A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

The play Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare is set during the latter days of the Roman Empire. It can be argued that women were treated like possessions back then, and that Shakespeare was implicitly stating the oppression women faced. One of the main female characters of the piece, Lavinia, was constructed in a certain way to fulfill this social role in the patriarchal society. However, the other female character, Tamora, was created to oppose the social role of female objectification. Though, there are still moments in the play where she is implicitly objectified but still maintains her superiority- an object of male desire.

Gender stereotypes are not a modern notion and as such expectations and limitations have always existed for both men and women. Fortunately women, who have formerly beared great burdens of discrimination, now have very liberated roles in society as a result of slowly shifting attitudes and values. Shakespeare was integral in challenging the subservient role expected of women in the 16th century. Throughout the play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’, women are expressed as powerful characters who behave, speak and live in a way that breaks away from the conformist role of females during the 16th century. Therefore, the submissive stereotype expected of women in Shakespearean time is confronted and defied through

In a patriarchal society, women are expected to conform to social restrictions by demonstrating reverence and obedience to the males in their lives. Shakespeare's tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, explores the effects of patriarchal authority exerted over women and how the patriarchal structure left no escape from it, save death. Through Juliet, Lady Capulet, and the Nurse, Shakespeare establishes a common understanding of this type of society, but illuminates three different reactions to the social oppression by portraying the responses of a passionate lover, an idyllic housewife, and an attendant.

The thematic parallels between Sophocles’ play Antigone (441 BC) and King Lear (1608) by William Shakespeare present a skewed power dynamic between the roles of men and women as the conflict unfolds. In King Lear, Reagan and Goneril emasculate their husbands and Lear, while in Antigone fixed roles are reinforced playing out the stereotypes of men and women. The displays of gender essentialism throughout each work provides a framework in which to view these ideas. Feminist theorist Elizabeth Grosz explains that “[e]ssentialism entails the belief that those characteristics defined as women's essence are shared in common by all women at all times … Essentialism thus refers to the existence of fixed characteristics, given attributes, and historical functions” (qtd. Shekhawat 9). While both works present characters that are often considered feminists, Antigone affirms gender essentialism while King Lear rebukes this theory.

Women in the Elizabethan age were extremely repressed and discriminated against. Most would not have gone to school or received any type of formal education. They were not allowed to vote, own property, or freely voice their opinions. They were seen as the property of a man, subject to his wants, needs, and not allowed to have their own; men held extremely stereotypical views of their female counterparts that helped them justify the way they treated them. Shakespeare exposes many of these injustices and biases in his stage plays, which are still commonly read and performed today. In Much Ado About Nothing, Claudio moves from seeing women (specifically Hero) as goddesses and wives

1.7.31-58 of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth exhibits atypical gender portrayals. Shakespeare takes advantage of this tragedy to challenge traditional perspectives. In Macbeth, Shakespeare reverses gender roles by going against the standard norm created by Elizabethan society. Shakespeare empowers female characters, such as the three witches and Lady Macbeth, resulting in abnormal influential characters.

Not just does this represent the inferiority of women to men, it likewise expresses that ladies are seen as a commodity to be given, transported and purchased. Moreover, it highlights the characterisation of Desdemona and how submissive she is. This accentuates that Shakespeare was a man who saw ladies simply the same as a man. His emphasis on gender equality permits viewers to get a look at how ladies are dealt within society and how men ought to treat ladies. He underscores that gender equality should be valued in society.

During the Shakespearean era, gender roles differed substantially from the modern world. Patriarchal society made women seen as subordinate to men, therefore idealized women that were obedient to men, innocent, and pure. Both genders were expected to get married and have a family. Hero exhibits the stereotypical women during this era, given that she was a quiet, polite, feminine, weak, obedient, and submissive to

When observing gender in our society, women and men are stereotyped with specific roles. Men have always been seen as the family’s main source of income whereas the women take care of their home and children. However, Shakespeare challenges these gender roles in his play with the three female characters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. While all three are independent, powerful women and even lead their armies into battle, the men seem to be foolish and weak such as King Lear and Albany. Furthermore, Mira cel Batran makes a point in her essay, “Feminist Reading of William Shakespeare’s King Lear”, that although women are regarded as dependent on men, Shakespeare explains that it can be the exact opposite. The men seem to depend on the women such as King Lear depending on Cordelia and Albany depending on Goneril. Shakespeare, in his play, King Lear, portrays women who are strong and intelligent and men who are weak or overpowered by female characters, challenging the societal belief that women are inherently less than or dependent on men.

A common theme seen throughout “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, by William Shakespeare, is sexism toward the women in the play. This comedy was written near the end of the sixteenth century, and it takes place long before it was written, in Athens, a very patriarchal society. Women are seen as property and their opinions do not matter, this sexism is cause for strain seen between the women and the men of the play. Examples of this tension are seen between a father, Egeus and his daughter, Hermia, between the fairy king and queen, and even between the lovers.

The topic of genders and gender stereotypes has become one of the most talked about and controversial issue in modern time. There is a whole lot of talk when it comes to women breaking out of their stereotypes while men are comfortable living as a “normal” man. Common stereotypes about women include; belonging in a kitchen, staying at home to watch the kids instead of work, etc. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, we are introduced to a man and his wife who seem to have reversed gender roles. Of course, because this tragedy was first performed in the 1600s, you would expect quite a response from the people back then regarding gender stereotypes.

As a woman in both Elizabethan and Victorian eras, not only do they face being a man’s property, but it is also evident that they are only necessary in order to benefit a man’s social standing. Women in Othello, such as Desdemona, are praised for being the ideal Elizabethan women, beautiful, fair and reticent. Which is why Othello, a man of colour, one that many do not consider part of society quickly manages to elope with Desdemona without permission. Furthermore proving that besides treating her like a possession, he understands Desdemona is a high class women and so if he marries her many will respect him even further now. This is why Brabantio questions the roots of the relationship when he states “Of years, of country, credit, everything-/to fall in love with what she fear’d to look on!” (1.3.97-98). This is evident in proving that Desdemona marriage with Othello is extremely questionable, and it happened only to benefit Othello's social standing. Thus making the fact that men not only wanting women is important, but them being desired for beauty and class makes one women better than another. In Frankenstein, it is conspicuous that men marry women for a better social standard, as Elizabeth is already

During Shakespeare’s time, women were perceived both in literature and in real life as frail and naive. Some women about whom Shakespeare wrote broke this barrier of sexism; others did not. Women, as Shakespeare portrays them in works such as The Taming of the Shrew, The Tragedy of Macbeth, and The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice, are bound to unwavering roles—not only in his plays, but also in society, proving that the distinct idea of femininity in the Elizabethan era also rings true throughout Shakespearean literature. Limited to certain activities of recreation they could do, Elizabethan women could not act on stage, and divorce was not an option during this time. Confined to mainly housework, married women cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children of the household.

Women have a specific role throughout the Elizabethan society and are known as inferior. In Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Nights Dream, women are told how to act by men, that reveals superiority towards men. This is portrayed by the characters-Hermia, Helena, and Titiana throughout the play. These characters were represented as powerless and blind because they fail to receive what they what and are told what to do countless amounts by the men in the play. Women's’ inferiority in the play makes it impossible for them to achieve true happiness attributable to the superiority the men in the play believe they have.

    When one considers Shakespeare’s female characters, one has to remember that the plays were written in a time when women were considered weak-minded creatures who were apt to make bad choices if given the freedom.  Shakespeare, for the most