The answer is complicated. Gender norms were certainly less fluid and more rigidly enforced than a modern person in a developed nation would be used to, but they were beginning to loosen up a bit as England emerged into its Renaissance period.

The plays of William Shakespeare are essentially conservative when it comes to reinforcing English Renaissance stereotypes of masculine and feminine virtues. They reflected a society that was only a few generations separated from its Medieval past and the idea of the "proper" places of men and women were still very clearly defined. Shakespeare (for the most part) reflected this old order when it came to the roles and responsibilities of men and women in society.

However, Shakespeare also found ways to challenge, modify, and question these societal norms in ways that were remarkably progressive for their time without being so radical as to be found distasteful. He raised many questions about how his society viewed females and males, about each gender's specific characteristics, about the things that they defined as feminine or masculine traits, about how these traits manifest themselves in the opposite gender, about the patriarchal nature of his society, and about what role men and women should play in their own (and each other's) lives.

English society's openness to new ideas in this period allowed writers like Shakespeare to create male characters with certain "feminine" characteristics, and females with "masculine" ones. This was made somewhat easier for audiences to swallow by the convention of using all-male casts to stage productions where strong female characters were vital to the stories. In Shakespeare's universe, masculine and feminine characteristics were both essential parts of "human nature" that existed in both genders to varying degrees.

For example, in Hamlet act 4, scene 7, we see Laertes weep when he hears of his sister's apparent suicide. He then exclaims, "the woman will be out!", meaning that his crying is a manifestation of his "womanly" parts that can no longer be held back by his "masculine strength".

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare rises above his society's assumptions of women as passive partners to their male counterparts in a relationship. The love between the two main characters is an equitable experience and the two assume equal responsibilities in making their relationship work.

And then there is the cross-dressing. Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Viola in Twelfth Night, and Rosalind in As You Like It all disguise themselves as men and thereby gain some of the privileges of male life. This would likely have flattered the Queen (who understood the feeling of being a woman in a traditionally male position) when she attended the plays. You'll notice, however, that the practice rarely goes in the opposite direction with men dressing as women.

I would love to go on and on about this topic, but I have a preview tonight and need to get to the theater. I'll be back tonight or tomorrow if you have followup questions. In the meantime, let me suggest some further reading:

• Shakespeare and gender: a history by Deborah Barker and ‎Ivo Kamps, 1995

• Gender in Play on the Shakespearean Stage by Michael Shapiro, 1996

• Shakespeare and the Nature of Women by Juliet Dustinberre, 1975

• The Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare by Carolyn Lenz, Ruth Swift, Gayle Green, and Carol Thomas Neely, 1983

• Women in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by Mary Beth Rose, 1986