The Female Oppression Of Women In William Shakespeare

Throughout Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” women are used as method for men to get what they want. The men in Hamlet, either directly or indirectly continuously use women to acquire something from other men. The only two women in the entire play are Gertrude and Ophelia, who are consistently used by the current king, Claudius, Polonius, and Hamlet. Ophelia is exploited by Polonius and the King (mainly together), and is also used by Hamlet. Gertrude is used by the King, as well as Polonius. In “Hamlet,” the women throughout the play are used as pawns for men to get what they want, mainly from the other men.

In today’s world, women of all ages are given equal rights and freedom. In Shakespeare’s time, woman’s obligations were to follow the rules of the men and obey the men in their lives’. “Frailty, thy name is woman;” Hamlet implies the powerlessness of the two women characters in the play. In Hamlet, the roles of Gertrude and Ophelia are very important in that they are the only two female characters in the play. Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark and mother of Hamlet, and Ophelia, the lover of Hamlet, are characterized as controlled and lost in their lives because they are being used by the men throughout the play. Fundamentally, Shakespeare illustrates the nature of Gertrude and Ophelia as powerless victims by the women being subjects of men,

Throughout the Elizabethan era, men had more advantages than women. William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew has characters such as Petruchio, Baptista, Katherine, and Bianca that show how men overpowered women. During the Elizabethan era, there was heavy sexism. Women were discriminated. Through Shakespeare’s language, men could speak to and about women in a disrespectful and derogatory manner. Women were voiceless and deprived of their right to speak. Women were inferior to men. During the Elizabethan era, through Shakespeare’s language, and in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, it is proven that men had more advantages than women.

Shakespeare and Bram Stoker write suppression and madness into their female characters who represent the condition of women during their time. Ophelia from Hamlet and Lucy from Dracula are a symbol for all women from both the Renaissance and Victorian era and their actions portray the suppression of the patriarchal system. Throughout the whole play, Ophelia and Lucy walk down the same path as both of them get oppressed by their families and go through an extreme character development while expressing their desires.

William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as a Feminist Play The play Twelfth Night was written in the Elizabethan days, near the end of the ruling of Queen Elizabeth I. It was also during The Renaissance, which is also the rebirth of learning, which this play was born. It was a period of change, questioning and vitality.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the role of women is greatly emphasized. The important characters of the play, Othello, Iago, and Cassio, each have a women that stands behind him. These women each have an obligation to remain loyal and respect their husband's wishes, especially Desdemona and Emilia.

The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare is an introduction in the everpresent battle of women to be loving and caring wives, while at the same time holding on to our independence. Its plot is derived from the popular 'war of the sexes' theme in which males and females are pitted against one another for dominance in marriage. The play begins with an induction in which a drunkard, Christopher Sly, is fooled into believing he is a king and has a play performed for him. The play he watches is what constitutes the main body of The Taming OfThe Shrew.

     The treatment of women in Hamlet is very troubling. The leading female characters, Queen Gertrude and Ophelia, are pawns or puppets for the men around them. Like chess pieces, they are moved about and influenced by the men they love with little say of their own; in fact, Shakespeare does not even develop their characters.

Many literary critics have presented theories on the meaning of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, ranging from claims of Oedipal Complexes to insinuations of homosexuality. Though most such interpretations can be considered true at some level, there seems to be some basic theme - some driving force - that underlies all other interpretations.

By examining Shakespeare’s treatment of familial ties in his plays The Life and Death of King John and The Winter’s Tale, we can see how his attitudes and opinions towards family relationships evolved. In King John (written between 1594 and 1596), Shakespeare adopts what was then a fairly conventional attitude towards family relationships: his characters never question the highly patriarchal family hierarchy. They also assume that the majority of wives will be unfaithful, simply because they are female—however, they take the charge of adultery rather lightly. By contrast, in The Winter’s Tale (written between 1610 and 1611), he adopts a much more progressive, feminist view of family

Shakespeare has been admired for his strong female characters for quite some time, but often times when Margaret of Anjou is weighed against these women she’s marginalized as one-dimensional and callous. Several scholars claim that Margaret is inconsequential to the plot of Henry VI and Richard III, going as far as to cut her part from live performances wherever possible. Katherine Eggert compares Margaret to Joan of Arc’s role in 1 Henry VI, saying that Margret’s “effect never becomes quite as incantatory as Joan La Pucelle’s” (69). Many scholars, including Thomas McNeal, Angela Pitt, and Marilyn French, have written off Margaret as a cruel whore in their works. With all the research that has been done on Shakespeare’s Margaret of Anjou, very few scholars acknowledge the feminine power she represents and how pivotal her role is for accurately portraying Shakespeare’s intentions for Henry VI and Richard III. Shakespeare showcases Margaret’s entire lifespan and journey as a woman for a reason. He wants his audience to watch her go through every feminine archetype during her life on stage: maiden, wife, mother, and crone. This journey, coupled with her power over the men surrounding her, is incredibly important to the theme of feminine power within these works because Shakespeare wanted his audience to see that Margaret is female and strong. In a similar fashion, Shakespeare uses Margaret for his theme of feminine power by making her the only person smart enough to trick

In the play Othello , Othello strongly represents feminist criticism because he cares so much about their relationship that he couldn’t handle the thought of her cheating on him. He played a big role in the play from being a powerful governor along with being a deep lover. Othello and Desdemona, the daughter of A senator from Venice, fell for each other and are married behind her father’s back. The father, Brabantio, finds out and says that Othello used his magic on her, but yet he still sent the two to Cyprus together. Othello captured Desdemona with his stories about his past and Desdemona quickly falls in love with him. Even though the love of the two is strong Othello lets his ensign Iago draw him into his lies about his woman showing

Feminism is and has always been a prominent focus in society. Specifically during the Renaissance, when Shakespeare’s Othello was written, were women thought of as subordinate to men. Shakespeare portrays women as merely FOIL characters to their male counterparts throughout the play. They help shed light on the men’s dark sides as well as their true faults. Their roles include wives, prostitutes, and even messengers. The women in the play are disrespected and treated as lesser beings. Although there are imperative female characters in Shakespeare’s Othello, many of them are treated as tools or objects and are disrespected by the men, specifically Iago, Othello and Cassio.

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. In this essay I will look at Hamlets perception of women in general but particularly Gertrude and Ophelia. I will also look at the historical presentation of women, comparing Hamlets time to today and seeing if the symbolic role that the females characters have is related to the period. Also I will look at Hamlets madness, whether it was real or not and also whether women could be the cause of it. Finally I will look at a possible ‘Oedipus complex’ in Hamlet. ‘Hamlet’ as the title suggests is based around the character Hamlet Prince of Denmark. This is why women are often presented the way that Hamlet sees them. Also Hamlet lives in a very enclosed world

In the traditional society, a woman who is not married would be cursed, but to Beatrice, that is a non-bothering issue to worry about. Shakespeare uses metaphor to communicate this idea where Beatrice uses a cow’s horn to mean men. She says that a curst cow has short horns whereas a too curst one has none, meaning that she is ready to be too curst. Hero, on the other hand, conforms to her condition (England 24). When she is denounced, she is limited with her condition and has to live like that without challenging it. Beatrice too is weak to oppose Claudio to defend her due to her physique, which seems inferior to that of a woman. This shows that women are limited due to their gender, which deters them from living like men. In other words, there is a lot that women need to do in order to live like their male counterparts. This demonstrates that even though the contemporary woman has done much to be visible in the society, there are still areas that need to be addressed in order for her to fully bargain for her space.