Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains

Well, anyone who thinks that has never read Shakespeare's work very carefully, if at all. In his early plays, the women are just there to be plot devices for the men, and their motivations; by the end of his career, the women are often the most astute and morally courageous characters onstage.

IMNSHO, he could not have written these characters so well, if he didn't respect the women in his own life so deeply.