Shakespeare’s Strong Women Essay - 1074 Words

During the Elizabethan era, women were supposed to be typical housewives and mothers that bore children every two years (Thomas). In contrast, although Shakespeare’s women knew their place, they were intelligent and surprisingly strong willed. Women during Shakespeare’s time were to be considered â€Å"the weaker sex†, and that didn’t just mean physically, but emotionally as well. Women were inferior to the men. They always needed to have someone looking after them, and if they were married, it was the husbands job. If they were unwed, they were to have either their father, brother or a male relative take care of them (Thomas). When they got married, they traditionally lost all control over their property, even clothes and jewelry.†¦show more content†¦Because women only had a few options to choose for work, if they were able to find work, they were paid little as it was, which eventually led to more and more women becoming unemployed (Thinkqu est). In many of Shakespeare’s plays, the women went against the traditional father. Some of Shakespeare’s women were standing up for themselves and discussing who they will marry more than the fact that they would marry and obviously, there would be consequences for the defiance of their fathers. There could easily be any reason for why Shakespeare portrayed women in his plays like he did. He may have preferred women that were strong and could take charge of their lives and not have to rely on someone else to take care of them, or he could just be giving people examples of how unwomanly or undesirable those traits of women were. It could also just be a mixture of those characteristics (Mclean). Shakespeare could enjoy a woman that was intelligent, but also knew where she belonged (Mclean). Shakespeare, through his plays, was able to give women a voice to be heard and action on the stage (Academic Medium). With no doubt, the way women were presented in his plays, created conflict, but conflict is also needed in stories to help move things along, and to make things interesting. Shakespeare highlighted how women were notShow MoreRelated Beatrice of William Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing Essay1746 Words   |  7 PagesBeatrice of William Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing One of the most intriguing characters from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing must be Beatrice. An intelligent, well-spoken (and, perhaps more interesting, outspoken) young woman, she is an almost exact opposite of her cousin, Hero. What makes Beatrice so different than what one expects of a woman during Shakespeare’s time? Why did Shakespeare decide to make her such a strong female character? It begs the question of what women were actuallyRead MoreShakespeares Treatment of Women in His Plays Essay1028 Words   |  5 PagesSome critics and other readers of Shakespeares plays argue that he treats women with disrespect. 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