Why couldn women act on stage in the Elizabethan era?
Actors were part of the lowest social order. They were not considered to be reputable and the life of an actor was seen as near prostitution. In fact, in the early medieval period traveling troupes were viewed with extreme distrust and when an actor died they could not even be given a Christian burial. This early view continued for hundreds of years (until the 1800s). With such a view of acting, how could the Elizabethan minds accept woman into that field? The medieval woman was ideally suppose to be virginal and obedient, the fairer and weaker sex. The two ideas clashed and thus woman were forbidden to participate.
