Shakespeare Rejected The Stereotype Of The Passive, Sexless, Unresponsive Female And Its Inevitable Concomitant, The Misogynist Conviction That All Women Were Whores At Heart (Germaine Greer) Notes

Shakespeare rejected the stereotype of the passive, sexless, unresponsive female and its inevitable concomitant, the misogynist conviction that all women were whores at heart (Germaine Greer) Shakespeare undoubtedly wrote many attractive parts for female actors, (the heroines in The Winter's Tale 1610 for example) or rather, they are now perceived to be so to modern actresses. Within the limitations of his contemporary situation, the roles that were adopted by the adolescent boys of Shakespeare's theatre company were inescapable coloured by male interpretation. A theatre void of female influence, save for the playwrights own views and opinions is unsurprisingly misogynistic in tone. While Shakespeare may have pioneered in offering more than one typeset in his female roles, it would be inaccurate to claim that he wholly rejected the harlot stereotype itself, and it is worth noting that he himself established many of the theatrical stereotypes that are still prominent today (the 'Juliets', the Lady Macbeths for instance) . What is more fitting is that, like with most aspects of his dramatic art, Shakespeare offers variety. Also, quite importantly, while his female characters may themselves defy misogynistic expectations, their male counterparts attempt to trap reshape them into these terms. In Hamlet (1603) the characters of Ophelia and Gertrude are not so much individuals as vessels in which the other male characters, particularly Hamlet, project their own psychologies onto. For example in the closet scene of Act IV in which the climax of Hamlet and Gertrude's interactions is reached, we are denied what both the plot and our position within it demands; some form of exposition and explanation. Despite this, and Hamlet's intentions to hold up a mirror to his 

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