[Shakespeare realized that] Women are able to understand themselves better on a personal level and survive in the world if they dress in men's clothing, thus living underground, safe (..). The presence of women disguising themselves as men dictates that the play be a comedy; women remaining in their frocks, a tragedy. In four great tragedies -Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear- almost all the women die (..). How much the women have to adhere to the rules and regulations of their enviroment makes a large difference. Once Rosalind [disguised as a man in As You Like It] has run away from the court, she has no institutional structures to deal with. Ophelia [in her frocks] is surrounded tightly by institutional structures of family, court, and politics; only by going mad can be get out of it all. Tina Packer
About This Quote

In this quote, Shakespeare is explaining why women are usually portrayed as tragic figures in his plays. In the plays he wrote, the women usually die at the end of the play, largely because they are trapped in a world that isn't going to allow them to succeed.

Source: Women Of Will: Following The Feminine In Shakespeares Plays

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