The nature of women and their consequent position in society continues to be an issue of interest to writers during the Renaissance. In Othello,...

In Oroonoko, author Aphra Behn portrays the intrigue surrounding a love affair among royalty. After Oroonoko marries Imoinda in secret, his grandfather the king decides he wants Oroonoko's bride for his own (even though the king already has many wives), and has her abducted. To stop the king from having Imoinda, the lovers contrive a plan to help her escape. Imoinda tells the king that Oroonoko raped her, thinking her lack of chastity will repel him. But the king decides to have her sold into slavery. This theme of women as objects to be captured, abused and sold is meant to draw attention to the plight of women at the time, a very forward-thinking approach to literature (perhaps due in part to Behn's own status as a woman in an era when women were generally seen as second-class citizens, although during the Renaissance this attitude was being challenged more widely). The nature of women in this story is that they are mere chattel, and women are therefore portrayed in a state of of victimhood and vulnerability. 

Shakespeare's play Othello also portrays women as objects to be controlled. Othello's tragic flaw of jealousy is expressed through rage when he believes that his wife Desdemona has been unfaithful to him. Since Othello views his wife as his property, it is a personal affront to his status as king and to his masculinity to imagine her being intimate with another man. Rather than suffer the embarrassment of being a cuckold (a term used in Shakespeare's time to indicate a man whose wife has been unfaithful), he murders Desdemona. Othello does this despite having no actual evidence of her betrayal, and despite her swearing to her own innocence, because he allows Iago to manipulate him. Knowing Othello's weaknesses (among them his possessive love for Desdemona), Iago can take advantage of what he knows will drive him mad. The nature of women in this play is shown to be reflected by what men think; that is, Desdemona's innocence and virtue are of no consequence because Othello believes she has been unfaithful.

In Paradise Lost, Milton's portrayal of the nature of women is mainly conveyed in the portrayal of Eve. She is shown to be weak and easily manipulated when the serpent convinces her to eat the apple. She leads Adam into sin (lust, gluttony, etc.), and as punishment for eating the forbidden fruit, God decrees that Eve will be the servant of Adam, and will also bear children in pain and suffering. Despite Adam's willingness to eat the fruit and to participate in "sinful" activities with Eve, Eve is blamed for their downfall from Paradise, and characterized as subservient to men because of her moral weakness.

In all three of these examples, it is worth noting that female sexuality is an implicit component of the portrayal of their nature. Women do not have sexual agency. Their chastity is seen as vitally important, and the compromise of their virtue (either loss of virginity or sharing of their bodies with men who are not their husbands) is reflective of the repressive sense of ownership of women by men that is seen in cultures throughout the world. It is also worth noting that, despite centuries of social progress, the attitude that women should not be allowed to control their own bodies or sexuality is still present in various places in the world.