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How women are portrayed in Shakespeare plays
The portrayal of women in literature
Shakespeare's portrayal of women
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The Views of Women
Shakespeare, one of the most famous play writers in history, wrote Macbeth in 1606. Many women were not allowed to perform in plays during that time period; however, Shakespeare did have very few females act out roles in his play (Shakespeare: Sample). Shakespeare viewed his women as strong-willed individuals (“Macbeth.” 227 ) when in reality they were often gone unrecognized (Women in Anglo). The character, Lady Macbeth, was a frightening, ambitious woman. Lady Macbeth often wished to “unsex herself” to carry out the killing of King Duncan on her own as her husband showed no manly characteristics to do it. Women during the Anglo-Saxon time period however, were way different then the way Shakespeare viewed his women during his time period.
Women during the Anglo-Saxon time period had many different roles. A lot of it depended on their marital status. Unmarried women were treated and acted very different then a married woman would. An unmarried woman had much more freedom, allowing them to carry out their day without a husband by their side. “She was considered ‘on par’ with men.” They were able to make their own decisions by making wills, buying and owning land, or being sued. A woman would often wish to be single when it came to their rights (Anglo-Saxon Marriages).
Most Anglo-Saxon women, however, were married. “Marriage meant very much to women particularly for their status and economic security.” It was very typical for a woman to have an arranged marriage by their father (Women in Anglo). The wives and husbands were counted on to work together and make the best out of every situation no matter what the circumstance was. “Basically, there had to be great reasonable proof that a wife was working as her hu...
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...bsolute power of the state by acting has if she were accountable to none (The Stage and State). He saw his women as confident individuals. This did not fit the common role of a woman during his life time. The men had all the power in a marriage.
While most Anglo-Saxon women were very controlled by their husbands, one would wish to be single. They were allowed to carry out their day on their own without being told what to do. During the Viking Age however, women gained their freedom. Even thought they were still married, their husbands were not so controlling and had the ability to attend different activates if they wished. On the other hand, Shakespeare did not view his women like this. His women were very cold hearted women who had the absolute power and control. Women during these times periods were completely different from the way Shakespeare viewed his women.
Imagine being a woman in sixteenth century Europe. Females were raised to believe that they were subservient and that men knew better on any subject. Basically, women had no rights. They were considered property, first “owned” by their fathers and then control was “transferred” to the husband chosen for them. Marriage was not about love, but in most cases, it was a business deal that was mutually beneficial to both families – an interesting fact is that like young women, most young men had no choice in the selection of their future betrothed. These traditions and the gender roles assumed by men and women at that time had an impact on Shakespeare’s writing and performances and a great example of this is evident in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
During the late eighteen hundreds, according to society, women were not allowed to have their own identities. Their thoughts and opinions were irrelevant. Women were far from being an equal to their spouse. Married women with children had a role to play and were not expected to deviate from that role, unless they were mentally incapable. Society instilled what was to be expected, therefore women should know their position in a marriage.
Men play an important role in the Anglo-Saxon family structure. In this time, the only purpose a man had was to protect and provide for their family (“Roles”). The men did this by joining in their military. In the military, the men battled with other civilizations and only after this battle were they able to come home to their family (Levick). The men also had the job of building homes for their loved ones. The last responsibility of the men was to grow food for family to eat each day (Levick). As a whole, Anglo-Saxon men represented strength and wisdom for all of the townspeople to see (“Roles”).
Before delving into Shakespeare’s works, it is important to establish women’s position in his society. Women of the Elizabethan Era were essentially only good for one thing: marriage. Women were obedient to their husbands and fathers, and if they failed to obey then they were beaten. The church taught that women were a step below men and that a woman’s purpose was to serve man. Ephesians 5:22 “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord” (New International Version). Women’s daily life included thrilling endeavors such as keeping house and watching children. Because women were primarily occupied with housework they had not time for pursuits such as acting. Men played all the roles in Shakespeare’s plays, both male and female (Callaghan).
Are women in this poem active equals of the men? Or are they passive victims of the men? The role of the women in Beowulf is not a stereotyped one of passive homemaker, but rather one having freedom of choice, range of activity, and room for personal growth and development, such as is reflected in Anglo-Saxon England of the time.
Anglo-Saxon women spent their whole lives under the protection of their menfolk. As young girls, they lived in their fathers’ halls and were under their protection. When they came of age and got married, Anglo-Saxon women would be sent to their husbands’ households. A woman’s first loyalty was to her husband, whom she had to obey. She was expected to see to his comfort and bear his children. In “The Wife’s Lament,” (Norton, pp.102-103) the narrator feels sorrow for her isolation but more i...
