The Elizabethan Er A Standard Of Power, Authority, And Head Of The Family Essay

While many will agree that Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is critically acclaimed to be one of the most entertaining and well-liked pieces that he has written, there tends to be a discrepancy over how the characters in the play are portrayed when it comes to the importance of gender roles. After reading James C Bulman’s article over the Globe’s more recent performance of Twelfth Night and Shakespeare’s original written version, I realized that there are many ways that this famous piece has been portrayed and each has its own pros and cons.

In ‘Othello’ Shakespeare portrays the main three female characters as being quite inferior to the other male characters such as Othello himself, Iago and Casto. Because during that time of which Shakespeare was writing these plays in the Elizabethan era. Society was in which religion was as at the very most top and after was men being the second part of the social ladder and later come women and rule justified women's subordination as the natural order because women were thought to be physiologically and psychologically inferior to men women were expected to be silent, chaste, and obedient to their husbands, fathers, brothers. Even education during the Elizabethan era was only for smart men, and not for women, the women were only allowed to work as cleaners and being mothers. Which makes them inferior to the male sex, we see this in

William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth” completely challenges the idea of traditional gender roles and social norms during the renaissance period. The male characters have many feminine traits while the female characters have many more masculine and manlier traits. This was going entirely against the stereotypical outlook of the roles you’re supposed to play as your gender during that time of history. During the renaissance period women were only expected to clean, cook, and to have babies. Men on the other hand were typically expected to work hard and to provide for the home. Socially women didn’t have power or respect and men were the ones who were supposed to be brave and tough at the best of times and the worst of times. That idea is

Throughout Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, there is an overlaying presence of the typical roles that men and women were supposed to play. During Elizabethan times there was a major difference between the way men and women were supposed to act. Men typically were supposed to be masculine and powerful, and defend the honor. Women, on the other hand, were supposed to be subservient to their men in their lives and do as ever they wished. In Romeo and Juliet the typical gender roles that men and women were supposed to play had an influence on the fate of their lives.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet defies the “stereotypical gender normality’s” that were present in 1595. Throughout the play, the two main characters, Romeo and Juliet, continuously oppose to the gender-based normality’s that are expected of them. They defy the gender-based stereotypes surrounding love and relationships, the gender roles around marriage. Even the character's way in which they end their lives are more “suited” towards the opposite gender.

In Elizabethan times, gender roles were dominant in society. Women were regarded as the weaker sex and were taught from birth to cook, clean, and do similar tasks so they could marry and their husbands would be proud (Ram, Pham, Sok, Hamsafar, and Wilhemsen, “Gender Roles in Elizabethan Society.”). Women were expected to bear children and take great pride in being mothers (Ram, Pham, Sok, Hamsafar, and Wilhemsen, “Gender Roles in Elizabethan Society.”). They had few rights; they could not vote, choose a profession, receive an actual education, join the army or navy, or generally provide for themselves (Ram, Pham, Sok, Hamsafar, and Wilhemsen, “Gender Roles in Elizabethan Society.”). Men, on the other hand, were to provide for the women in their families, make all decisions, and have ownership of the family’s land and home (Ram, Pham, Sok, Hamsafar, and Wilhemsen, “Gender Roles in Elizabethan Society.”; Petit, “A Look at Male Gender Roles in Shakespeare’s Renaissance.").. The men could vote and all actors on stage were men. In general, men had every advantage in that time period (Ram, Pham, Sok, Hamsafar, and Wilhemsen, “Gender Roles in Elizabethan Society.”; Petit, “A Look at Male Gender Roles in Shakespeare’s Renaissance.").

In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, William Shakespeare defines gender roles as traditional, however he challenges it by making the main characters non-traditional. He writes all the men , like capulet, and the kingsmen in the play as traditional male gender role. All except for Romeo, who he writes as a non-male like gender role. For the women in the play; the nurse, lady capulet, and juliet, he writes them as non- typical gender roles. Lady Capulet and the nurse are some form of housewife, but their personalities are all independent.

