Chapter summaries By Any Other Name Jodi Picoult

Chapter 3: Epigraph – Voices of Defiance

Spoiler Notice

This chapter contains no narrative plot or character actions; it is an epigraph page. The quotations hint at the novel’s central themes but do not reveal any story events. Continue reading without fear of spoilers.

Summary

Chapter 3 is a single page collecting five quotations from Shakespeare plays, each spoken by a female character. Lady Macbeth begs spirits to “unsex me here” so she can commit murder. Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing wishes she were a man so she could “eat his heart in the marketplace.” Isabella in Measure for Measure laments that if she told the truth, no one would believe her. Katherine from The Taming of the Shrew declares her tongue will speak her anger or her heart will break. Finally, Emilia in Othello insists that wives “have sense like” their husbands. Together, the lines form a chorus of female frustration, ambition, and demand for recognition.

Key Events

  • The epigraph presents five Shakespearean quotations in sequence.
  • No story action occurs in this chapter; the “event” is the thematic invitation to the reader to hear women characters who rebel against patriarchal silence.

Character Development

No characters are introduced or developed in this chapter. Instead, the quoted females—Lady Macbeth, Beatrice, Isabella, Katherine, and Emilia—echo the inner conflicts the novel’s dual protagonists (Emilia Bassano in the 16th century and a contemporary playwright) will confront. Their voices foreshadow a struggle between desire and enforced gender roles, echoing through the timelines.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Gender and power – Lady Macbeth’s “unsex me” plea links ambition with a violent rejection of femininity.
  • Silencing and testimony – Isabella’s fear that no one will believe her captures the erasure of women’s truth.
  • Female rage – Beatrice’s marketplace revenge fantasy and Katherine’s threat that a concealed heart will break both convert suppressed anger into urgent speech.
  • Equality of souls – Emilia’s reminder that wives have senses like men dismantles the double standard and asserts women’s equal humanity.
  • The tongue as weapon – Katherine’s line ties the act of speaking to emotional survival, a motif that will recur in the novel’s struggle for women’s literary voices.

Why This Chapter Matters

Before any story unfolds, this epigraph places the reader inside a conversation about women who refuse to be quiet. By borrowing the words of Shakespeare’s own female characters, Picoult signals that the novel will question who gets to speak—and be heard—both on the Renaissance stage and in the modern literary world. It primes the reader to listen for echoes of Lady Macbeth, Beatrice, and the others in the lives of Emilia Bassano and her contemporary counterpart, linking centuries of silenced anger and ambition.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. How does Lady Macbeth’s plea “unsex me here” connect to the novel’s exploration of gender and power?
    The plea implies that to seize power, a woman must strip away the traits her society labels feminine—tenderness, obedience, moral restraint. In By Any Other Name, both the 16th-century poet and the modern writer confront systems that denigrate their creative ambition until they hide or transcend their gendered identity. The epigraph thus frames ambition as a battlefield where femininity is seen as an obstacle.

  2. What does Emilia’s statement “Let husbands know / Their wives have sense like them” reveal about the novel’s perspective on marriage and equality?
    Emilia attacks the double standard that imagines wives as passionless while husbands are free to feel desire and jealousy. The novel’s dual narratives will test this insight: in the historical timeline, Emilia Bassano navigates an unequal marriage and a society that denies women’s intellectual and sensual life; in the present, the playwright confronts similar biases. The quote insists that women’s interior lives are as rich and valid as men’s.

  3. Why do you think Picoult chose quotations from female characters scattered across different plays?
    The variety demonstrates that the woman’s voice of protest is not an isolated anomaly in Shakespeare’s canon—it appears in tragedy, comedy, and problem play alike, yet it is often overlooked or punished. By gathering these voices, the epigraph hints that the novel will recover those silenced perspectives and ask what happens when a woman dares to write under—or instead of—a man’s name.

Navigation

← Previous Chapter (Chapter 2) | Book Hub | Next Chapter (Chapter 4) →