Shakespeare and Women?

You could make that argument, and I would say go for it. But here are some things to think about:

1. Beatrice in "Much Ado About Nothing" is arguably the strongest female character in all of Shakespeare's plays. Written before "As You Like It."

2. Portia in "The Merchant of Venice" exercises even more control than Beatrice, being in some sense in possession of her own fortune. Of course, her possession is limited by the fact that her dead father still controls her inheritance and marriage choices, and she gets married in the middle of the play. But she continues to work at intervention in the male world, first with her disguise as the young male judge, and second with the medium of the ring which she gives to her husband but is still not his to give (compare to Othello's attitudes toward Desdemona and the gift of the handkerchief).

3. The character of Tamora in "Titus Andronicus," an early tragedy, prefigures both Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra as a very strong, albeit evil, woman. So does the character of Margaret in parts two and three of "Henry VI" (both early histories), although Margaret gets eclipsed by the character of Richard of Gloucester (Richard III).

4. Lady Macbeth isn't strong. Macbeth uses her to "convince" himself to murder Duncan (which he is thinking about in the first act). She thinks that her husband is weakened because of his good nature, but it turns out she really doesn't understand the first thing about violence, thinking that after Duncan is murdered they can live happily ever after. Macbeth KNOWS there are a lot of other people who have to die, and he systematically destroys them, much to the horror of his wife who winds alienated from her husband and driven mad. This is strength of character?

5. "Antony and Cleopatra" was first PRINTED in 1623, the date when Shakespeare's works were posthumously gathered into a single volume. Shakespeare died in 1616. The play was probably WRITTEN in 1606, but may have been written (and performed) as early as 1603. At any rate, it was entered in the Stationers Register by 1608.

If I were you, I would sharpen your focus to be more about the development of women in the comedies with an emphasis on the approaches of the women characters to the institution of marriage. You could certainly start with "Taming of the Shrew," draw comparisons between Kate and Rosalind if you like, then maybe look at a later darker comedy like "Measure for Measure," and the character of Isabella who is virtually trapped and silenced by a marriage by the end of the play.

Hope that helps.

interesting, interesting.. your thesis could be right. although i think macbeth and cleopatra are not good examples since theyre historical figures and not made up by shakespeare.

but i would interpret the first three plays you mentioned in the way you did too, especially bc elisabeth I (quite a liberated woman for her time) was shakespeares "mentor".

I think Shakespeare shows how each individual shows their own power, rather than having another's. I don't think that's possible.

Romeo and Juliet didn't have such a powerful force to overcome the conflicts them seemed to have within and without towards other's. Both just quit. Don't quit, is the message I think he gives on this one.

Also king lear 1604 has two powerful evil women and a strong moral woman.