Women's Connotations

While many will agree that Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is critically acclaimed to be one of the most entertaining and well-liked pieces that he has written, there tends to be a discrepancy over how the characters in the play are portrayed when it comes to the importance of gender roles. After reading James C Bulman’s article over the Globe’s more recent performance of Twelfth Night and Shakespeare’s original written version, I realized that there are many ways that this famous piece has been portrayed and each has its own pros and cons.

All things considered, women are very underestimated when being compared to men. All women in this play were without power, a stay at home wife, without a clue and without the ability to stand on their own two feet. Whereas every male character in the play held all the power, were the bread winners, were rational and more than capable to think and be on their own. What this

The theme of gender is presented to the audience as dramatic irony as well, since this play was written in 1912, the play shows how women were in that certain period of time, they didn’t have as many rights, they weren’t treated equally with men, in fact they were seen to be lower than men. However in the time that this play was written which is 1945 women had a lot more rights due to the fact that when men left the country for war, which according to Mr.Birling wasn’t supposed to happen, all the women were the people who looked after the country and kept it going, women became more interdependent and the society just grew and became a lot more open minded with their thoughts. JB Priestly has tried to show the importance of women in the play as well in the play as well at some places but very indirectly, like in that part where the inspector says, “There are a lot of young women living that sort of existence in every city and big towns in this

Overall, this positions the audience to view women as strong characters who confront the stereotype of women as possessions in Elizabethan time.

‘Women’s roles are often tokenistic in dramatic comedy.’ To what extent do you believe this to be the case in relation to the play you are studying?

Others have asserted that the roles of women in his plays were prominent for the time and culture that he lived in,his intent in creating characters to inspire much controversy. Two works, Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night, stand out particularly well in regards to Shakespeare's use of female characters. If you could examine these two plays, you would see that Shakespeare, though conforming to contemporary attitudes of women, circumvented them by creating resolute female characters with a strong sense of self.

In the play, Othello, there are many different representations of characters and archetypes. The women of the play are seen as symbolic representations of how the men in Shakespeare’s generation saw women. The women of the play are all individual characters with different personalities. They are seen as objects but stray from the average mold. Shakespeare converts these women into the play with roles that represent the strong stereotypes of women and how they are not what the rumors portray them as.

During the time in which the play took place society frowned upon women asserting themselves.  Women were supposed to play a role in which they supported their husbands, took care of their children,

The women in Shakespear's play: Twelfth Night, are all depicted as having power, comedic and being very emotional.

If a female was to rewrite this play she would have to change the focus of the play. In the

play was outrageous and not accepted. The image of women in plays and stories at the time were

It is a man’s world, right, because behind every strong man is an even stronger woman. However, in Shakespearean times women roles in plays were minimized but provided a strong impact on the characters, plot, and climax displaying their relevance to each play. Throughout history, Shakespeare developed a series of plays and considered one of the greatest writers in the English language, plus, the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. In society Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet are known for their tragic ends, however, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Othello resembles the drama and tragedy of the characters. As for the women in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Hippolyta, Hermia, Helena, and Titania roles presented strength, love, devotion and a perplex balance in

The characters Hermia,Helena and Titania were effected most by the superiority role of the men in the play. This is because the men in the play, reach high circumstances to get what they what and to tell the woman what to do. Therefore, 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

During the time in which the play took place, society frowned upon women asserting themselves. Women were expected to play a role in which they supported their husbands,

From a feminist perspective it is obvious that though the majority of the play’s speaking characters are female, the focal point of the narrative rests on the actions of men. In the play, it is communicated through sister Aloysius's character that due to the fact that she is a female, it is nearly impossible to get father Flynn in trouble. Her gender plays a role in her trustworthy and accountability.