Gender Expectations In Macbeth And Twelfth Night

Shakespeare in recent years, just like in his time, has been described as a writer who liked to challenge the circumstances and expectations of his time. During the 16th/17th century, women and men had specific roles, characteristics, and expectations to live up to and had to strictly abide by them. Men were meant to provide for their family; and be courageous, masculine and powerful. As opposed to women who had completely different gender roles during the era. Women, on the other end of the spectrum, were expected to take care of the household, were considered the “weak” sex, and as soon as they were married, they became their husband’s “property”. In plenty of Shakespeare’s plays, however, we see the different ways he challenged those norms and turns them on their end. In Macbeth and Twelfth Night we see the way that Shakespeare upends gender expectations by assigning traditionally masculine characteristics to female characters. In these two plays, that differentiate quite a lot, Shakespeare plays a lot with gender expectations and power the women hold over the men with Lady Macbeth and Olivia. Macbeth and Twelfth Night, I feel …show more content…
For example, Viola in Twelfth Night, is a representation of both feminine and masculine attitudes and behaviors. She is meant to represent a strong woman who holds masculinity in her actions and is considered a strong female because she demonstrates self-awareness. The idea of cross-dressing in the play is also a way in how Shakespeare introduces a homoerotic idea thus, challenging the norms that were set during his time since homoeroticism was shunned upon during Shakespeare’s time. Shakespeare introduces this idea when Orsino begins to tell Viola (disguised as Cesario)