In the age of Shakespeare women were considered completely and entirely inferior to men and were not to be trusted, they were known to have an evil and wicked nature and they could not help themselves. Within Elizabethan society women were only considered a little more than property and were used to make alliances, and such was their duty to shut up, obey, and keep their honor and nothing at all was more important than the sexual purity of an unmarried women, it was the symbol of the family’s honor and value. With the creation of the play Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare indirectly criticized the “inferiority” of women by using the play to show that men and women are not so different, he reveals the unfair treatment of women and an he becomes

During Shakespearean and Elizabethan times, women were not seen as equal and were treated like property, traded like cattle and sold off with a dowry during marriage. They had to be subservient to the men in their lives, whether it be towards their father or their husband. The man was seen as stronger, more able to do everyday tasks and providing for the family, while the women were to stay at home to raise the kids and clean the house. Despite society’s claims of advancement, women are still

Elizabethan women were subservient to men and dependent on their male relatives. Women were expected to act as dutiful daughters, mothers and wives, yet anything contrary to that was deemed shameful. It is for this reason that Shakespeare depicts women as capable of defying social norms and notions as seen through the characters: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Desdemona in Othello. While both female characters challenge the status quo, Desdemona is more successful. This is demonstrated through the disobedience shown towards parents, the fortitude to voice opinions and dominance over male counterparts.

Women and men’s role in Elizabethan society is completely different to modern society. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare shows exactly what the attitudes were like. For example, the scene when Katherina is fighting with her sister because Bianca has a number of suitors waiting for her but she refuses to tell Katherina which one she prefers. Katherina gets angry and aggressive towards Bianca because she doesn’t give her an answer, Katherina starts to attack Bianca. Their father enters into the room and says “For shame, thou hilding of a devilish spirit! Why dost thou wrong her that did ne’er wrong thee? When did she cross thee with a bitter word? Baptista is expressing why Katherina would

According to Elizabethan Culture: Love and Marriage for centuries ago, men were the only people that had the capability of going to school and learning. In Shakespeare’s time, all the people were only supposed to do their so called work in perception of their gender. Present day usually does not follow this technique, called gendered roles. Putting it to perspective, women and men are both humans and can strive to achieve anything they want to.

women were expected to be silent, chaste, and obedient to their husbands, fathers, brothers, and all men in general . . . As we go through Othello we find that the women characters are presented according to this expectation of the Elizabethan society” (Feminist). This quote shows that the treatment of women in this play matches the way that the women were treated in the Elizabethan Era, which wasn’t bad, but wasn’t good. They were treated like they weren’t there really. They could only talk if they were talked to and they were too do everything that the man said.

An Elizabethan woman can be characterized as one that is submissive and subservient to men. William Shakespeare utilizes this type of woman when he wishes to show his audience the cruel nature of men. In both of his tragedies, Othello and Hamlet, Shakespeare presents cruelty in the form of male domination, where most of the time, the women are undeserving of ramifications such as death. When a woman in a Shakespearian play breaks the stereotype of the Elizabethan woman, as Olivia does in Twelfth Night and Gertrude does in Hamlet, she is deemed cruel, when in actuality, she has done nothing to deserve that title. This shows that regardless of whether or not a woman is submissive, she suffers the consequences of being victimized by the cruelty of her male counterpart, simply because of a mans “ego”. By the “ego”, I mean the culture and upbringing of Elizabethan men that causes them to act in the irrational ways that Shakespeare suggests. These men are afraid to lose control of their women and their power, so they lash out and the women closest to them suffer. By examining Hamlet, Othello and Twelfth Night, we can see that the cruelty bestowed on to women yields a more dire consequence than deserved.

Women's roles and feminism in the Renaissance Era are skewered by biased opinions and views of the writers of the time. Churches spread propaganda to repeatedly stress the idea that women are irrational and submissive. Filling ideas of the ideal woman and her duties, and accentuated a woman's duty to her lord. All while raising the standards and expectations for women. Marriage was industrialized, fathers literally sold their daughters, adding to the view of women as objects. Marriages were made for social and financial purposes and women were expected to marry and have children. Not marrying could have you cast out as a witch. However, Shakespeare’s writings do not radically imitate the thoughts his time. He gave the sexist lines to his villain