Women's Role In The Renaissance

Perception of Women in the Renaissance

Perception is the point of view a person or groups of people have towards a specific idea or thought. Throughout the Renaissance, many discoveries, improvements, and realizations were made in art and literature. However, these changes did not impact the image of a woman in the Renaissance. Such as the four most important Renaissance artists depictions of women. Those artists were Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo (yes these are also the popular cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, no they are not prevalent in any way shape or form other than name). In literature, poets such as Christopher Marlowe, Machiavelli, and mainly William Shakespeare discuss holy or spiritual and have mixed opinions
Women lived a more insubordinate or inferior lifestyle. Men ruled over everything, even through half a century of Queens. This perceives that women were inferior and did achieve in the Renaissance, just not as much as men.
The Renaissance presented people with rich literature that paved the literary cobblestones into the environmentally sound asphalt streets used today. In literature at the time, women were viewed as the inferior gender and had roles in civilization such as; housekeeping, caring for the youth as well as sexual pleasures to men. Women’s roles were limited in Renaissance life to a point where they were excluded from a leading role in public life (Women). They were not permitted to act in any of Shakespeare’s plays. In the event a woman character needed to be filled, a man would suffice as women were “incapable.” Famed and revered playwright William Shakespeare was noted for the writing of Macbeth, a seventeenth century play dedicated to King James. In this play , Shakespeare writes of Macbeth and his Jekyll-Hyde like transformation from noble thane to bloody murderer. While the plot revolves around Macbeth and his notorious actions throughout; the attention is turned numerous times to his wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is depicted by Shakespeare as an honest, good woman, but as the story moves forward she is proven to be the exact opposite of the stereotypical woman in the Renaissance era. She is well educated, serves a purpose in the household other than basic housekeeping and can openly critique her spouse. While in virtually all other homes that would be condoned as an extreme display of disrespect. Lady Macbeth is different from the average Renaissance woman in the sense that she is nobility. Shakespeare’s perception of Lady Macbeth creates a loophole in the statement that royalty can