>We know that in Shakespeare’s time, women were not allowed

You should argue that the agency of the female characters was present because they were played by male actors.

>>9190715
what exactly do you mean by agency of the female characters?

>>9190718
They are responsible for their own decisions in every sense of that phrase.

>>9190710
Where does the prompt mention sexism?

>>9190761
sorry, it was a poor choice of words. I'm saying that it's really hard to say 'what it means to be a woman' in Shakespeare's plays because they are all very different characters.

>>9190710
>studying romeo and juliet

You shouldn't be here if you're under 18.

>>9190710
easy. thesis statement: shakespeare was a feminist. that's what the prompt is driving at anyways. just run with it and write out your butt. your instructor will love it

>>9190785
thats good, thank you.

>>9190785
Make sure to use the prime example of Taming of the Shrew

>>9190785

This is also a good test because any teacher/professor who doesn't call him on an anachronism that ridiculous is obviously retarded and you can give them anything if it's touchy-feely like that.

As an actual tip for OP though, one consistent theme in Shakespeare's plays is the golden mean. He was writing plays for a general audience and he was popular enough he couldn't really afford to be transgressive. Whenever he questions or explores social norms, he always brings it back at the end to a "well this is okay, but we can't go all the way with it"

When you're worried about how the characters are all very different, consider how they might be opposites of each other and how those oppositions serve the aforementioned golden mean hugging.

For example, the two relationships in The Taming of the Shrew are polar opposites, the extremely traditional arranged marriage on one side and the more love-based relationship on the other side (which was just starting to become a common thing at the time)

It depicts two very different extremes and then brings them together at the end to say "well you should marry for love, but don't forget to listen to your parents too, because neither of these relationships are perfect"

>>9190785
This.

Seek a different class though. The instructor should give prompts, not tell you what your thesis will be.

I guarantee every single paper is going to be the same. A better assignment would have been to ask to pick a secondary character and analyze them, giving context and reason for their behaviour.

>>9190790
>>9190800
protip: to avoid accusations of anachronism be sure to use the term 'protofeminist' at least once