Essay on Gender Stereotypes in the Merchant of Venice

Female gender roles have greatly changed from now and the sixteen hundreds when Shakespeare wrote the popular play Much Ado About Nothing. Women were raised to believe they were inferior to men. Women were taught that men should be the one who brings in money and women should stay home to clean and bare children. Also women were given no choice in who they were to marry or when. Over hundreds of years women realized that they were just as good as men and that they should be treated equally. This essay will cover the analysis of the women’s gender roles in the play Much Ado About Nothing, showing the analysis of Beatrice not following any stereotypes, Hero following all of the stereotypes, and Margaret not getting the same stereotypes as other women because she is a servant.

In William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, gender roles are explored, culminating in two distinct scenes of cross-dressing. The men of Elizabethan society enjoy a prominent status based solely on gender, to which women are clearly outsiders. This is particularly evident in Jessica’s newfound freedom when dressed as a pageboy in Act 2 and Portia’s and Nerissa’s immediate elevation in social standing when they take on male personas in Act 4. Through these two instances of cross-dressing, Shakespeare presents class not in terms of socioeconomic status but in the benefits of being male. Although the three women all partake in cross-dressing as a means of undermining patriarchal constraint, the consequences vary as there are several

    Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello is an unfortunate example of gender bias, of sexism which takes advantage of women. The three women characters in the drama are all, in their own ways, victims of men’s skewed attitudes regarding women. Let us delve into this topic in this essay.

Double standards abounded in William Shakespeare’s world, just as they do in the modern world. To argue against the continued existence of double standards, specifically those based on the dichotomy of masculine and feminine, is to argue against empirical evidence, e.g. in the US, in 2012, women earned 77% of men’s wages (DeNavas-Walt). To argue against historical double standards is to argue against the picture painted by Shakespeare’s works. Othello and Twelfth Night, in particular, capture and present historical double standards through their portrayal of attitudes regarding men, women, and the relationships between them.

A recurring event in the play was the women disguising themselves as men. This is symbolic of the suppression of the women by their male counterparts. They had to mask their true abilities under the guise of men. There was no way in Elizabethan society for a woman to be successful in any field other than wifehood or motherhood. In Act II, Jessica was finally rebelling against the strict rules of Shylock. She was taking extreme measures in order to elope with Lorenzo.

Gender stereotypes are a socially constructed re-presentation of how men and women should behave in society. The issue of gender has become a debatable topic in today’s society William Shakespeare’s dramatic tragedy, Othello clearly depicts the gender stereotypes in the Elizabethan age. There have been a thousand and one essays about the inequality women face, yet no one ever writes about the roles men are advertently forced to play in the patriarchal society. Gender stereotypes against men often occur; as they are forced to evaluate themselves based on society’s views of success, their authority and dignity are based on a woman’s honor and fathers have the role of finding the perfect partner for their daughters.

In order to understand the agency of women in these plays, it is also important to consider the social context in which the plays were written. Although the reign of Queen Elizabeth I provided the opportunity for the increase of women’s rights, there was still much progress to be made. In fact, women were often very reliant on the means of either their fathers or their husbands. Although women did have access to education, it was not education as we understand it

Shakespeare is known for his unjust portrayal of women in his arts. Women are usually sub characters who as they might bring importance to the story they are repressed by the male characters within the play. Not only does Shakespeare improperly portray the strength of women he also is using the stereotypical characteristics of women to show “weakness” within the male characters of the play. In the play “Julius Caesar” Shakespeare’s sexist ideas were not an attempt to keep the story with its historical times, his degrading of women was what he himself witnessed within the Elizabethan era.

Throughout history, humans have held strong beliefs about the appropriate roles of women in society. In Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, the antagonistic attitude towards those who ignore their role in society is a depiction of jealousy that results from the female agency. Gender disparities still exist today; this has been a consistent pattern, dating even before Othello’s setting. The atrocious treatment of women is intrinsic to human experience; hence, they remain pertinent to audiences today. This theme is explored in “Women in Othello” and a Student writing “A feminist perspective into Othello”. Shakespeare utilises the binary oppositions of self and other, through gender, to explore the concept of gender roles.

The article focuses on the role delegated to women in the plays by William Shakespeare. The author of the article examines how the Feminism philosophy perceives the way of depicting women in the plays by Shakespeare. The article deals with a range of questions concerning the patriarchy, gender roles, and the conflict of ideologies. One part of the article is devoted to the play Much Ado About Nothing where a woman “succumbs to the patriarchal values” (Jajja). Here, the researcher also draws attention to the issue of the men's power over women, and the inability of women to defend themselves. The source provides a well-developed analysis based on the plot of the play in terms of the roles delivered to women. The goal of this article was to examine

In “Othello the Moor of Venice” by William Shakespeare, though the play revolves around two leading male characters, Othello and Iago, the women characters are often overlooked and viewed as the pawns, to the plans laid out by Iago in his journey to end Othello. Shakespeare’s play, presented women with an image of being inferior to the men and throughout it we learn how this came to be as the women are all in critical relationships to the point where they are disregarded and mistreated by the men in their lives and as a result they are forced to take ways of fighting back. Men are often viewed dominant, but when faced with the others, especially women, of equal or more stature and significance, they find themselves unable to cope with such a spectacle and are often ignorant of the existence of this power.

When observing gender in our society, women and men are stereotyped with specific roles. Men have always been seen as the family’s main source of income whereas the women take care of their home and children. However, Shakespeare challenges these gender roles in his play with the three female characters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. While all three are independent, powerful women and even lead their armies into battle, the men seem to be foolish and weak such as King Lear and Albany. Furthermore, Mira cel Batran makes a point in her essay, “Feminist Reading of William Shakespeare’s King Lear”, that although women are regarded as dependent on men, Shakespeare explains that it can be the exact opposite. The men seem to depend on the women such as King Lear depending on Cordelia and Albany depending on Goneril. Shakespeare, in his play, King Lear, portrays women who are strong and intelligent and men who are weak or overpowered by female characters, challenging the societal belief that women are inherently less than or dependent on men.

For females, living in a misogynistic, women disavowing society comes with consequences– in many cases, degrading stereotypes. Hence, the topic of female stereotypes has been addressed for centuries, from Shakespeare’s era to present day. William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew and Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s poem “Woman” exhibit their opinions about a woman’s role in society and the manner in which she responds. Shakespeare and Wilcox both reject the idea that female stereotypes, set by a misogynistic society, pressure and encourage women into conforming; while Shakespeare believes that women must put on the façade of giving up their volition to gain respect, Wilcox proposes that women must nonconform to live a life that is not dictated by female stereotypes.

With Shakespeare being born in the sixteenth century, there were still three centuries to go before women started the feminist’s movement. However, with his storyline in both The Merchant of the Venice and Twelfth night, the females leads disguised themselves as males to accomplish what needs to be done. Both plays, shows the heroine choices which challenges the characters they interact with. These endearing characters shows similar and different traits. The focus of these plays was based on Portia’s and Viola’s ambition which showed Shakespeare’s respect for women.

Shakespeare and the members of the Elizabethan era would be appalled at the freedoms women experience today.  The docility of Elizabethan women is almost a forgotten way of life. What we see throughout Shakespeare’s plays is an insight into the female character as perceived by Elizabethan culture.  Shakespeare’s female characters reflect the Elizabethan era’s image of women; they were to be virtuous and obedient and those that were not were portrayed as undesirable and even evil.