What were the roles of women in Elizabethan theatre?

Answer 1

The cliche'd idea is that the role of women was to stay around the house, cooking and cleaning, to cook and clean in the house, raise children and feed her family; they did not go to school, and men were considered the superior sex. The men had the choice of who they married; the women had little or no choice. In Shakespeare's time, women were not treated humanely but more like sex objects. Men were seen as the superior sex of which had complete control over women and could marry who ever they wanted. The women had no say in who they married to. Basically the two genders were not treated equally. Also women could not go to school. Instead, they had to stay at home to cook and clean. Men could also bet on the behavior of their wives to see which is the 'tamest' (if you believe the play The Taming of the Shrew to be an accurate reflection of reality). Obviously a lot has changed since Shakespearian times and men and women are now treated more equally and have the same rights as each other.

The reality was much more complex. Clearly it does not apply to nuns, or prostitutes, or widows or to the most important woman in the country, Queen Elizabeth, who neither cooked nor cleaned, was incredibly well-educated, constantly rebutted suggestions that she should marry this or that person, and was a terror to all those men around her. Sure, when she spoke at Tilbury, she said "I know that I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman"--that was the cliche--but she continued "but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a King of England too."

In other words, formidable women have always found the way to be a force in their world, and to subvert the cliche. It is no surprise that in Shakespeare's plays in which young women are to be forced into arranged marriages (Midsummer Night's Dream and Merry Wives of Windsor), both Hermia and Ann Page escape the arranged marriage and end up with the guy they want. In the play where the man is being forced into an unwanted marriage (All's Well that Ends Well), on the other hand, he not only has to go through with the wedding, but he is roundly criticised for not liking it.

Ann Shakespeare, for example, clearly chose William as a husband, as the match was not one that would have been arranged (and was concluded largely due to the onset of little Susannah). While her husband was off in London establishing a career in the theatre business, she was in Stratford with the three kids for over twenty-five years. During all that time, she ran the house, fed and clothed the kids and herself and did what work she could to supplement the income which must have been irregular, particularly at the start of William's career. She must have been a remarkable woman, and yet there must have been many like her.

Answer 2

Female characters were usually central to Shakespeare's plays, especially comedies and tragedies. The histories did not have as many strong female parts.

But although the female roles were usually central, there were not that many of them, since they were played in Shakespeare's day by boys with high voices, and there were only so many of these in the company.

Answer 3

If you mean actresses, there were no women that acted in Shakespeare's plays.

If you mean characters, they were mainly there to show weakness and inability to decide as well as stupidity. Some women are an exception, such as Portia in The Merchant of Venice.

Answer 4

Shakespeare has a broad variety of female characters in his plays, just as there is a broad variety of types of women in real life. The vast majority of his female characters are confident and competent, especially in the comedies. In As You Like It, for example, there is the forceful and decisive Rosalind (who only shows weakness when she fears she may have gone too far and caused her beloved's death), the almost as confident Celia, Phebe, who uses Silvius's love for her as a weapon against him, and who is taken to task for it by Rosalind, and finally Audrey, who may be an ignorant goatherd but knows the main chance when she sees it. In Midsummer Night's Dream we have the clever and courageous Hermia contrasted with the self-deprecating Helena, Titania, who is a forceful character even though she is successfully drugged with a love-potion and Hippolyta who is an Amazon no less.
In the Merry Wives of Windsor two middle-aged women continuously make a fool of the man who is trying to take advantage of them. They are smart, much smarter than any man in the play, and able to put their plans into action. The only person smarter is Anne Page who foils the plans of both of her parents so she can live happily with the man of her choice. Or there are the four indistinguishable women in Love's Labour's Lost, who have the four indistinguishable men totally under their control, and end by giving them a lesson about real life. In the Taming of the Shrew there are two contrasted main female characters, one of whom is out-of-control abusive and dominating and the other of whom is sneaky and more effective at actually controlling people. In The Winter's Tale we have the long-suffering Hermione, who fakes her death after being wrongly accused of adultery, her competent and brave daughter Perdita and Paulina, who becomes the conscience of the king, constantly reminding him of the wrong he has done. And Helena in All's Well that Ends Well who undertakes a journey alone on foot to Italy to search for her loved but not loving husband. And Marina in Pericles who is sold into slavery in a brothel, and uses her force of character to persuade all the clients that they don't want that kind of action after all. Clever and confident Beatrice is contrasted with her timid cousin Hero in Much Ado. The tragedies provide a wealth of different fascinating women: wise and taciturn Gertrude, fragile Ophelia, hard-as-flint Regan and Goneril, faithful Desdemona and Cordelia, dominating and ambitious Lady Macbeth, Juliet, who grows up fast in a world that doesn't show her much mercy, her crude but loving Nurse and self-absorbed and cruel mother, mercurial and fascinating Cleopatra, and Volumnia, another tough-as-nails type who is the only person in the world who can stop Coriolanus.
And in the histories we find the weak and easily-persuaded Lady Anne and the difficult to persuade Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, the astonishing Queen Margaret in the Henry VI plays: lover, protective mother, and general, Joan of Arc (who in Shakespeare is actually not only a successful soldier but a heartless liar as well), and the passionate mother Constance in King John.
This is just the short list. These female characters are as rich and interesting as the male characters in the plays.

Answer 5

Women played a very minor role in Elizabethan theatres. They formed a part of the audience and also were among those offering services to the patrons (selling Oranges etc.). Theatre companies might employ women to repair and clean costumes. They did not act in plays, were not part of the theatre management, and did not write plays very often. (I cannot say that they never wrote plays because the Countess of Pembroke wrote a play on the subject of Antony and Cleopatra, but it was not performed because it is not practical.)

Answer 6

Women worked in a great variety of jobs, only the upper classes didn't work.

They also were expected to take care of children and the household.

Answer 7

Female roles were played by men. Women did not appear on stage but may have worked backstage, perhaps sewing costume pieces or stage draperies. There were few sets and set pieces.

Answer 8

All roles were performed by males. Women did not perform on stage.

Answer 9

women are weak