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Tiffany Barragan

The Natural Order of a Father and His Daughter:
An Ecofeminist Approach toFather-Daughter Relationships in Shakespeare

In many of William Shakespeare’s plays, parent and child relationships are extremely
significant, especially the relationship between a father and daughter. In particular, King Lear
(1605-1606), Much Ado About Nothing (1598-1599), The Merchant of Venice (c. 1596-1597),
and The Tempest (c. 1611) reflect the patriarchal ideologies of the Elizabethan period in the ways
that they determine the direction of the father and daughter relationship. The fathers establish
their patriarchy through the principle that men are related to women as culture is to nature,
following the ecofeminist thought that nature and women are similar in “reproductive function…
subordination… [and] possession” (Kakkonen 18). Lear from King Lear and Leonato from Much
Ado About Nothing both represent their daughters, Cordelia and Hero, in terms of nature in order
to solidify standards of father’s governance and daughter’s obedience. Although some
controversy occurs between fathers and their daughters, their relationships end in harmony in
that both fathers maintain authority by actively relating their daughters to nature. Conversely,
when a father hardly associates terms of nature with his daughter, such as Shylock with his
daughter Jessica inThe Merchant of Venice, and Prospero with his daughter Miranda in The
Tempest, the father’s authority over and relationship with his daughter become questionable. By
understanding how the ecofeminist theory fits with the father and daughter relationship in a few
of Shakespeare’s plays, readers can see that the amount of influence a father has or does not have
over his daughter is linked to how much the father relates his daughter to nature.