by Michelle Mclean

Created on: March 06, 2009

Living in a patriarchal society, Shakespeare's view of women would have been subject to the beliefs of this hierarchal system. As these views were so much a part of his life and world, these would have been incorporated into his plays. Shakespeare's female characters vary greatly, ranging from "Much Ado About Nothing's" sweet and innocent Hero, to "Taming of a Shrew's" fiery Kate, to "Titus Andronicus's" villainous Tamora. As a writer, Shakespeare

would have endowed these characters with traits he personally liked or disliked in women, depending on what type of a woman the character was meant to be.

What is interesting about Shakespeare's female characters is that they are, almost without exception, women who at some point in their story go against the social "norm" and defy their male protectors. There were very few options Elizabethan women; they married or stayed under the protection of their male relatives. In fact, in the majority of Shakespeare's plays, the female character asserts her independence and speaks her own mind about WHO she will marry, not about the fact that she WILL marry. She is defying her father over her choice of mate, not flouting the convention that says she must marry.

There were various consequences for these actions, and more often than not these women end up where they were believed to belong; safely married or dead. This wouldn't have been perceived as unfair or unjust by an Elizabethan audience because the it was just the way life was in their society.

There could be many reasons for Shakespeare to have created his female characters as he did. He may have personally preferred women who were strong and took charge of their lives. Or he may have been trying to demonstrate how unwomanly and undesirable these traits were, as these women often got into trouble by defying tradition. As these characters, more often than not, ended up married or severely punished for their faults, it may be a mix of the two; that he liked a woman with some intelligence and spirit, but who also knew her proper place.

Regardless of Shakespeare's personal feelings, the actions of these women serve a valuable purpose. They create conflict. Conflict is needed in every story in order to help move the plot along. The best way, one often employed by Shakespeare, was to create conflict by disrupting the natural order of the world.

Shakespeare's world was defined by order. God, King, Man, Woman, Slave, Animal. Everything and everyone fell within this order. When something

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