Name of Playwright
William Shakespeare
Title of Play
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Date of Composition
Late 1599 or 1600
Characters
Claudius, King of Denmark: Deceitful, Power driven, And Unrighteous.
Hamlet: Grief Stricken, Angry, Seemingly mad, Vengeful.
Polonius, Lord of Chamberlain: Harsh, Knowing, Anxious, Cunning, And
Cowardly.
Horatio, Friend to Hamlet: Loyal, Caring, And Apprehensive.
Laertes, Son to Polonious: Cautious, Uncertain, Duty bound.
Voltimand: Duty bound.
Cornelious: Duty bound.
Rosencranze: Philosophical, Two-faced, And Fearful.
Guildenstern: Philosophical, Two-faced, And Fearful.
Osric: Loyal to Hamlet, Fearful for Hamlet, And
Respectful of Claudius as King.
Gentleman: Nobel, Worried.
Priest, or Doctor of Divinity: Soulful, Unforgiving.
Marcellus, Officer: Loyal to the Dane.
Bernardo, Officer: Loyal to the Dane.
Francisco, A Soldier: Duty bound, Watchful, And Defender of Dane.
Reynaldo, A servant to Polonius: Obedient, Watchful eye.
Players: Adventurous, Whimsical, Actors, Showmen.
Two Clowns, Gravediggers: Unknowing, Speaking and acting in Jest,
Wisecrackers.
Fortinbras, Prince of Norway: Respectful, Claiming, and Righteous.
Captain: Duty bound, Respectful, And Obedient.
English Ambassadors: Messengers of death.
Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, Sad, Worried, Fearful, Lonely, Desperate,
Mother to Hamlet: Adulterer.
Ophelia, Daughter to Polonious: Naïve, Stubborn, Confused, Mad from grief,
Depressed.
Lords, Ladies, Officers, Sailors, Directed. Criers (like town criers), Bystanders
Messengers, And Other Attendants: some without duty and some with...
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...ds his servant to seek out answers from town's people on the reputation of his son Laertes. The playwright may have been warning his audiences without subtlety, by showing us that no matter the reason for deception that in the end it will cause grief and dishonor.
Misogyny is also a theme that is played out by when Hamlet speaks of the quick marriage of his mother; this causes Hamlet to distrust women and tells Ophelia that she should join a nunnery. His feelings and love for Ophelia go unanswered because she remains obedient to Polonius; he is even turned away when he tells Ophelia that his actions of placing his head in her lap are not that of a sexual nature. Hamlet comes to believe that women are the cause of the immoral things that men do. Hamlet much like Oedipus Rex had deep sexual feelings for his mother, which causes emotional eruptions and distrust.
He urges Ophelia to go to a nunnery rather than experience the corruptions of sexuality. Hamlet blames the bad woman he is intimately intertwined with for his indecisiveness between a man 's power and the ability to do right. He acts as though it would be strange for him to not be cruel to women. Another display of his rudeness is his mocking of them. Knowing that Ophelia is obsessed and affectionate towards him, he taunted her. He purposely gave her false hope, immediately after telling her how stupid she is, by saying to her “I did love you once" (3.1.114). Ironically, he then proceeds to state the truth: that he never loved her, to which she reveals “I was the more deceived” (3.1.118). Now, having lost all his patience, he commands her to go to a nunnery. He also tells her that he did not love her and would have rather not been born. In the quote "accuse me of such things that it was better my mother had not borne me” (3.1.120-121). This quote makes it clear that he is homosexual and will always continue to be such, stating he would never prefer existing to loving a woman. He is even incapable of loving his mother as once before. Throughout the story, he is almost constantly complaining and condemning her for being disloyal to his father, which only further proves to him that women are incapable of truly loving anyone. On his deathbed, he holds to his homosexual nature and voices his haughty farewell to his mother, "Wretched queen, adieu!” (5.2.306) this perfectly highlights the division he had between the two genders even to his deathbed; Unmannerly vs.