...y protect their tribe or community, women maintained peace and order in the absence of the men. In reading Beowulf, the portrayal of women could be as servants to the men. In reality, this was just the custom of the culture, and as seen throughout the piece women are addressed with respect and praise on many occasions. Women that received isolation and opposition were those that stood on their own without men to do the “dirty work” of violence. With regards to this, one can assume that women of this time period were seen to hold purity, delicacy, and compassion. In serving men and remaining home, men protected women from the inhumanity in war and loss of beauty in grace. This could all be seen rather than women having the mere role of insignificant slaves. In the Old English tale of Beowulf, the customary position of women in society is in respectfully serving men.
Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare dramatically shows what can happen when our common gender roles are broken. He shows the power that people can have over others when they aren’t acting the way they’re expected to.
Society in medieval times was no place for women. In the medieval times women were dominated by men and had no control or power of their own lives. Every decision made for their lives was made either by their family or their husbands.
William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer of all time as well as the greatest dramatist. Shakespeare lived in Stratford-on-Avon and he dedicated most of his life to writing plays and poems. Shakespeare’s plays are well known and they have many of the same reoccurring and similar, underlying themes. One very interesting thing about Shakespeare is the way he approaches the women characters in his plays and how he treats them. In the Shakespearian plays, Macbeth, Hamlet, The Tempest, King Lear, Much Ado about Nothing, Othello, and A Midsummers Night Dream, the women characters are treated very similar, but also differently as well.
Most women, even those in privileged circumstances, had little control over the direction their lives took. The marriages of young aristocratic women were usually arranged by their families (but here it is worth noting that their husbands, too, had little choice in their partners). Once widowed, such women had legal independence and, in many instances, autonomy over considerable financial resources.
Throughout history women have fought for the same rights of men. In the time of William Shakespeare they were seen in society as weak and vulnerable. They were seen to be good, caring and not as powerful as men. Men were the superior and ruled the land. Shakespeare has taken the stereotypical image of the women of the time and turned it on its head in ‘Macbeth’. Lady Macbeth is shown as a very powerful, strong woman. She has an evil about her that Shakespeare has used to make ‘Macbeth’ a supernatural play. Women were seen to be good and not as powerful as men, in ‘Macbeth’ Lady Macbeth is the dominate character and commands and persuades Macbeth to commit the murders and crimes that he does.
Gender is evidently out of its traditional order within the play, and thus the three chosen exemplar characters to showcase this are Lady Macbeth, the Witches, and Macbeth. In saying this, Lady Macbeth is a clear example of how the traditional characteristics of a woman are non-existent as they are taken over by masculinity and strength. The witches challenge their womanhood due to the power they hold and attributes they have, all while Macbeth challenges his gender as he shows femininity through weakness and fretfulness.
Throughout the historical literary periods, many writers underrepresented and undervalued the role of women in society, even more, they did not choose to yield the benefits of the numerous uses of the female character concerning the roles which women could accomplish as plot devices and literary tools. William Shakespeare was one playwright who found several uses for female characters in his works. Despite the fact that in Shakespeare's history play, Richard II, he did not use women in order to implement the facts regarding the historical events. Instead, he focused the use of women roles by making it clear that female characters significantly enriched the literary and theatrical facets of his work. Furthermore in Shakespeare’s history play, King Richard II, many critics have debated the role that women play, especially the queen. One of the arguments is that Shakespeare uses the queen’s role as every women’s role to show domestic life and emotion. Jo McMurtry explains the role of all women in his book, Understanding Shakespeare’s England A Companion for the American Reader, he states, “Women were seen, legally and socially, as wives. Marriage was a permanent state” (5). McMurtry argues that every woman’s role in the Elizabethan society is understood to be a legal permanent state that is socially correct as wives and mothers. Other critics believe that the role of the queen was to soften King Richard II’s personality for the nobles and commoners opinion of him. Shakespeare gives the queen only a few speaking scenes with limited lines in Acts two, four, and five through-out the play. Also, she is mentioned only a few times by several other of the characters of the play and is in multiple scenes wit...
Being married or single affected the life of a woman in medieval times. When married, a woman became attached to her husband, but still had very little existence in society. Married women became the mistress of their house and gained the position of the wife (Moore). As wives, women did all the chores their husbands didn’t have the time for, such as cooking, cleaning, caring for the children, milking the cows, tending to the fire, and making clothes (Moore). Whether a woman was married or single, she was able to own land as well as sell that land. A woman’s husband was not allowed to sell her property without he consent, that is if she owned any land. A woman could only own land if she had no brothers to inherit the land before her or she was part of a wealthier family (Gies