General Introcuction of the Role of Women in Shakespeare’s Time
For the common women in Shakespeare’s time it was obligatory to learn how to manage a household and become accomplished in all household onuses. Common women were prohibited from receiving education and were fundamentally prepared for the only livelihood opportunity which a girl could choose, which was marriage. On the contrary, women from noble families were intermittently granted education, unlike the Commoners, and were taught by tutors in their home. Noble women were taught various languages, music and dancing. All Elizabethan women were insisted upon marriage and they were reliant on their male kinsfolk during the course of their lives. Elizabethan women were entirely governed by the men of the family and they were subjected to immediately comply with their father, brother, uncle or any other male associate of the family. The reprimand for ensuing disobedience was the whipping stool.
The Role of Unmarried Women in Shakespeare’s Time
In Elizabethan Times, single women were once able to occupy their life in a religious foundation but because of the disbanding of the nunneries and convents it became no longer an alternative. The only substitute to marriage for Elizabethan women from the lower classes was domestic service. Domestic service is when someone is subjected to work within an employer’s household. With parental acquiescence it was authorized by law that girls in Elizabethan times were able to get married at 12 however it was unusual for that to happen. Single women at that time were often mistaken to have been witches and were treated with suspicion
The Role of Married Women in Shakespeare’s Time
Women in Shakespeare’s time were condemned to bring a dowry to the marriage. A dowry was a volume of property, money or any items of substantial value which the bride would bring to the marriage as a gift to the groom. Once married, the Elizabethan women were accustomed to run the household chores and have kids. The mortality rate for infants and children were so high, as a result, families would generally be quite large as the women were required to deliver numerous babies. A lot of the time, Elizabethan women would die during childbirth and because of that, they would make arrangements for someone to look after their children.