BASTARD

The word bastard is considered as a taboo word in our culture. It is also being labeled as a foul word. The meaning of bastard is a person born of an unmarried parents and long time ago, the law of England states that the baby who is born of unmarried parents must be called as bastard. But now it is not practiced anymore. In King Lear by Shakespeare, Edmund the illegitimate son of Gloucester is called as bastard and in some scene of the play, he is referred as bastard without name being mentioned. The idea of illegitimate or unnatural which differs from natural is considered as evil. All these showing that how women were being downgraded during the Elizabethan period because the word bastard is not insulting that person but obviously the mother. The role of woman during that period is so limited or nearly come to nothing at all. They are not allowed to take a part in a play but their roles are acted out by a boy or a young man. The list of characters for example in King Lear also the same as the hierarchy showing that the three daughters of King Lear are put last after the maid. All these prove that women are not being taken very seriously at that time.