Women In The Elizabethan Era
During the Elizabethan Era, women reflected the canons of the society, where men were stronger and women weaker and dependent of their families and husbands. During that period women were seen more as objects and their freedom was very limited. Marriage seemed to be their only objective in life and sex was not even mentioned out of the marriage relationship. The Elizabethan society actually seemed to follow a chain of degree where women are placed below men by God and must respect their subjected position, as Juliet Dusinberre explains in her essay “Women and Authority” (Dussinberre, 1996: 77).
Yet, although most of the Elizabethan literature reflects the society, Shakespeare can be defined as an expert in womankind. Juliet Dussinberre, for example, concludes that “Shakespeare saw men and women as equal in a world which declared them unequal” (L.Navy, 1984: 3). His conception of womanhood is far more different from what his society established and his women characters seem to show qualities that are much more similar to the ones of men. Intelligence, courage, stubbornness, eroticism and independence strongly characterize his female characters. During his career as a writer it seems that there was an evolution in his conception of women and also a development in terms of separation from the restrictions of his society. Starting from the matter of love related strictly with marriage until focusing his attentions mainly on sexual desire in human beings, we will analyze the
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Elizabethan Era Vs. Modern Era
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How Did Lady Macbeth Become A Man
354 Words | 2 PagesAlthough the perspective of women in the Elizabethan era was much different from the perspective of manhood, it was also similar in a sense that manhood and womanhood both played an essential role during their era. The thought of men being the ones to do things such as commit murder and be ambitious is still prevalent today. In our society we view women as people who are soft and not quite as ambitious as the opposite sex. The notion that women are incapable of committing murder is obscure as they are physically capable of doing harm to any human body as well as being able to have ambition such as
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1338 Words | 6 PagesDuring the Elizabethan period, the role of women in society was very different from what it is today. According to the system of patriarchal society that dictated that women were inferior to men, they had to obey the male figures in their lives. The woman was seen as the weaker sex either physically or emotionally which meant that it was entirely dependent on her husband if married and members of his family if single. Moreover, in the Elizabethan theater, women were not allowed to play because of this hierarchy. Therefore, they were replaced by men disguised as women.
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