During the Elizabethan era there came to light one of the world’s most renowned authors – William Shakespeare. For some he was revolutionary, for others a rebel. Sometimes he was labeled racist and sometimes homosexual. According to me he was a feminist, who believed in liberating women than just leaving them to a pedestal of pretty delicate homely creatures.
Most authors in that era were quite stereotypical in their characterization of women characters. They would more than often just be the mother, sister or wife. Their hobbies would be restricted to music, reading, cooking and perhaps gardening. Women would be portrayed as either the damsel in distress or the good tempered love interest or just the interfering mother. Gossiping about the neighbourhood would be their only work and their only consensus in life would be to get married, have babies and keep everyone happy. Basically more or less, like our saas-bahu sagas.
Like a whiff of fresh air came in Shakespeare to end these stereotypes and bring in women who were educated and liberated. He brought out their feelings of anger, jealousy, vindication, happiness, pride and love which till then only men seem to possess. He showed them to be ambitious, revengeful, deceitful, courageous and decisive which seemed to be the birth right of men alone. For majority of his plays it was the women who would drive the plot further. They would form the climax and leave an inherent trail through the story. They were more than just a doormat and lived to be more than just a piece of furniture in the house. All this was managed in a day and age where women weren’t even allowed to be a part of plays, even their characters were played by either men or transgenders.
Shakespeare’s women have always had various facets and shades to their characters. Portia from The Merchant of Venice was the cross dressing clever vixen. She has the guts and the intellect to save her husband’s best friend in a court room full of men. Then there was the shrewd Katherine from The Taming of the Shrew. Though the end was a bit contradictory, she was independent, sarcastic, egoistic and iconic. The Twelfth Night brought us to another cross dresser Viola. She was a go getter, a charmer and slightly deceitful. Not only could she make any man go weak on his knees but women too. In Loves Labour Lost, the Princess of France and her two friends actually made their lovers break their vows and fall in love with them. They beat them in intelligence and had no mercy when it came to playing practical jokes on them. Yet they kept them grounded and taught them worldly values so what if one of them was a king and two his fellow knights men. Without these ladies neither of these comedies would be the classics they were.
One of Shakespeare’s most powerful characters was Lady Macbeth. She was ambitious and determined. She believed in where there is a will there is a way even if that way meant murder. She wasn’t a traditional wife as she was manipulative, dominating and selfish. Cordelia from King Lear wasn’t your archetypical daughter. Though she doted over her father, her love wasn’t blind. She was blunt and spoke the truth even if hurt the person she loved the most. She had a mind of her own and wasn’t blinded with fake promises and money. Desdemona from Othello lived life on her own terms and beliefs. Though she had many suitors she chose the man she loved even though it disappointed her father. She was a rebel, yet found a respectable place in society.
His women were neither black nor white. It was as though Shakespeare has in depth knowledge even when women were repressed about their complexities. Though he died his characters lived on forever because they were identifiable with every generation till date though they were written 400 ears ago. So even before the feminist movements and women empowerment talks, there was a feminist – William Shakespeare.
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