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crucial role in understanding women/nature and men in the Elizabethan period. The fathers
connect their daughters to nature through various ways, including subordination, possession, and
reproductive functions. Lear and Leonato both maintain a strong relationship with their
daughters in terms of the daughter’s obedience and the father’s patriarchal authority because they
are the fathers who closely relate their daughters to nature. Prospero and Shylock, however, have
a questionable relationship with their daughters, whom they do not significantly associate with
nature. However, Prospero is still able to maintain a strong relationship with his daughter
because they are already immersed in nature, whereas Shylock eventually loses his connection
with his daughter as he keeps her from nature. Overall, by establishing their daughters’
connection to nature as subordinate, the fathers are able to establish their patriarchal structure by
positioning themselves at the top, which creates a functional, if markedly pre-feminist, father-
daughter relationship.