Was Shakespeare a misogynist

Answer 1

Shakespeare had many Anti-Semitic Views that were prevalent in England at the time that he was writing, but he did not have any opinions that were much stronger than the general environment. He also gives Jews a more human character than many contemporaries. See the below discussion for a better understanding of Shakespeare's views.

During the time of Shakespeare Jews didn't live in England (they were cast out by Edward the 1st.)

It is probable that Shakespeare had never seen a Jew in his life, however in 1594 a famous Jew stood for trial - Rodrigo Lopez and scholars believe that Shakespearean knowledge about Jews came from this famous trial.

in 1597 Shakespeare wrote "the merchant of Venice" which besides the endemic antisemitic views of that time also portrays the Jew as human in a certain "spin" in the famous monologue

"Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" 3:1

Answer 2

Actually no. He was very "modern" for the age he lived in. Examples from his plays will show that he was not racist.

If you read his play, The Merchant of Venice, one of his most developed characters is a Jewish man named Shylock. During Shakespeare's time, most Jewish men were money lenders, a position that was greatly frowned upon in England. The population was highly racist against Jewish during this period and the fact that Shakespeare give Shylock so much depth shows his opinion on the Jewish community.

Examples like this continue in Shakespeare's other writings such as Othello.

Answer 3

probably not, because in romeo and Juliet he made the women in that book just as equal as the men. Plus he is an awesome play write and looked at women in a respectful manor.

Answer 4

There is much debate on weather William Shakespere's plays were antisemetic, if that's what you mean. There is no confirmed answer. If you mean were the charactors in the play antisemetic, then yes, to a degree. There are instances of racism and antisemetic behaviour throughout the play. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

No, Shakespeare is not a misogynist. He created a broad range of female characters throughout his thirty-eight plays. Some, like Rosalind in As You Like It, are brave, loving, intelligent and bold, and control the lives of the men around them. Goneril in King Lear is equally bold but is an adultress who plots the death of her husband. Queen Margaret in the second and third parts of Henry VI is an equally formidable (but morally questionable) woman who dominates her weakling husband. Lady Macbeth is another strong woman. So is Volumnia in Coriolanus, who saves Rome by the force of her personality on her son. What about Mrs. Page? Or Mrs. Ford? Helena? Cleopatra? Joan of Arc?

Shakespeare fought hard against the stereotype of the wayward wife, and sneered at mysogynistic men who suspected their good and faithful wives of adultery. An example is Ford in the Merry Wives of Windsor, who is a laughingstock for suspecting his wife who is getting the better of the would-be lover Falstaff. Other Shakespearean wives who are falsely suspected of being false include Imogen, Hermione, Hero, Titania and of course most sadly, Desdemona.

In short, if you only read one Shakespeare play, you might form the conclusion that Shakespeare was a misogynist, but if you read or watch all of them, you will find that Shakespeare is as prepared to find every virtue (as well as many vices) in his female characters as in his male ones.

AnswerYes i believe that shakespeare was a misogynist. This is clear especially in Hamlet. There are only two female characters (Ophelia and Gertrude) and both of these women are cast as weak, ignorant lustful women. Shakespeare has all of the male characters in leading and respecting roles and although he has gertrude as queen and ophelia as Hamlets love, they are still seen as pitiful characters who sustain know great value. This however was how women were seen in that time, less greater than men so im sure shakespeare had the same mind set as everybody else in that time.

Answer 6

Not really. He was fairly sympathetic to Italians, Scotsmen, Greeks and Moors, who come off as at least as well as Englishmen. He was less so with the French, who are cast as the bad guys in most of the history plays (since they are about England's Hundred Years War with France) but comedies set in France treat them fairly. The Spanish, however, were the current enemy of England, and so Spaniards (like Don Armado in Love's Labour's Lost or the Prince of Aragon in The Merchant of Venice) are ridiculed whenever they appear.

Basically, Shakespeare was not xenophobic.