Discuss the female Characters in Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare presents the picture of rotten and immoral society where the women are deprived of their place and rights. Their status is not so bright rather colourless. They are tortured and violated. They are considered nothing but commodity. Juliet, Mariana, Mistress Overdone, and Isabella are the women characters who do not get proper place and status in the society. Now let us try to comment on the status of women in the world of the play.

Claudio had a love relationship with Juliet. He wanted to marry her. But her relatives were unwilling to give her dowry. Claudio is a greedy man. So he rejects Juliet. He offers Juliet that if she does not mind she can live with him as husband and wife. Juliet is is a simple girl. She agrees to live with him. As a result, Juliet becomes pregnant. If there is no dowry system in the society, Claudio and Juliet can become real husband and wife

Mariana is another woman character in the play who is also deprived of social place and status. She is a victim of dowry system. She is the sister of a great soldier Frederick. She is engaged to Angelo. If her brother was not died in shipwrecked, she would marry Angelo. Frederick was carrying the total dowry of Mariana. At the time of carrying  Mariana's dowry,the ship was wrecked and all the dowry was lost. So as a greedy man Angelo breaks off his engagement to Mariana. Here we find that there is no social  status of the woman in the society.

Mistress Overdone is another woman character in the play who is also deprided of social place and status. Under the pressure of poverty, she is compelled to lead an immoral life as a prostitute.If she had enough to lead her life, she would get her status in the society Now she is neglected in the society. She leads a life of a commodity. She sells her body by the money

Isabella is an important woman character who is also deprived of social place and status. Her brother Claudio is sentenced to death. So to save her brother's life, she goes to Angelo. But Angelo wants to seduce her to pardon her brother. Here we see that there is no scope of social place and status in the society of Vienna. 

To sum up, we can say that the women characters in this play are backwarded. By presenting various kinds of women characters- Juliet, Mariana, Mistress Overdone and Isabella-the true picture of the status and place of women are depicted in the play, Measure for Measure.