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The position of women represented in works of William Shakespeare customized essays

In fact, William Shakespeare raised a large range of themes in his works and he drew the attention of the audience to various problems of English society of his epoch. In this respect, it should be said that the position of women is one of the most arguable points in the history of English society could not remain unnoticed by the author. At the same time, William Shakespeare perfectly depicts the existing views and biases in relation to women in English society.
For instance, in his work “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, the author creates a number of noteworthy female characters which perfectly reflects the existing stereotypes and biases concerning females. To put it more precisely, female characters of the play such as Helena and Hermia are shown by the author as close friends. However, their friendship is easily destructed because of the love to man. In fact, Helena betrays her friend, Hermia, uncovering her plan of escape with her beloved, just to prove Demetrius her love. In such a way, she sacrifices her friendship for the sake of love of a man (Orgel, 153). This episode is very important because it shows that women were viewed as treacherous and inconstant and, in general, the attitude to women was quite unjust because they were viewed as weak beings that cannot be compared to men in their nobility, intelligence and power. customized essays
The treacherous nature of women is also perfectly depicted by William Shakespeare in “Hamlet” since the mother of the main character is actually totally dependent on men. To put it more precisely, even being a Queen she cannot exercise her authority without a man. Moreover, she easily betrays her own husband and marries his murder in order to maintain her social position and the status of the Queen. In such a way, the author shows the traditional view on women that dominated in English society of that epoch. According to this view, women could not live independently from men and it was actually men who were breadwinners and who could support their families, while the role of women was limited by the family relations and chores (Orgel, 224).
Socio-political views in works of William Shakespeare
Naturally, being an outstanding writer and being in the center of the life of English society, William Shakespeare could not fail to draw the attention of the audience to socio-political problems and reality of his epoch. Basically, many of his works represent the description of the life of the court and royal family (Greenblatt a, 156). At the same time, it should be pointed out that the author attempts to convey his own view and his position concerning the socio-political situation in the country and, especially, to the royal power (Dixon, 349). In general he sounds quite critical and this is probably why he perfectly depicts all those intrigues, scheming, permanent plots that accompanied the life of the court.
In this respect, his “Hamlet” and “King Lear” may be viewed as perfect examples of his New Historicist trends. On analyzing this works, it seems to be obvious that the author depicts not just a hypothetic court but he rather attempts to shows the real life of the court, namely the life of the English court of his epoch (Schoenbaum, 192). The writer shows that the life of the royal family is far from perfect and, in actuality, it is full of amoral actions and even crimes. For instance, the murder of the father of Hamlet may be viewed as a direct indication to the existence of political murders in English politics in his epoch. It is quite noteworthy that this crime would remain unpunished if Hamlet did not encounter the ghost of his father who tells him the truth. In such a way, the author shows that even the upper classes of English society, the royal family, was susceptible to the commitment of crime. As for the morals of the court, the fate of the King Lear perfectly illustrates that there was no room for sentiments and noble feelings, instead, pragmatism and irresistible desire of power dominated (Greenblatt, 386). Remarkably, many of these trends in the political life of England persist till present days that makes William Shakespeare’s works very interesting even in the present epoch.