There is a lack of female characters in different literary genres, in Anglo-Saxon, and in Macedonian literature. The number of male protagonists is greater than the one of female protagonists, whether that be in plays or novels, or even in children’s literature. This essay shows how, and why, writers have preferred to write about male characters to female ones. Male characters have predominated throughout history in Anglo-Saxon literary works. In Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, for example, some of the most famous characters are men – Ben Jonson’s Volpone, and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Even though there are some women in the plays, their roles are not significant or are not strong enough. Such character is Hamlet’s Ophelia, who is submissive and cannot cope with life, unless lead by a man. And it is her own opinion that . Furthermore, men in the play are misogynistic. They do not care about Ophelia’s feelings, but are responsible for her eventual suicide. The misogyny (which is also present in other Shakespeare’s plays) can be best seen in Hamlet’s line "Frailty; thy name is woman." In 18th and 19th century novels, the predominance of male characters is also evident. Daniel Defoe puts a man (Robinson Crusoe) on a desolate island, Jonathan Swift …show more content…
The first Slavic alphabet appears as late as the IX century; for centuries, books and texts were being translated, instead of being written; Macedonians could not write in their mother tongue for many centuries; many churches, monasteries, and libraries have been ruined and burnt. Thus, there are periods when not so many characters are present in Macedonian literature (male nor female); although, when present, they are almost always male. For a long time, people were struggling, and were preoccupied with the idea of simply being able to write in their mother