Female Relationships
The
author of these plays portrays a number of intimate woman-to-woman
relationships. These relationships were not included in the source
materials from which the playwright borrowed the plot; many of the
women were added to the original stories so there could be a relationship.
The bonds between these women are strong and supportive (well, Helena and
Hermia have some issues for a bit), as opposed to the male
relationships which often tend
to be destructive.
- Paulina and Hermione in The Winter’s Tale.
- Hermia and Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
- Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It.
- Desdemona and Emilia in Othello.
- Beatrice and Hero in Much Ado About Nothing.
- Queen Margaret, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Ann, and the Duchess of York in Richard III.
- Maria and Olivia in Twelfth Night.
- Adriana and Luciana (sisters) in The Comedy of Errors.
- Julia and Silvia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
- The Princess of France, Rosaline, Maria, and Katherine in Love’s Labor’s Lost.
- Portia and Nerissa in The Merchant of Venice.
- Mistress Ford and Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
- Juliet and her Nurse in Romeo and Juliet.
- Cleopatra with Charmian and Iras in Antony and Cleopatra.
- Volumnia, Virgilia, and Valeria in Coriolanus.