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It is fashionable to think that Shakespeare and indeed any man from before 1970 was a woman-hater. When you start out thinking that, it is easy to twist everything into proof of it.
But an examination of Shakespeare's female characters reveals that he was well aware of and was not afraid to portray female characters in as great a variety and depth as his male characters.
Of course, there are a lot fewer female characters because there were relatively fewer actors in the company able to play them. Shakespeare had to write for the company he had available if he expected the plays to be performed.
As well, the characters had to make sense in the context of the plays and the social reality they are based on. As a result we see a lot of noblewomen in the plays. But Shakespeare also shows us middle-class women like those in his own family in plays like The Merry Wives of Windsor, and lower-class women like Mistress Quickly and Doll Tearsheet in Henry IV, or the jailer's daughter in Two Noble Kinsmen.
Shakespeare frequently has his female characters in the comedies dressing as men, thus freeing them from the constricting attitudes toward women which some of his contemporaries advanced. The women-dressed-as-men were able to show that women or not they could be courageous, clever and intrepid.
In the comedies, the play usually ends with the cast happily pairing off into couples and getting married. Some people find this to be objectionable, since the women find satisfaction and completion in finding the right man. But so also do the men find satisfaction and completion in finding the right woman. You have to be some kind of twisted person to think that there is something wrong with people being happily married.
Finally, any suggestion that Shakespeare's women are stereotypes must surely be laughed to scorn. They run the gamut of every possible scale, from the teen-aged Juliet to the matronly Countess of Rousillion, from the fragile Ophelia to the robust Rosalind, from mercurial Cleopatra to steadfast Imogen, from aggressively moral Isabell to aggressively immoral Doll Tearsheet, from wet doormats like Hero to commanding presences like Queen Margaret or Volumnia. The variety of different women matches the variety of male characters.
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoI have no clue what a feminist is, so, I have no clue if Shakespeare was a feminist (whatever that is.)
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Style of the feminist theater?
The style of the feminist theater is exactly what you would expect it to be. It is about empowering women.
Mary Shelley's mother was an and her father was n?
feminist; anarchist
Is Taming of the Shrew a comedy or tragedy?
An absolute comedy, if you aren't a feminist. It's pretty much a story about a man breaking a violent and strong-willed woman, like he'd break a wild horse. I thought it was very funny. To get the full effect of the comedy watch the movie with Elizabeth Taylor in it. It's an older movie, but it's wonderful for helping understand Shakespeare.
What were William Shakespeare's children's names and gender?
Susanna Shakespeare was a girl. So was Judith Shakespeare. Hamnet Shakespeare was a boy though.
Who were the women in Shakespeares life?
The ones we know about were his mother, Mary Arden Shakespeare, his sisters Anne Shakespeare and Joan Shakespeare Hart, his wife Anne Hathaway Shakespeare, and his daughters Susanna Shakespeare Hall and Judith Shakespeare Quiney.
Consider Shakespeare's Sister by Virginia Woolf as a pioneering essay in feminist movement?
Consider Shakespear's Sister as a pioneering essay in feminist movement
One who champions the cause of women?
Susan B. Anthony
What is the male equivalent of a feminist?
... a male feminist.
What does it take to be a feminist?
Technically, all you have to do is identify as a feminist. At worst, you'd be a bad feminist (as opposed to not a real feminist) because feminism is a movement, not an organisation. To be a good feminist, you'd have to engage in women's rights advocacy or women's rights activism.
What is a sentence using the word feminist?
he was very feminist in nature.
When was Feminist Library created?
Feminist Library was created in 1975.
When was Feminist Formations created?
Feminist Formations was created in 1988.
When was The Feminist Press created?
The Feminist Press was created in 1970.
When was The Naked Feminist created?
The Naked Feminist was created in 2004.
What is the difference between feminist research and conventional social research?
there is no hierarchical power relationship between researcher and respondent in Feminist Research. feminist research analyze the variable in feminist perspective.
Who propounded feminist theories?
The individual feminists propounded the feminist theories.
Feminist or feminism?
Feminism is the belief/worldview and a feminist is the practitioner of that belief.
