Shakespeare And Women

Shakespeare and women is a dynamic that underlies several of his great plays, namely the character of women:

• Hamlet
• The Taming of the Shrew
• King Lear
• Macbeth

Shakespeare's portrayal of women is generally negative and stereotypical, which lends support to a theory that Shakespeare may have been asexual or a non-practicing homosexual. This differs sharply from the portrayal of women in the Bible, which ranges realistically from extremely good to wantonly evil, as in human nature.

Hamlet[edit]

Hamlet, despite its greatness as a play overall, has been criticized for its disparaging portrayal of women. In contrast, the leading man in Hamlet cannot figure out if he should be alive or dead, and yet is the sympathetic hero.

Women portrayed well by Shakespeare[edit]

Sympathetic portrayal of the victimized Desdemona in Othello.

Common cited strong women portrayed by Shakespeare: Beatrice, Rosalind, and Viola.^[1]

Powerful women:

• Cordelia in King Lear
• Lady Macbeth in Macbeth
• Portia in The Merchant of Venice
• also the girl Juliet in Romeo and Juliet