Roles of Women in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Century
Women in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Century were still mainly living in the roles they had for centuries. They were mothers, sisters, wives, or mistresses. Most of the literature of the time showed them in those few roles, with very few breaking out of the roles due to extraordinary circumstances.
The first two women, who to a point were able to follow a different path, were the two Tudor Queens. Once Edward VI died his sisters took the throne, both as monarchs in their own right with Mary being the first crowned female monarch of England. With Queen Mary I, who ruled England as sole monarch until her marriage, and Queen Elizabeth I, lone ruler until her death, some started to realize that women could do more than originally thought, though the women in question had to show just how much they could act like men. It showed in Queen Elizabeth’s “Speech to the Troops at Tilbury”. “I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman: but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a King of England too,” (763). She said what she did to show her army that she had the courage to do what was needed in the battle and the heart to carry it through for the good of her country. It was a way to show her detractors that she was able to rule the country by herself and that she didn’t need a King to help her with the harder issues.
As a contrast to these two women who had power over their lives and the lives of their subjects, there is the lady in Marlow’s “The Passionate Shepherd to his Love.” The Shepherd wants her there for his pleasure, which shows in the verse “And we will sit upon the rocks, Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks” (1126). This makes one think that the woman in question would have to do what the shepherd would want; it would not matter if she had things to do. She would have to put it aside for the needs of her husband if she agreed with his proposal. Her needs and wants would no longer matter. There is another example in the poem of how the shepherd would shower her with gifts though she would have to put some work into them herself, which makes them seem less enjoyable; “A gown made of the finest wool Which from our pretty lambs we pull” (1126). This ignores the spinning, weaving, and sewing of the dress, which was something his love would have to accomplish by herself since they were on the lower rung of society and less likely to employ a seamstress, spinster or weaver. For all the promises he is making in the poem, the lady in question is looking at a hard life ahead if she takes him up on his offer.
In Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” Viola, who thinks she is now alone in the world, ends up dressing as a male to find a good job to keep herself off the street. She and the ship’s captain automatically go to making her seem to be male, including the line “Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him,” (1192), the eunuch claim being a way for others to ignore her feminine features. This story gives an idea that women can only show what they are capable of if they hide their true selves. In the end, when Viola is shown to be a woman, the Duke demands marriage. “Here is my hand. You shall from this time your master’s mistress,” (1248). Once she is known to be female, a noblewoman, and had been living as a male in the Dukes service, he sets out to make sure no scandal follows her and takes her as a wife. This is done because she is of higher breeding and is from the upper levels in society. This makes it the only thing to do since she lowered herself to work. This is shown in the lines “so much against the mettle of your sex, so far beneath your soft and tender breeding,” (1248). Even though Viola showed herself to be an asset to the Duke, helping in various ways with his business, once it was known that she was female she was pushed back into the traditional life of a well-born young woman.
The women of the era were living the same lives as their mothers and grandmothers. They had no way of changing the view of a woman as someone who needed protected and cared for. I’m not sure how many were brave enough to take the route Viola did in “Twelfth Night”, or tried to use Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I as role models of what a woman could do. Most women followed the lives expected of them, and raised the next generation of women, who kept doing what was expected of them.
Work Cited
Marlowe, Christopher. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” .The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages. Ed. Greenblatt, Stephen. New York, London. W.W Norton and Company. 2012. Print.
Shakespeare, William. “Twelfth Night”. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages. Ed. Greenblatt, Stephen. New York, London. W.W Norton and Company. 2012. Print.
Tudor, Queen Elizabeth I. “Speech to the Troops at Tilbury”. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages. Ed. Greenblatt, Stephen. New York, London. W.W Norton and Company. 2012. Print.
Unknown. Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, Bianca Ponzini Anguissola, and Lenora Di Toledo. Painting. Template images by enjoynz. Via Guide to William Shakespeare.