Why do portia and nerissa dress up as men

It can be stated that Shakespeare has contradicted the conceived limitations of women in Elizabethan society. Jessica, though she is portrayed as a submissive character which remains reactive rather than proactive, nevertheless breaks the constrictive binds of her gender and leaves the oppression of her father and his household.

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Become a member. One of the characteristics. A few times in the play cross-dressing is brung about. The women are banned from performing and instead their parts are played by young boys.

The character Portia in the play stands out as an independent strong willed women. In the trial scene, Portia enters the courtroom as a unbiased legal authority, and is quick. Cross gender roles and cross dressing are essential not only for the inherent humour of the situation but also for the advancment of the plot.

English Renaissance stereotypes of women and men and their various roles and responsibilities in society are reflected in Shakespeare. What sets Shakespeare apart is the fact that he also challenges, and at times even breaks down those stereotypes especially in his comedies.

While the play ends with Portia resuming her submissive role as a dutiful woman, now as a wife instead of a daughter, the effect that Portia has in influencing major events is not forgotten. Belsey, Catherine. Russ McDonald.

Maldon: Blackwell, Bennington, David, ed. Necessary Shakespeare. New York: Pearson Longman, Throughout the Elizabethan era, men had more advantages than women.

During the Elizabethan era, there was heavy sexism. Women were discriminated. While Petruchio uses his higher. The evil by which Lady In conclusion, the characters in Macbeth do not follow the stereotypical gender roles in relation to their status prescribed by the context in which Shakespeare lived.

Instead, both male and female characters were given elements of each other's sexual characteristics and as a result are portrayed to be given different representations of status.

This challenged the preconceived notions of gender and posed the question 'what is it to be a man? Both plays are comedies and the change in gender is used as a joke, but I think it goes much deeper. A woman can become a man, but only if it is not permanent. The affect of the change cannot be too great because she must change back to female once everything is settled.

They are strong female characters, but must become men to protect themselves and ultimately solve the problem of the play. The main example of Hamlet showing the act of being callous and over controlling is when Shakespeare shows how the women characters are not strong minded, but shows how their love and deception towards the male characters leads them to their behavior.

Lead to their own demises due to the flaws such as dependence they have. The male characters bossed the women around and the women did as they were told. Shakespeare used Gertrude and Ophelia to show how the men seemed to do as they wished and women were forced to follow.