Shakespear uses contrast to highlight the qualities of the characters in Hamlet; this contrast shows up in the minor characters. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, false friends of Hamlet who succumb to Claudius' corruptness, serve as a distinct contrast to the loyal friendship that Horatio shares with Hamlet. Voltimand is used to contrast Polonius' often comic verbosity. While Polonius dresses up all his speeches with the language of the court, Voltimand is able to give his entire report on Fortinbras in a matter of seconds. The most powerful foil in the play is between Laertes and Hamlet. Upon hearing of the death of his father, Laertes becomes enraged, and seeks immediate vengeance; he does not delay, and acts instantaneously. When the ghost tells Hamlet of Claudius' crimes, Hamlet is unable to act. He procrastinates, missing many opportunities to avenge his father, and acts when it is already too late.
The men in the book use women to accomplish their plans and the women, who are continuously seeking the men’s approval, fall into their trap and obey the men. Claudius uses Gertrude to get his throne, which ends up leading to her death. As well as, Hamlet, in addition to killing her father, does not to tell Ophelia of his plan to act mad; which leds to her into thinking that he hates her. Hamlet’s mistreating of her combined with the loss of her father on whom she was very dependent leads to her suicide. Both of the men do not respect the women enough to not use them or to not play with their trust for their own
As well as proposing the notion of female frailty through Gertrude, Hamlet’s mistreatment of Ophelia is another way in which the play of Hamlet could be considered a strongly misogynistic one. This is seen in particular through Hamlet’s verbal taunts directed at Ophelia’s intelligence, as he sneers that she is accustomed to “jig and amble and lisp” and that she makes her “wantonness” her “ignorance.” Indeed, Ophelia is depicted as being fragile, neurotic, and generally futile, with Polonious further calling her a “baby”, and a “green girl.” Polonius seeks to hold complete control over Ophelia, and she is presented to us as being unintelligent, mute, and unable to make her own decisions; for example, when Polonious warns her to stay away from
Marrying Claudius, the king’s brother, is in fact the most treacherous sin in Hamlet’s eyes. This sin “makes marriage vows as false as dicers ' oaths,” and by the way these words are written it could be assumed that his tone expresses distrust of the words of gamblers (scene 3.4). Hamlet desexualizes his mother as a way to in turn desexualize all women and make him sexually invulnerable to pain, regret, and unfaithfulness that is presumably caused by all women. Inevitable Hamlet suppresses his sexual desires for Ophelia because there is no reason to trust women when Gertude had easily broken her vows to her husband as easily as she said
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, women are oversexualized, and are given no role other than to be the item of a man’s desire. The promiscuity of the only two women in the play, Gertrude and Ophelia, detracts from their power and integrity, and allows Hamlet a certain amount of control over them. Gertrude’s sexual lifestyle is often mentioned by her son, Hamlet, and Hamlet uses his knowledge of Gertrude’s sexuality as a means to criticize her. Ophelia’s sexuality initially appears to be controlled by Laertes and Polonius, and Hamlet takes advantage of the naive image that she is required to keep. However, in her later madness, Ophelia taints this image by revealing that her innocence is feigned. By exposing the sexual natures of both Gertrude and Ophelia, Hamlet strips these women of any influence they may have had, and damages their once-honourable names.
Ophelia expresses her fear of Hamlet and that he was acting unusual, Polonius and Claudius ignore Ophelia’s fright and try to decipher the cause of Hamlet’s madness. Men did not care about women’s feelings or thoughts, Hamlet grew up being exposed to women being ignored and used. Hamlet’s treatment of women was not only a cause of his madness, but also how he was raised.
When you come across his life with women he becomes very annoyed. He truly cares about Ophelia and Gertrude but at the same time he is also curious as well. He is upset at the fact that his mother remarried to his uncle in such a speedy process. He believes that she didn't truly love is father as much as she appeared to. When it comes to Ophelia as you start to understand their relationship you can begin to tell that he has been flirting with her for awhile. When Hamlet starts to become crazy you start to realize that he believes that Ophelia may be working with Polonius and his mother and uncle. Ophelia listened to her dad over anyone else. Hamlet begins to believe that both of the women in his life are not who he made them out to
When reading the text, one can comprehend that Ophelia is caught in the middle between two opposite sides. Her family (father and brother) believe that Hamlet is a womanizer rather then the philosopher that he is. They also believe that he will use her in order to achieve his own purposes, and that he would take her precious virginity only to discard it because he would never be her husband. But, Ophelia's heart mesmerized by Hamlets cunning linguistics is set on the fact that Hamlet truly loves her or loved her, even though he swears he never did. In the eye of her father and brother, she will always be a pure, wholesome girl, an eternal virgin in a sense, (due to a parents nature to always see their offspring as a child) they want her to ascend into her stereotypical role in life as a vessel of morality whose sole purpose of existence is to be a obedient wife and a committed mother. However, to Hamlet she is simply an object used to satisfy and fulfill his sexual needs. He also seems to hold her at a distant which suggests that he may...
