Miranda in the Tempest

Miranda is the only major female character in Shakespeare's The Tempest; although Caliban's mother, the witch, is mentioned, she doesn't contribute significantly to the plot.

Miranda grows up on a deserted island with no one but her father and their slave, Caliban.  Even though they live far away from any civilization, Miranda and her father both behave as if they are living in Elizabethan society; Miranda is still expected to be subservient to her father, and "womanly values" are still expected to be followed.  Her virginity is an important factor that is emphasized throughout the play; in fact, the reason that Caliban is despised so much by Prospero is that he tried to rape his daughter.

When considering the situation of few people being stranded on an island, I would normally expect a Lord of the Flies-like situation.  Realistically, I would expect Prospero and Miranda to break from their cultural values, which would include allowing Miranda and Caliban to populate the island.  However, such improper behavior was too great a sin for Elizabethan women, and no such thing would have been discussed in a play by William Shakespeare.

In many situations, Miranda is the ideal daughter.  However, when Prospero has an opinion that she disagrees with, she will say it flat out, or disobey him altogether.  At the beginning of the play, Miranda sees her father casting spells to bring the king and his men to the island; she doesn't want them to be hurt, and strongly voices this to Prospero.  In addition, when Prospero pretends to despise Ferdinand, Miranda ignores what he says and continues to spend time with him.  When Miranda expresses her strong will, the play becomes more realistic; I wouldn't expect a woman who grew up on an island with only two other people to share values with large societal groups.

Lady Macbeth's View of Women

Elizabethan women are better seen than heard, an idea that surfaces in many of Shakespeare's plays.  Although some of the strong female characters portrayed in these stories would disagree with this idea, such as Kate Minola in The Taming of the Shrew, there are others who see this opinion as their reality.

In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is an essential character; she has a great deal of power that amounts to her being the driving force of the play.  However, there is one particular spot in the play where she indicates that women are the weaker gender:

"The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, 

To cry 'Hold, hold!'"

- William Shakespeare, Macbeth

In the passage above, Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to "unsex" her.  She is asking the spirits to give her power to commit Duncan's murder, and make her cruel and impervious to emotions; to do so, she believes that she cannot be a woman.  Lady Macbeth also asks for the spirits to turn her breast milk to poison.  Women were generally believed to represent kindness and good, so she must shed these characteristics to be able to do as she pleases, which in this instance requires opposing behavior.

Evil Women in Macbeth

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the female characters have noticeably evil personalities.  Instead of being loud or rebellious, like the women we've seen in other Shakespearean plays, these women have the power to make their will a reality, and will do so even if it hurts the people around them.

Lady Macbeth is a very important character to the plot of the play; she is able to convince her husband to perform actions that will benefit her.  When Macbeth decides it would be better not to murder Duncan, she convinces him otherwise; when he commits the murder but forget to plant the daggers and frame the servants, Lady Macbeth performs this action herself.  Men living in the Elizabethan era should feel threatened of her not only because of her strong will and malevolent behavior, but also because her husband considers her as an equal.  Macbeth makes sure to inform her of his run in with the witches immediately, and the driving actions of the play are performed by Lady Macbeth and her husband as a team.

The witches are very evil characters; although they have nothing to gain by putting their curse on Macbeth, they do so anyway.  To an extent, it would make sense that they would harm someone that they believe to have mistreated them, such as the sailor and his wife.  However, the play tells us of no reason for the witches to hate Macbeth to the extent that they would cause his untimely death.

The men in this play, with the exception of Macbeth, act as proper gentlemen throughout the play; this helps us see the contrast between the two genders.  This reflects many of the ideas set forth by Elizabethan society, none more so than the feeling that women shouldn't be trusted.

Opinions of Much Ado About Nothing, Then and Now

We can tell a lot about a time period based on individual interpretations of texts that have been present over a long period of time. Many Shakespeare plays have been made into films in ways that the modern era is more likely to enjoy. For example, director Baz Luhrmann created a film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet that retained most of Shakespeare's original script, while changing the meaning of it based on locations and the character's actions.

