In and outside of literature, women are stereotyped as the weaker sex. However, Marie de France is is able to turn tables and portray Guigemar, the male force, as weak and needing the woman to help heal him in his time of distress. This was unheard of during her time period and a strong female lead character was somewhat a myth. Centralizing the plot line on a woman's power and control is breaking through society walls of expectations provided by the culture. .
In William Shakespeare's, "The Tempest ", the only female presence in the play is Miranda, who is merely used a tool in Prospero's machine and as a flimsy love interest for Ferdinand. The lack of women in the play is already fitting to the time period Shakespeare created this play during. The dominating, patriarchal presence of Prospero is something to be expected and represents Shakespeare himself as the absolute ruler of the story just as Prospero is. "The Tempest " provides enough details and ideas about the women in the play for readers to speculate about them, but not nearly enough for readers to make any concrete conclusions or arguments for or against them. An example of this is Syocrax, Shakespeare does not provide enough detail to analyze Sycorax like one has the opportunity to analyze and form opinions about the male characters present throughout the entire play, however, the male characters, especially Prospero, continually recount and emphasize Sycorax's absence. Highlighting this only leads to more of an obvious lack of strong female characters. Sycorax had the opportunity to be strong but since her island and by default her power was taken away by Prospero it only makes sense that many do not pay much attention to her. Prospero is a white, male patriarch extremely stereotypical to his time, and Sycorax is a woman, portrayed and fitted into the societal expectation of how potential lead female character might be perceived.