Introduction Gender expectations largely limited personal choice during the Elizabethan era. The Elizabethan era was the period in which Elizabeth I ruled England from 1558 to 1603. There was a strong view that women should be the property of men and must obey them. William Shakespeare greatly influenced this time period and incorporated different gender roles and expectations into his works. The personal is defined as something that concerns private life, relationships and emotions rather than career or public life. Choice is defined as the act of choosing between two or more possibilities. Therefore personal choice can be seen as the way someone chooses to live their personal life; be it the relationships formed or the lifestyle. Women were very disadvantaged as they had few legal rights and no choice in lifestyle. The main contrasting differences between men and women during the Elizabethan era were: legal status and marriage. These differences between men and women limited women to a large extent, which in turn resulted in a lack of personal choice for women; on the contrary, men could freely choose how to live their lives. Legal Status A woman's legal status was completely different from that of a man as it completely limited her to having no personal choice in her career and lifestyle. There was also a difference between a married woman and a mature single woman: a single woman could administer and inherit land; make a will and stipulate a contract; and sue – once married a woman lost all her rights. A woman was owned by her father and then passed on to her husband. Olivia, a single and rebellious woman in "Twelfth Night" lost all her rights once married. At the beginning Duke Orisino and Sir Andrew actually feel thr...... middle of paper ......and in revolt against the inequality between men and women. Queen Elizabeth was also reluctant to marry because she would have to obey her husband. Furthermore, getting married wasn't always the dream of girls during the Elizabethan era. Having to get married was not entirely a girl's dream during the Elizabethan era, having to have a baby every two years and the man's "disgrace" results in severe punishment for the woman and her father. This was proven when Hero from "Much Ado About Nothing" was framed for having an affair with someone else when she was supposed to marry Claudio. However, he could not defend himself because this went against social mores. "Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust" is a notation used in "Much Ado About Nothing", meaning that everyone is equal, however this was not the case in the Elizabethan era due to the conflicting expectations of the different sexes which would have limited the personal choice.