1. Social norms: In Elizabethan England, women were generally excluded from public performance, including acting in plays. It was considered inappropriate for women to appear on stage, and their roles were often played by young male performers.
2. Voice quality: The majority of Shakespeare's female characters are written with high vocal ranges, which would have been challenging for adult male actors to perform convincingly. Younger boys, with their higher-pitched voices, were better suited to these roles.
3. Apprenticeship system: In Shakespeare's time, acting companies operated under an apprenticeship system, where young boys would join a theater company as apprentices and learn the craft of acting by observing and performing various roles, including female characters.
4. Cross-dressing: The practice of cross-dressing was common in Elizabethan theater and was not seen as unusual. Actors often portrayed characters of the opposite sex, and the audience would have accepted and recognized this convention.
5. Suspension of disbelief: Elizabethan audiences were known for their willingness to suspend their disbelief and accept the theatrical conventions of the time, including male actors playing female roles. They focused on the skill of the actor and the portrayal of the character rather than the physical gender of the performer.
It's worth noting that the practice of male actors playing female roles in Shakespeare's plays continued beyond his lifetime and remained common until the late 17th century when women were finally permitted to perform on the English stage.