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

Roles of Women During the Renaissance as Seen in Shakespe atomic number 18s Henry IV The rounds of Shakespeare nominate be used as a window upon Renaissance society. However, if sensation looks through this window and does not leave behind the ideals of a upstart 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 neglect thereof, depicts the changing, yet somehow stagnant, roles of women during the English Renaissance. In I Henry IV, the themes of creation and private life are brought together (Speaight, 163). Elizabethan society was marked by gender seperation, both publicly and privately. Lady Percy does not trick an active role outside of Hotspurs private life. To Hotspur, a womans world was To play with mammets and to tilt with lips (2. 2. 91), a gentle powerless occupation that did not concoction with mans domain of bloody noses and cracked crowns (2. 2. 92). Although women writing during this time affirmed 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 social classes began to distrust their inferiority to men as a result of the new stress on education for women. The heightened exposure to Biblical and classical influences among Renaissance women created ludicrous results. Education was designed to fill specific private functions and responsabilities (Travitsky, 5). Women were not support to leave their place within the home, but instead were encouraged on the development of the home as a school of faith ... ...lewd, froward, and unconstant men, and Husbands. split into Two Parts. The first proveth the dignity and worthinesse of Women, out of divine Testimonies. The second shewing the tenderness of the Foe-minine Sexe, in ancient and P agan times all which is acknowledged by men themselves in their actions. Written by Ester Sowernam, neither Maide,Wife, nor Widdowe, yet in truth 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 worldly concern 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 impression of Honor. Princeton Princeton University Press, 1960.