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Abstract
Although ecofeminism emerged in the 1970s as a separate field of study, ecofeminist subjects and themes are not limited to the modern age but were also handled by Shakespeare centuries ago. Since the ancient times, women, underclass people, working class, people of colour, animals, and nature have been oppressed and exploited in hierarchically structured patriarchal societies. Especially women have been closely associated with nature because of their physiology, and psychology and this close identification has been deeply coded in both their socio-culturally and ideologically assigned roles and patriarchal language. Thus, this bond between nature and women has been established both ontologically and epistemologically. Therefore, “no attempt to liberate women (or any other oppressed group) will be successful without an equal attempt to liberate nature” (Gaard, 1993, p. 1) since all forms of oppression are essentially related. This paper aims to study Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale through an ecofeminist perspective by particularly focusing on the mutual domination of women and nature under the influence of the male-biased worldview in a highly patriarchal and hierarchical society. Nature and women are both subjugated and victimized by androcentric and dualistically thinking men who fail to recognize the interconnectedness and interdependence between men and women, men and nature, and culture and nature.