Tamed Shrews and Twelfth Nights: The Role of Women In Shakespeare Shrews and Twelfth Nights: The Role of Women In Shakespeare It is curious to note the role of women in Shakespearean literature. ... Two works, Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night, stand out particularly well in regards to Shakespeare's use of female characters. ... In direct contrast to Shrew, is Twelfth Night, whose main female protagonist is by far the strongest character in the play. ... Yet they share the same characteristics that Shakespeare imparted onto many of his heroines. ... It is this very import...

• Word Count: 1095
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Some of the most interesting female characters in Shakespeare's writing are Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Viola and Olivia in Twelfth Night, and Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark and Hamlet's mother, in Hamlet. ... In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the reader recognizes right away that Hermia is not ordinary woman. ... In Twelfth Night, the reader meets two female characters who are different from Hermia in many ways, but who are affected similarly by the constrictions of the dominant social norms that determined how women should act and what they could reasonably expect fr...

• Word Count: 2208
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Graduate

When looking at the similarities between Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and As You Like It, the most obvious connections lie in the manner in which the two main female roles both disguise themselves as men within the plays. ... Throughout Twelfth Night Shakespeare examines patterns of love and courtship through a repositioning of traditional Elizabethan gender roles. ... Shakespeare uses the comedy behind Viola's gender transformation to explore the notion that concepts of romantic love are not always selective by gender. ... Like many of Shakespeare's plays and poems, As You Like...

• Word Count: 1484
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate