Women In The Elizabethan Era

There is a widely accepted idea that Shakespeare was highly gender biased. This perception of Shakespeare is probably because of the common acceptance that the Elizabethan Era, which Shakespeare lived in, was a remarkably gender biased time. After taking a closer look at his work, the playwright incorporated surprising aspects of feminism in his writing. During the Elizabethan Era (when women were often suppressed) Shakespeare wrote The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth, which both display strangely contrasting views of feminism during the time period they were composed. The Elizabethan Era was undeniably more partial to males than to females. Women were often characterized as dependent, passive and obedient (Weiner 38). Additionally, society …show more content…
In the beginning of the play, Katherine surprises viewers with her unusual behavior. She is described as rough and uncultured, which contradicts normality for women during the time period. For example, Katherine talks back to her father and her sister’s suitors, causing people in town to name her a “shrew”, meaning an aggressive and bad-tempered woman (Beck 8). As uncommon as an assertive woman is, Kate is strangely jealous of her sister. Since Katherine perceives Bianca as weaker, why would Kate be jealous? Well, because Bianca has a great deal of suitors, perhaps Kate is jealous of the fact that no man finds her aggressiveness attractive. Out of jealousy, she ties up her sister and questions Bianca, demanding to know which suitor the younger sister likes better. Because Bianca does not need to worry about whether or not she is accepted by society, a possible reason for Kate’s anxiety is that no one appreciates her decision to express her own thoughts and opinions (Shakespeare “Taming” 73-77). Although fearing abandonment and an ostracized life, Kate states that she does not want to be married when Petruchio proposes to her. She even strikes him after a heated verbal debate, which ends when Petruchio lies to Baptista about Katherine’s answer to his proposal (Shakespeare “Taming”