Time Essay, Research Paper
Essay: How Were Women Treated in Julius Caesar’s Time?
By: Andrew MillardWe are always striving for equality between the sexes. For many years women were seen as being less than men, and inferior to them. This is shown simply by one history-altering incident. The incident that I’m referring to is when the women were finally allowed to vote. It was quite a long time after the men were able to vote that they received the right to do so as well. It is also shown on older television shows in which the mother of the house is usually at home ready to make the next meal for her family. An example of this would be “Little house on the Prairie”. This topic is a very debatable one, and it is what I intend to discuss in this essay. I am also going to compare the women’s role then, to the role of women in society these days as well as the role women play in Julius Caesar’s time and compare that with how they were really treated in Rome at that point in history.
In Julius Caesar, women are portrayed as less than equals. This is shown by how in the entire movie, you never saw a woman fighting with, or against the men. Neither were women shown very often in scenes out in the city. Furthermore, men always presented what women had seen in their dreams and visions. The women that had one of these “revelations” never presented what she had seen by herself. This to me suggests that in the time frame of Julius Caesar, women were still treated as though they should be at home looking after the children and cleaning the house. Compared to today, that portrayal is completely different. Today many men and women believe that we are equals, and that women can do just as much as men in this (as of now) male dominated world. According to the roman research that I have done, this is indeed the right portrayal of women in the time frame that Julius Caesar took place.
In all of Shakespeare’s plays, women were never allowed to act. Whenever there was a women’s part to be played in one of his plays, it would always be played by a man. This can also get quite confusing. The best example is in “The Merchant of Venice” in which a man plays the role of a woman who is pretending to be a man! It would be (in my opinion) much easier to let a women play the part. After all, some of the best performers and entertainers in our modern world are women.
Well as you can see, women were not treated the same way as men in the time of Julius Caesar, and I do believe that Shakespeare portrayed them effectively and just as they should have been portrayed.
I personally believe that men and women have special individual roles that are equally important in life. Also, we have come a long, long way in the whole area of equality, and I believe we will come that much farther in the future.