Role Of Women In Shakespeare's Comedies

Shakespeare is known as the most prominent figure and the greatest writer in English Literature. He wrote poems and sonnets during his lifetime but his plays are the ones which are more known and famous among people even today. Shakespeare uniquely portrayed women in his plays. He believed that by showing both strengths and weaknesses he could make women look more real and practical. His plays showed the people an image of women during the Elizabethan Era.

Shakespeare's plays reflect and indicate what he saw about women and their roles in that time.

His comedies especially show how big the difference was between men and women back then. They had different duties and while men authority, women were more submissive mainly due to not having the freedom to express themselves. Comedy was the genre that concentrated more on gender roles and issues more than Shakespeare's tragedies or historical plays. The storyline is his comedies used to leave people confused most of the time as it was difficult to follow some of them since they often had twists and turns but usually they ended on a happy note.

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One of William Shakespeare's most known comedy plays “The Taming Of The Shrew' is famous mostly because of the kind of picture he has painted about women. The plot revolves around the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Katharina. She is shown as rude, short-tempered, and spoiled. Moreover, she is stubborn as well. She puts her foot down and says no when her father decides that she'll have to get married first before her sister, Bianca.

Hortensio (one of Bianca's suitors) informs Petruchio about Katharina when he arrives looking to marry. Petruchio's character is shown to be stubborn and bold too. Even though Katharina objects to the marriage, it still happens and then begins her “taming'. The process of Petruchio training her to be an obedient wife involves him controlling everything in her life. She's not given food when she's hungry, she isn't allowed to sleep when she's sleepy. Soon, this breaks her and she finally does change to be the good wife that Petruchio wants her to be. At the beginning of the play, Katherina is shown as an incredibly strong-headed, independent woman, but that's not how women used to be during that time. It is then highlighted that her father gets her married against her will and that she is supposed to submit to her husband and obey him. From a very strong character, she ends being like any other submissive, weak woman during that era. That is what the reality was too.

However, if the play is seen from a different point of view, only focusing on how women were treated, it makes people feel offensive and disrespectful in today's time. The character of Katharine in the origin of the play relates a lot more to how women are today. They have more freedom, they speak their minds without hesitation and they are independent. What Katharine changes, in the end, has been highly criticized by modern women, especially feminists. For Petruchio to be this kind of way with his wife seems to be a kind of abuse. His plan is mainly to change her and even though he does it in an unlikely way, Katherina loses a sense of who is she after that. In a way, she loses her self-confidence and self-worth too. On the other hand, some believe that Shakespeare didn't degrade women in his play but used comics to get everyone's attention to show how women were treated in Elizabethan time. He demonstrates Kate in such a way that the audience thinks that throughout the play, she is the shrew but in the end, it turns around completely after the speech by Kate and the audience begins to think the same about Bianca, Kate's sister what they thought about Kate in the beginning. That's how Shakespeare uses disguises as manipulation and makes people think what he wants them to think. Even though he intended to grasp the attention and show people how misunderstood women were, women in today's world would still think it's offensive and disrespectful since they can't relate to how things were during that time.

Another comedy play by Shakespeare which is quite famous mainly because of the plot and how it disguises characters and forms a love triangle is “The Twelfth Night”. The story starts with how a twin brother and sister are lost and separated in the sea and the sister, Viola is shipwrecked off the coast in Illyria. She is alone and needs to find work. The captain who saved her informs her about Lady Olivia and how she has been mourning for her brother and father for a while. Viola then decides to disguise herself as a man and takes the name Cesario. She's able to start working at Duke Orsino's house. Orsino like Lady Olivia but nothing could happen between them because she was mourning. Thus, he decides to send Cesario (Viola) to try and persuade her but Olivia ends up liking Cesario despite her mourning at that time and Viola has already fallen for Orsino. The plays end with Sebastian (Viola's twin) returning and marrying Olivia while Viola marries Orsino.

The main female characters of importance in this play are Olivia and Viola. Both of these women are shown in a way that tells us that they have power. Viola is confident to such an extent that she disguises herself as the perfect man. She knows what to say and exactly when to say it. For example, she was so perfect at hiding her identity that she successfully convinced Olivia that she was a man, which made Olivia fall in love with her. Shakespeare portrayed Olivia in a way that made her look bold and strong as well. Although she does get deceived by Viola's disguise, the fact remains the same that she does not have any feelings for Orsino and she doesn't go back on that. This tells the audience that she's committed to and stands by what she feels because it's genuine and whatever decision she makes.