Roles Of Women In Shakespeare Essay
He Becomes She: Acting in Shakespearean Plays Shakespeare capitalizes on the power of women, their varying personalities, and the men who played these female roles. A law barring women from the stage caused Shakespeare to use men to add strength to his female characters. Because of this law, men acted the roles of women, and women disguise themselves as men to have the power to perform.
Men who portrayed women played unique roles in Shakespeare’s plays. According to Bardstage, “the acting profession was not a credible one and it was unthinkable that any woman would appear in a play.” A law required men to play the role of women. However, women joined the actors on stage in 1660. Until then, boys from the ages 13 to 19 played female roles because their voices still had a high pitch and their muscles had not developed. Boys experience voice breaks during the Elizabethan time period later than times in today's society.Having the lowest income, adult actors apprenticed young boys and part of their income went to the masters. To look the role of a women, boys wore wigs. They also wore many layers of clothing that would take an
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As Lee Jamieson says, “the high-born women represented “possessions” to be passed between fathers and husbands.” Women in wealthy families had restrictions on what they could do and where they could go. They were often accompanied by a chaperone. In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, the rich Capulet family has a daughter, Juliet, who the nurse cares for. In this case, the nurse guides Juliet through life as a chaperone and acts as a motherly figure to Juliet. As part of the upper class, Lord Capulet decides Juliet’s future, even if it does not align with her ideal future with Romeo. This contradicts what people today think about women in the Elizabethan time period that wealth brought freedom. In reality and in Shakespeare’s plays, it restricted their activities and
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