Roles of Women During the Renaissance as Seen in Shakespeares Henry IV

Roles of Women During the conversion as Seen in Shakespe ares total heat IV The plays of Shakespeare can be used as a window upon spiritual rebirth union. However, if one looks through this window and does non leave behind the ideals of a modern society, the view may become distorted and not be as pleasing as it was for Shakespeares contemporaries. In I Henry IV, the characters of the women are not equally developed as the male characters but their interaction, or lack thereof, depicts the changing, further somehow stagnant, roles of women during the English reincarnation. In I Henry IV, the themes of public and private life are brought together (Speaight, 163). Elizabethan society was marked by gender seperation, both publicly and privately. Lady Percy does not play an active role outside of Hotspurs private life. To Hotspur, a womans gentleman was To play with mammets and to tilt with lips (2. 2. 91), a gentle powerless occupation that did not mix with mans domain of bl oody noses and cracked crowns (2. 2. 92). Although women writing during this time support that women are tender foft and beautifull, fo doth her difpofition in minde correfponde accordingly she is milde, yielding, and and vertuous(Sowernam, 43), women among the higher amicable classes began to question their inferiority to men as a result of the new-made emphasis on education for women. The heightened exposure to Biblical and classical influences among Renaissance women created paradoxical results. Education was designed to fill specific private functions and responsabilities (Travitsky, 5). Women were not advance to leave their place within the home, but instead were encouraged on the development of the home as a school of creed ... ...lewd, froward, and unconstant men, and Husbands. Divided into Two Parts. The first proveth the dignity and worthinesse of Women, out of divine Testimonies. The present moment shewing the estimation of the Foe-minine Sexe, in ancient and Paga n times all which is hold by men themselves in their actions. Written by Ester Sowernam, neither Maide,Wife, nor Widdowe, yet really all, and therefore experienced to defend all. London Printed for Nicholas Bourne, 1617. STC 22974. University Microfilms Reel no 1188. 4. Spaight, Robert. Shakespeare The Man and his Achievement. London J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1977. 5. Travitsky, Betty, ed. The Paradise of Women Writings by Englishwomen of the Renaissance. Westport Greenwood Press, 1981. 6. Watson, Curtis Brown. Shakespeare and the Renaissance Concept of Honor. Princeton Princeton University Press, 1960.