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William Shakespeare was alive during a time that much differed from today. Back then, people were ranked in society by their gender, race or status. Today everyone is equal no matter what religion, gender, etc. We are all equal because we are all human beings. Even though Shakespeare was living during a different time, he still had a similar worldview that many of us share today. While reading Shakespeare’s plays, I at first found it difficult to figure out what his worldview was. I could not determine whether he was, in fact, Anti-Semitic although it was obvious that the majority of people were.
However, many of the females he wrote about were extremely strong characters, especially for that time period. This brought me to the conclusion that he believed that men and women should have been equal. His worldview was that gender should not determine status, intelligence or anything else. For example, in his play, the Merchant of Venice, Portia was really strong and out-smarted many of the male characters. She dressed up in disguise and tricked a whole courtroom; Shakespeare wrote the play so that Portia was the one who then made the final decision.
I agree with William’s worldview that women are able to be just as strong as men. I think that both men and women are capable of achieving the same amount of success in anything they do. In Shakespeare’s time, women were not allowed to act on stage so men played the female parts in his plays. My drama teacher in high school said that Shakespeare would have had women actresses in his plays if it were allowed. I admire William Shakespeare for so many reasons and this is only one of them. I was surprised when I found out that this was how he viewed the world.