seeking revenge against her abusers.

These four victims of Shakespeare's imagination meet in the space beneath a stage's trapdoor as a support group. Tragically impacted by the patriarchal narratives of their plays, these young women share their experiences and seek to reclaim their stories while offering each other solace and understanding. 

While the concept is intriguing, the execution has some shortcomings. The first half feels slow, and the dialogue-driven format occasionally overshadows the poetic storytelling. However, the second half strengthens, with compelling retellings from Juliet, Ophelia, and particularly Cordelia. The author's poetic voice is well-suited to this narrative.

However, the book falters in its treatment of Lavinia, whose silence and exclusion undermine the central theme of female empowerment. Additionally, Juliet is unfairly portrayed as a punching bag by the other characters. While the book sparks important discussions about female agency in Shakespeare, it lacks a clear and well-defined critical framework, leaving its arguments feeling somewhat aimless and underdeveloped.

Who Cooked the Last Supper? The Women's History of the World

Miles, Rosalind. Who Cooked the Last Supper? The Women's History of the World. 2001. 352p. ISBN 9780609806951.

When you look at the history of the world, you would be forgiven to think that men make up the overwhelming majority of the population. After all, most of the names mentioned in history books are males, and those of women are generally just a passing thought. Yet, women have always been there as well as men, and they have influenced the course of history just as men did. Women shaped the world we now live in, even though men have successfully manage to erase the powerful roles that women played in the development of human societies.

Drawn from archeological and ethnographic records, Who Cooked the Last Supper explains how women were relegated from their position of power and authority through a concerted series of actions conducted by males over the centuries. It recounts the struggles that women have engaged in to restore their basic rights as human beings and to be able to make all of the decisions concerning their own lives. Women are not second class citizens, even though our society has given them that role. 

Part political treatise, part feminist manifesto, and part realignment of historical realities, Who Cooked the Last Supper will generate many questions for the readers, and lead to a better understanding o f the challenges women face, as well as steps that can be taken to overcome them or, as men, to help take apart the structures that have been imposed on them.