More recently, BBC One made a film adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing that changed Shakespeare's script but mimicked the plot of his play. Shakespeare's original work, in addition to film adaptations of it before the new millennium, captured the plot in a way that would best please a more conservative crowd. To create a happy ending in his play, Shakespeare made it so Hero would be able to marry Claudio despite the scandal that occurred. However, in the more recent film version of Much Ado About Nothing, Hero chose not to marry Claude for his mistrust. As a woman living in modern times, the ending of the more recent film had a more satisfactory ending; when reading Shakespeare's play, it's difficult to process the fact that that a woman would still marry man who had more trust in someone with an ill reputation than in his own fiance.

Since what is considered a "happy ending" can change based on the social movements of a time period, its important to consider the role of women in the Elizabethan era to truly understand Shakespeare's work.

Juliet, Kate, and Beatrice

Thus far, we've examined the role of both Kate in Taming of the Shrew and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.  Kate fights against the perception of "womanly behavior" through her temper; she is outspoken and violent towards others.   Juliet goes against this ideal by purposely acting against her parents wishes; although she looks polite compared to Kate, her behavior is still considered abnormal.

In Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice seems to use a combination of Kate and Juliet's tactics.  Like Kate, she is very witty and wont pause before hurling an insult at anyone whom she thinks deserves it.  Like Juliet, she goes against the wishes of her guardian.  Beatrice's uncle wishes her to be married, as it would be the proper thing for a woman to do; although he doesn't name any particulars, Beatrice swears that she will never marry.  Although Juliet was contradicting her parents because she found someone she wanted to be with instead, this situation is still comparable; both were unwilling to compromise when it came to the person who they would (or would not) spend the rest of their lives with.

However, unlike Kate, Beatrice doesn't resort to physical violence.  In addition, Beatrice's biting words are said with less anger that those spoken by Kate; Beatrice lets her voice be heard in a manner that makes her seem calm, which helps strengthen her words.  Also, unlike Juliet, Beatrice doesn't seem like the person to give up her family ties for a man; even though Benedick became an important part of her life towards the end of the play, she still cared for her family, particularly Hero, more than anything.  This can be demonstrated by Beatrice's request to Benedick; after Claudio shames Hero at the altar, she says that if Benedick truly loves her, he would kill Claudio for her.

Taming of the Kate Part II

Petruchio tames Kate by being just as much of a shrew as she is. When the two meet, Kate finds it impossible to give the last word; her insults are quickly responded by comebacks with equal wit. Eventually, Kate becomes very annoyed at Petruchio's behavior, but there is nothing she can do; Petruchio demands that they will be married, and eventually, that is the case.

During their honeymoon, Petruchio continues to torment Kate, until Kate finally realizes that she needs to play his game. At the end of the play, it would appear that Kate is tamed; out of all the wives, she seems to be the only one willing to obey her husband. However, this is unlikely to be the case in reality; Kate is too smart and independent of a character to have changed so easily. During her time with Petruchio, she likely realized that she needs to let him believe that she has been tamed; in tricking him so, she will be able to control her husband as she wishes, and she will be dominant in the marriage while letting Petruchio think that he is.

Taming of the Kate

In The Taming of the Shew, William Shakespeare gives us a direct look about the general opinion of women in Elizabethan society.  Women who were coy and silent were considered to be more attractive and desirable than brash and outspoken women.  In fact, it was completely unheard of in society for the latter to occur; women who were who spoke their minds were considered embarrassments, and the men in her family would likely attempt to cover up her behavior from the outside world.  These women were considered "shrews", which was a curse word at the time that equates to "a scolding nagging bad-tempered woman".

In beginning of the play, Bianca plays the role of the typical, desirable woman.  She is a silent beauty, who has many gentleman callers.  However, her father will not allow her to marry until her older sister, Kate, does so, which seems an unlikely prospect.  Kate is the epitome of the word shrew, who goes so far as to even hit her own sister for not responding to her.  No man was willing to even think of being close to her, until Petruchio, who wanted her family's fortune more than anything, came into the picture.