The (Mis?)-Representation of Women in Shakespeare's Comedies

In the Elizabethan age, women had a lower status than men. This view was founded on the tenets of bible, especially on quotations from the Apostle Paul’s letters:

1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. … 8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man. 9 Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man.

1 Corinthians 14:34 Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.

1 Timothy 2:11 Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. 12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. 15 Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.

Titus 2:3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things -- 4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

The most powerful women figures in the bible were Eve and Mary. But during Renaissance, women “dwelt more in the shadow of the fallen Eve than the risen Mary. […] Every woman was to be daughter of Eve, whose primal sorrow would overwhelm even the virgin full of grace.” Nevertheless, according to 1 Timothy 2, 15, a woman can reach salvation if she marries, has children and leads a quiet life. “Most Renaissance women became mothers. Motherhood would define their lives and occupy most of their years.”

Women were also inferior to men in their social status: As stated in 1 Corinthians 11, 3, the man is the head of the woman, which means that the father makes the decisions for his unmarried daughters, and once they marry, the husband is their master. Women had hardly any chance to lead an independent life, as by marriage, they depended on their husbands economically, socially and sexually. In 1 Corinthians 14, 34-35, it is also said that women should not speak in public, but stick to the house and remain quiet. So women were also limited in their freedom of movement, as they should spend most of their time at home.