Gender Exclusion in Shakespearean Performances: A Critique

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Thesis: Shakespeare’s plays were performed with an all-male cast, which had a negative effect on the performances. This is because it offended many women, it didn’t offer much variety, and the actors would have to switch to male roles once their voices and bodies changed. A: The all-male casts in shakespearian times were on a negative end because of how it offended many women in the time. Much like today, women desire to be more involved, hence the fighting for voting privileges and equal pay; we can only assume it was the same concept back then. Most females felt it was offending that men were playing female parts. “Some have taken offense…we doe likewise permit and give leave that all the women’s parts to be acted in either of the said two …show more content…

He will get taller, and his voice will begin to break between the ages of 12 and 16.Since the female and male hormones are different, the voice changes as well as the head shape, and body type and size, which means that the vocal cords change for males and females. As the article by Scot Young states: “The vocal cords that allow us to speak grow thicker. This means they can’t vibrate as quickly to produce higher notes like they did before.” A male’s voice gets deeper as well due to the head shape, and the nasal cavities opening up to bring in more air, so deeper sounds will be …show more content…

It’s not a hard thing to understand some cases, others, it might be. Males and females are not the same the more they progress with age, which means, it won’t be possible forever for males to play the female roles in plays and movies, it just wouldn’t be very convincing. Especially with how much women’s power has rose these past few years due to the millennials, it’s become a harder thing for men to play as women without negative treatment or some sort of bad criticism. Seeing as Shakespeare’s plays were performed with all-male casts, the negative effects on performances were caused by many women taking offense, there wasn’t much variety in performances, and the actors were constantly switching places as voice and body

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