Shakespeare's Women

Reading can sometimes help us concretize a thought lingering at the back of our mind, in a way helping us give a body of words to the soul of a feeling. Something similar happened with me today (Aha!). Well, the matter is regarding Shakespeare and Women. I am not referring to a potential historical controversy about the Bard's personal liaisons (i leave that to Hollywood's creativity), but to the female characters he created in his plays. What is it about Shakespeare's female characters that makes them so darn endearing? Well, a brief paragraph by Bernard Shaw, quoted in Harold Bloom's book on Shakespeare, is a spot on explanation of the phenomenon, which almost borders on the mysterious. Though probably rooted in our need for conformation, there is indeed a sweet, almost unusual, pleasure in realising that one's thoughts coincide with those of an authority on the matter, which they somewhat do, in this case with the bearded genius: “The popularity of Rosalind (As You Like It) is because of three main causes: First, she only speaks blank verse for a few minutes. Second, she only wears a skirt for a few minutes (and the dismal effect of the change at the end to the wedding dress ought to convert the stupidest champion of petticoats to rational dress). Third, she makes love to the man, instead of waiting for the man to make love to her – a piece of natural history that has kept Shakespeare's heroines alive, while generations of properly governessed ladies taught to say “No” three times at least, have miserably perished.” Slam Dunk!