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People in England in Shakespeare's time felt that it was indecent for women to appear on stage, that such a show verged on the pornographic. Acting was seen as a man's profession, and so there were no actresses as such. Therefore, male actors took a variety of parts in a play, including female roles. Women would not appear on English stages for another fifty years or so. This was a peculiarly English form of prudery (and they were not particlarly prudish about much else) because actresses were a regular item in France at the time.

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13y ago
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15y ago

well because men found women incapable of doing eney thing and held our creativity back for it. It all comes down to men thinking their beater than everyone else

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Q: Why did Shakespeare have men playing female roles?
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Why are there only two women in Julius Caesar?

In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".


When did the first woman appear in one of Shakespeare's plays?

Margaret Hughes, playing Desdemona in Othello in 1660, is believed to be the first professional woman to perform on the public stage in England. In William Shakespeare's time all female roles were taken by boys whose voices had not yet broken, or by older men in the players' company. Only in private performances, such as masques at court were women allowed to act on stage, and then only alongside professional players. The notorious female transvestite Mary Frith is said to have taken part in a play at the Fortune Theatre ca. 1611, but it would not have been one of Shakespeare's. (It may have been the Roaring Girl by Middleton and Dekker, which was actually written about her)


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What are the roles of the men in the Calusa tribe?

what was the calusa indians roles for men


Roles of the men eastern woodland Indians?

The roles of the men in the Eastern Woodland Indian tribe were very defined. The men were the hunters and providers of the women and kids.

Related questions

What were the roles of women in Shakespeare's?

Women did not participate in Shakespearean plays. All roles, including female ones, were played by men.


Who played the female roles in Shakespeare's plays and why?

Men because females werent allowed to act in those days.


Why are there only two women in Julius Caesar?

In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on the stage. All female roles had to be done by boys or young men. Therefore the playwrights of that time were restricted in the number of women's roles they could write and still have convincing "actresses".


Did shakespeare play the part of a woman?

Probably not. All of the roles he played that we know of were men. It was said by a contemporary that he "favoured kingly roles", not queenly ones. The actors who did female impersonation were generally specialists at that art, but Shakespeare was not one of them.


Why were adolescent boys included in Shakespeare's acting company?

At the time, it was considered unseemly for women to be actors. The female roles were played by young men.


Who played Shakespeare's masculine roles in his plays?

men


Why did Shakespeare make males be females?

because, at the time when his plays were performed females were not allowed to do much so only men could act, which is why female roles were played by men.


Who were the original actors in Shakespeare's plays?

Up until 1642, male ones. Since then, all kinds of actors. One of the peculiarities of Shakespeare productions is that the physical characteristics of the actors playing the parts is rarely of much significance. Racial characteristics are rarely of interest, so Denzel Washington played Don Pedro in Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing and Adrian Lester played Hamlet in the Peter Brook production. (An exception is that Americans in particular will not tolerate a white actor playing Othello or a black actress playing Desdemona) Also, it is quite acceptable still to cast men in female roles and even more so to cast females in the male roles (there are many good actresses and relatively few female roles in Shakespeare). In fact, the first Hamlet to appear on film was a woman, Sarah Bernhardt.


Who played the female roles in willaim shakespeares plays?

In Shakespeare's time, all female roles were played by young boys or men because women were not allowed to perform on stage. This was a common practice due to societal norms and restrictions at the time.


Who played all the women roles in shakespeare play?

Women's roles in Shakespeare's plays were usually performed by boy actors. Shakespeare jokes about this several times - especially in Hamlet and in As You Like It. It was illegal during the Sixteenth Century for women to perform in plays, and most Elizabethan playwrights wrote only minor roles for female characters as a result. Shakespeare seems to have been one of the first playwrights to give women characters important roles in his plays - though after Shakespeare's time quite a few playwrights began to write important roles for women.


What was unusual about the actors of Shakespeare time?

The only thing unusual about them is that there are so few of them, much less than the 50% of the population who are female. The reason for this is that there were relatively few of Shakespeare's company who were skilled at portraying women (there were no women in the company, as this would have been illegal). But although there are relatively few female roles, they are incredibly varied and frequently very subtle. Shakespeare did not hesitate to make a woman the main character in a play (as in As You Like It, or All's Well that Ends Well) or one of a couple of main characters (as in Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra).


Who played the female role in the William shakespeare plays?

Males played female parts in Shakespeare. This was not because women were not allowed to do anything in that time but cook clean and have children, since they had a much more varied scope than that. It was because it was considered to be indecent for women to be seen performing on stage. It was as indecent to them as showing up for a funeral in the nude would be to us.