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Ah, women, women! come; we have no friendBut resolution, and the briefest end.
Cleopatras soliloquy after Antonys death (Antony and Cleopatra, 4.16.91-92)
WHO WAS SHAKESPEARES DARK LADY?
The female page role was when a male actor played a woman
who was playing a man (a special challenge to both the actors ability to perform as well as to the audiences
imagination prior to 1660).
7XTHERE ARE
as for women in Shakespeares plays.
Emelia Bassano LanierA clandestine Jew and illegitimate daughter of the Italian-born court musician, Baptista Bassano, one of a group of Jewish musicians brought from Venice by Henry VIII
Mary FittonA gentlewoman and maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth
Lucy MorganA notorious London prostitute called Lucy Negro, Black Lucy, or Lucy Morgan
Aline FlorioWife to an Italian translator who first met Shakespeare at the home of the Earl of Southampton (Shakespeares patron for some time) and later again in London
AS MANY ROLES FOR MEN
84%of Shakespeare
characters are men
CLEOPATRA & ROSALIND ARE THE ONLY 2 female characters in the top 10 biggest roles in Shakespeares plays.
16%of Shakespeare
characters are women
CHARACTERS & THEIR LINESMain female characters had far fewer than their male counterparts
= 100 lines
Hamlet in Hamlet Iago in Othello King Henry in Henry V
Rosalind in As You Like It
Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra
InnogenCymbeline
Portia inThe Merchant of Venice
Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
Helena in Alls Well That Ends Well
Isabella in Measure for Measure
Desdemona in Othello
Emilia in The Two Noble Kinsmen
Mary Frith, a notorious London pickpocket and crossdresser, was the subject of several early modern works. She performed onstage once in the 1611 play
The Roaring Girl.
Hamilton, Sharon, Shakespeares Daughters, 5. Shapiro, Michael, Gender in Play on the Shakespearean Stage, 16-8. Spevack, Marvin, A Complete and Systematic Concordance
to the Works of Shakespeare. Wells, Stanley, An A-Z Guide to Shakespeare (2 ed.). Wells, Stanley and Gary Taylor, William
Shakespeare: A Textual Companion
WOMEN ON STAGE
In the early modern period, crossdressing was frequently
associated with prostitution, fornication, or other forms of illicit activities.
Legal proceeding records of the time contain numerous cases where women and their helpers were punished for dressing up as a manno matter illicit sexual activities were involved or not.
CROSSDRESSING OFF STAGE
Shakespeare used female page roles throughout his career
Cymbeline The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It Twelfth NightThe Two Gentlemen of Verona
Female roles were almost always played by male
actors until 1660.