...ent on men and sweet and innocent. When Ophelia follows her father demands for her to stop seeing Hamlet, she agrees immediately. Although she is in love with Hamlet and it breaks her heart to not be with him anymore she still obeys her father. When Polonius wants use her as bait to spy on Hamlet for King Claudius, she does exactly what she's told and still doesn’t question her family motives. We witness Ophelia dependent on men quality since she is not married she has to live by her father's rules. Even if she were married she would have to follow her husband’s rules. Lastly, when Hamlet is verbally insulting her in the theater, she doesn’t reply back. Given the fact she is sweet and chooses to ignore him. Ophelia is a dynamic and interesting character who hasn’t learned to stand up for her. Later on she falls into depression for not stopping this from happening.
Ophelia, in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, represents a self-confident and aware female character. She analyzes the world around her and recognizes the multitude of male figures attempting to control her life. Her actions display not only this awareness, but also maturity in her non-confrontational discussions. Though she is demeaned by Laertes, Polonius, and Hamlet, Ophelia exhibits intelligence and independence and ultimately resorts to suicide in order to free herself from the power of the men around her.
Although similar in age, class and ambition to destroy their fathers killers, Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras each have characteristics that make them different from each other and show how each acted unlike the others when carrying out their plans. Hamlet seems to be the one who lets things dwell in his mind before taking any action or making an attempt at trying to get on with things. He shows this after the death of his father when he remains in morning and a depressed state for three months without trying to get on with his life. Laertes seems to be the more quick minded of the three as he makes hasty judgements about Hamlet and is quick to force his opinion upon his sister, Ophelia about his fears for her if she stays in the relationship. “For Hamlet and the trifling of his favor, hold it a fashion and a toy in blood, a violet in the youth of primy nature, forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting, the perfume and suppliance of a minute—No more.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia has a limited social role because she is a woman in a man’s world. In other words, she is a powerless young woman whose actions are determined by the men around her. Ophelia has no female alliances to protect her when these men subjugate her chastity. This presents a problem because the men around her are driven by the misguided assumption that her chastity will allow them to reap benefits for themselves. Her lack of individual decision-making and selfhood thus provide the foundation for her emotional unraveling. By underestimating Ophelia’s capability to make decisions for herself, the characters in the play place emotional strains on her, causing her to contemplate where her loyalties lie—to her family or
Despite Ophelia’s weak will, the male characters respond dramatically to her actions, proving that women indeed have a large impact in Hamlet. Her obedience is actually her downfall, because it allows the male characters to control and use her in their schemes. Ophelia’s betrayal ends up putting Hamlet over the edge, motivating him in his quest for revenge. Ophelia is one of the two women in the play. As the daughter of Polonius, she only speaks in the company of several men, or directly to her brother or father. Since we never see her interactions with women, she suppresses her own thoughts in order to please her superiors. Yet however weak and dependent her character is on the surface, Ophelia is a cornerstone to the play’s progression. One way that her manipulation is key to Hamlet’s plot is when Polonius orders her “in plain terms, from this time forth/ Have you so slander any moment leisure/As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet,” (1.3.131-133). She complies with his wishes, agreeing to return any tokens of Hamlet’s love to him, verify t...
Another significant female character is Ophelia, Hamlet's love. Hamlet's quest for revenge interferes with his relationship with Ophelia. There is much evidence to show that Hamlet loved her a great deal, but his pretense of madness drove her to her death. Ophelia drowned not knowing what was happening to her. This can be deduced by the fact that she flowed down the river singing and happy when in truth she was heartbroken. Ophelia was very much afraid when she saw Hamlet "with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). She described him as being "loosed out of hell" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). In addition to that he scared her when he left the room with his eyes still fixed on her. She is especially hurt when Hamlet tells her that he no longer loves her and that he is opposed to marriage. He advises her to go to a nunnery and avoid marriage if she can.