Gender and power: Women in the plays of Shakespeare and Lope de Vega

The diversity of Renaissance attitudes toward women achieves focus through analysis of the depiction of female characters in the plays of William Shakespeare and Lope de Vega. The foremost dramatists of their day, these prolific playwrights addressed a variety of gender issues that reflected contemporary masculine uncertainties regarding woman's appropriate role in society and shifting gender definitions during the Renaissance. As this dissertation demonstrates, the dramatists' portrayal of a wide spectrum of female types in conflict with contemporary social institutions is illustrative of a virulent Renaissance debate concerning the nature of gender difference, the dynamics of sexual politics, and the essential function of womanhood.;In recent years, the plays of Shakespeare and Lope have prompted widely disparate interpretations by feminist readers. As these conflicting readings indicate, in some plays, the dramatists seem to advocate greater equality for women, while in others, they uphold societal constraints against female assertiveness. As this dissertation demonstrates, this basic dichotomy in the dramatic representation of women reflects a larger societal struggle to come to terms with changing expectations regarding women and their position in Renaissance society.;In this dissertation, chapters focus upon topics pertinent to an understanding of the social status of women in the English and Spanish cultures, as portrayed in the plays of Shakespeare and Lope. Subjects addressed include arranged marriage (Romeo and Juliet and El castigo sin venganza), rape (Titus Andronicus and Fuente Ovejuna), and witchcraft (Macbeth and El caballero de Olmedo). Other chapters examine the topics of prostitution (Measure for Measure and La Dorotea), female education (All's Well That Ends Well and La dama boba), and androgyny (Twelfth Night and El anzuelo de Fenisa). Ultimately, the dramatic representation of women and their relationship to a variety of social institutions provides considerable information about the changing boundaries of Renaissance gender politics.