Abstract:
The legendary playwright William Shakespeare is the greatest English dramatist in the world. His plays are widely read and enacted all over the world. In Shakespeare’s plays women are well etched and reflected the universal human nature. In the plays of Shakespeare we come across many strong, resourceful and self confident women who, at times are stronger than men, and they create their own space and represent a spirited independence. The construction of female characters in Shakespeare’s plays reflects the Elizabethan image of women in general. Women of that era were supposed to represent virtues like obedience, silence, sexual chastity, humility, constancy and patience. There were several women in Shakespeare’s plays who assert themselves in very different ways, like-Cleopatra, Portia, Desdemona, Juliet, Lady Macbeth, Miranda, Olivia, Rosalinda and Viola. In ‘King Lear’, Cordelia embodies all the angelic and nurturing qualities that the other two Regan & Goneril lack. Regan & Goneril, King Lear’s two monstrous daughters, are archetypal villains from the onset of the play and although they serve well their purpose, they are not as developed as other Shakespeare “Villains”, such as Lady Macbeth.
Women is the plays of Shakespeare are the most individualistic heroines and displays a certain poise and maturity even in the tough times and saddest scenes. Women show the “feminine” virtues of love, sacrifice and piety. Few heroines show a loving nature, a tender heart, resolution and dignity like Portia in the merchant of Venice. Evil is the disruptive force and the tragedies show the hellish consequences, which always lead to deaths of the innocent and good. Women appear as supporting and central character in Shakespeare’s play, and these characters, as well as the so called “Dark Lady” of the sonnets, have elicited a substantial amount of criticism, which received added impetus during the second-wave feminism of the 1960s. Early criticism of female characters in Shakespeare’s drama focused on the positive attributes the dramatist bestows on them and often claimed that Shakespeare realistically captured the “essence” of feminity.
