The father-daughter relationship was one that Shakespeare explored again and again. His typical pattern featured a middle-aged or older man, usually a widower, with an adolescent daughter who had spent most of her life under her father's control, protected in his house. The plays usually begin when the daughter is on the verge of womanhood and eager to assert her own identity and make her own decisions, especially in matters of the heart, even if it means going against her father's wishes.
This work considers Capulet in
Romeo and Juliet
as an inept father to Juliet and Prospero in
The Tempest
as an able mentor to Miranda; Hermia in
A Midsummer Night's Dream
, Jessica in
The Merchant of Venice
and Desdemona in
Othello
as daughters who rebel against their fathers; Hero in
Much Ado About Nothing
, Lavinia in
Titus Andronicus
and Ophelia in
Hamlet
as daughters who acquiesce; Bianca in
The Taming of the Shrew
and Goneril and Regan in
King Lear
as daughters who cunningly play the good girl role; Portia in
, Viola in
Twelfth Night
and Rosalind in
As You Like It
as daughters who act in their fathers' places; and Marina in
Pericles
, Perdita in
The Winter's Tale
and Cordelia in
Lear
as daughters who forgive and heal.