Women's Role Of Women In The Age Of Shakespeare

In the play ‘Othello’ written by William Shakespeare, we see not only the main male character leads. But we also see the female characters, Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. These three women were portrayed in ways that showed them being inferior to the other male roles as well as society during the Elizabethan Era. But Shakespeare made each of these individual ladies characteristics quite unique to one another having the traits of a feminist. Even though in the play we read how the male characters did somewhat control them and made them look weak compared to them, there were moments where Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca stood up for themselves.

The Role of Women in Hamlet in William Shakespeare's Play Gertrude and Ophelia, the only two women in Hamlet, reflect the general status of women in Elizabethan Times. Women were suppressed by the males in their lives (brothers, fathers, and partners) and were always inferior. Ophelia and Gertrude have little or no power due to restricted legal, social and economic rights that were found in Elizabethan society. The male characters in Hamlet reflect this sexist view point, represented by Hamlet’s judgement that “frailty, thy name is woman”. This view was not uncommon in Shakespeare’s time and heavily influenced Shakespeare to present women the way he does in Hamlet.

Gender stereotypes are not a modern notion and as such expectations and limitations have always existed for both men and women. Fortunately women, who have formerly beared great burdens of discrimination, now have very liberated roles in society as a result of slowly shifting attitudes and values. Shakespeare was integral in challenging the subservient role expected of women in the 16th century. Throughout the play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’, women are expressed as powerful characters who behave, speak and live in a way that breaks away from the conformist role of females during the 16th century. Therefore, the submissive stereotype expected of women in Shakespearean time is confronted and defied through

Some critics and other readers of Shakespeare's plays argue that he treats women with disrespect. However, he actually treats them with a great amount of respect. Shakespeare has been criticized by many modern writers for his portrayal of women.

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 moon/Desdemona is seen as at once chaste and inclined to change. Later, Othello accuses Desdemona of infidelity despite her protesting innocence. Again, he compares her infidelity with the moon: "What committed!/ Heaven stops the nose at it and the moon winks . . . " (4.2.74). The moon, once chaste, is now flirting. Similarly, Othello believes that Desdemona, once chaste, is cuckolding him. These two examples show the multiple allegories of the moon that, similarly, exist in women.

Chayton O’Brien 11-12-15 Shakespeare Gender Portrayals in Shakespeare During the Elizabethan Era, women had no rights, and men controlled their lives. This can be shown through Taming Of The Shrew, a play by William Shakespeare. The play starts out where a trick is played by someone of Lordship on a drunkard Christopher Sly who arranges a play called The Taming of the Shrew.

In the Shakespearean era the emancipation of women was not yet granted, this included both genders not being equal. A man was believed to deserve more respect and authority above women, showing why they were the only ones who were provided with an education and given certain job roles. Along with the idea of an equality imbalance, status was a very important thing in the era, showing why some men were given important jobs such as a lawyer and others not so great jobs such as a cleaner. Wealth and status were two major factors which contributed to the idea of honour. For example, here the lawyer would receive more honour than the cleaner since he was deemed more important. In this case however the idea of honour is to be scarred from the betrayal of a woman.

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

It is true that the majority of women in the 17th century were housewives (Lambert). However, in Shakespeare’s eyes, this did not translate to inferiority of women. Instead, he believed that society’s flawed thinking was both unjust and dangerous. He saw women for what they were worth: humans capable of performing and becoming something everyone else could. Regardless of their genders, woman could be just as assiduous, shrewd, and vindictive as their male

Main Idea: Shakespeare was not a sexist: All though the main three females in the play were seen as important and contributed tremendously towards the plot of the play. The readers see Shakespeare pushing the ideology of men and women being equal with the slow occurrence of many plots towards the play, and how it all unravels itself. These were proven in the play by when;

Women are a very important part of this world although they are sometimes not portrayed that way. One would think they would be seen as significant because of the fact that women make up almost half of the world’s population. Throughout all of history, females have been considered the weaker sex. In the play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, women are portrayed as weak minded and unfaithful. The inability to correctly make important life decisions, a weakened mental state, and complete obedience to men all contribute to this point.

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.

Shakespeare and Webster represent the female characters in ‘Hamlet’ and ‘The duchess of Malfi’ by using general themes such as the patriarchy and the social control, the female identity and its independence, this institution of marriage, the expressions of sexuality and finally women shown to be either conformist or transgressive. Men were firmly in control in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era, and the expectations for women were to stay home, cook, clean and raise a family. Women’s status and roles were subject to the Tyranny of patriarchy, they were given strict disciplinary rules to follow whether by law or unspoken norms to prevent from rebellion. Women’s rights were restricted, legally, socially and economically, unlike today were women are more powerful and independent. Today women and men are seen to be equal and women can do pretty much everything a man can do (voting, working, becoming president) although there are many people still today who disagree with women having these rights.

In Shakespeare’s comedy, MoV, the female protagonists are not given the same opportunities men or treated seriously and rather only given these opportunities or have their words taken seriously if they act as men through cross-dressing. From this portrayal, modern audiences can learn that oppression was present in the past and still continues to affect women in today’s world. Portia has to cross-dress in order to take on the role of a lawyer. She along with her maid in waiting, Nerissa That they shall think we are accomplishèd/With that we lack”(3.4.62-63)During the Shakespearean era, women were not viewed as intelligent and lacked skills to have such roles. Going under the guise of a lawyer Portia would be able hold a position that she would not be able to have if she was appeared as a woman. Furthermore, this position also allows for her to have more power and gain respect from individuals in her society. While under this persona, Shylock lauds a disguised Portia for her judgement, saying “A Daniel come to judgement! Yea, a Daniel./O wise young judge,how I do honor thee!”(4.1.231-232)--> 1) Shylock likens Portia to a wise and important biblical figure, Daniel, who made wise judgement. By complimenting Portia, it goes to show that what a woman says is only deemed serious if not seen as a woman saying it. When she returns to Belmont, Portia reads a letter out to Bassanio and Gratiano, which contains the line,“There you shall find that Portia was the doctor,/Nerissa there her