Katherine Thompson Dr. Schott EN 407 8 April 2024 A Comparison of Gender Roles in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Twelfth Night William Shakespeare, arguably the most notable playwright in human history, is known to have taken unpopular stances on different issues during his life and to have expressed his opinion through his writings. While Shakespeare never explicitly lectured the public on politics, he certainly found ways to embed his politics through his characters. One scholar, in an essay on the politics of Shakespeare, argued that Shakespeare “held personal views of all kinds; and inevitably expressed these views in his writings to a moral purpose” (Friesner 1). There are multiple instances of this over his many plays. For centuries, scholars …show more content…
In Act 1, Scene 2, Hamlet addresses his own masculinity through the form of a soliloquy. He is reflecting on his father’s death and his mother’s remarriage to his father’s brother, and says, “.My father’s brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules” (1.2.153-54). Hamlet deliberately compares himself to a famous figure of masculinity, but as something he is not. In the first half of the speech, Hamlet recognizes his father as this figure of masculinity that he could only strive to be, but one that he will never reach. He seems to have emotional outbursts because of his inability to compare himself to his father or even to his uncle. Over and over, these tensions surface between Hamlet and the other characters of the play, and all of the tensions seem to make Hamlet question his masculinity. Related to Hamlet’s masculinity and his strange relationship with his mother, is an interesting study by Sigmund Freud, renowned neurologist and psychoanalyst. Freud believed that the biggest reason Hamlet questioned his masculinity relates back to his uncle but is driven by his sexual …show more content…
In Part V of his larger work, “The Interpretation of Dreams,” Freud writes, “Hamlet is able to anything but take vengeance upon the man who did away with his father and has taken his father’s place with his mother- the man who shows him in realization the repressed desires of his own childhood” (The Material and Sources of Dreams). Freud’s theory, commonly known as the Oedipus Complex, suggests that Hamlet questions his masculinity because of his unconscious desire for her affection. Again, this theory has been debunked by most scholars today, but it does give some explanation for this strange relationship seen in the play. The only other female Hamlet has any type of relationship with in the play is with his lover, Ophelia. As with the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, readers do not get much background on the emotional connection between the two before the setting of the play, however, there are many instances where the characters hint at Hamlet and Ophelia’s past and their possible future together. Apart from her relationship with Hamlet, Ophelia also falls victim to the strange gender roles Shakespeare presents across his
male character happens to be Hamlet, from the play Hamlet. Hamlet is of the age of a college student given when he is first introduced we learn he has to leave college to avenge the killing of his father. The father’s ghost beckons Hamlet to take revenge on his uncle for killing him and condemning him to purgatory. Hamlet’s quest of revenge ultimately consumes him, as well as his mother and eventually leads to his own death. Many of the characters in the play view Hamlet as threatening. They neither
his play Hamlet, he explores themes of sexuality and how men view women. One of the ways he does is through the character, Hamlet, who has the idea that men are superior to women. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare the main character Hamlet, displays characteristics that proves that he is misogynist. These
traditional masculinity. He argues that if stereotypical manliness is not practiced by a man, he will figuratively “drown” (Eliot, 137) and be “almost ridiculous-/ [a]lmost, at times, [a f]ool.” (124-125) Eliot portrays this by following the speaker, Prufrock, during a night out and witnessing his incapability to achieve his goal as a result of not acting as a stereotypical male. Through repetition, allusions, and fragmental images, Eliot stresses the importance of practicing traditional masculinity and
Hamlet: Jungian Perspectives The term consciousness refers to "one’s awareness of internal and external stimuli. The unconscious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior."(Weiten) In the view of the Jungian analyst, there are two forces that drive Hamlet. One is his anima, which is the "personification of the feminine nature of a man’s unconscious"(Platania). The second is Hamlet’s desire to
Moving forward, Blanche’s masculinity influences her decision making in the present because she interferes with her sister’s marriage, as well as lies to protect her dirty past in a failed attempt to hide her insecurities. When Blanche arrives in Elysian Fields, she sees that her sister’s marriage is far from perfect, and that her husband is quite a brute. Due to her past of sexual misconduct and defensiveness at the Flamingo, Blanche does the unthinkable and tries to interfere. BLANCHE “When I found
In trying and failing to fit into this increasingly narrow role, Hamlet is perceived more and more as mad by the men around him, establishing a correlation between femininity and madness. The definition of the ideal man is framed by several men in Hamlet, namely Fortinbras and Hamlet’s father, Hamlet Senior. Fortinbras “serve[s] as a possible monitory double for Hamlet—a son whose father is killed and who knows how to respond” (Low 501). Fortinbras’ situation is
within the individuals of the global population. The blurred border between these subdivisions implements the need to search for . In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and Ellison’s Invisible Man, the feminine character traits of the protagonists are alluded to as the cause of their failures, which supports the idea that the inward battle between masculinity and femininity exist as the characters journey closer to their identity. “It has been generally believed that males stand as opposed to females physically
beginning of time. In Hamlet the patriarchal society is clearly depicted by the characters throughout the play. Hamlet is portrayed as an indecisive character when it comes to making a serious decision, for example when he contemplates on killing Claudius. This shows the masculinity and femininity aspect of his character, which offends the ideals in a patriarchal society. Claudius, Polonius, Laertes, Ophelia and Gertrude follow the usual gender roles in a patriarchal society, as for Hamlet, his characteristics
Shakespeare’s Hamlet tells the story of a former king's son seeking revenge for his father's death. As a result, his actions affect the fate of everyone in the play. William Shakespeare uses several characters as foils, minor characters that reflect some aspect of the protagonist. One of the foils in this play is Laertes, whom he uses to reveal several character elements of Prince Hamlet. Both Hamlet and Laertes love Ophelia, prove their masculinity, and seek revenge for their fathers' deaths. Laertes
Shakespeare’s Hamlet, published circa 1603, has engaged audiences since the Renaissance as a revenge tragedy resonating with Humanist themes that enable speculation on the scope and limitations of the human experience. Shakespeare’s construction of Hamlet’s fatal flaw relies on the archetypes of the Renaissance and Machiavellian man in terms of the dramatic treatment of struggle and disillusionment through his inability to act. The latter is reinforced through these archetypes in terms of the value
people associated high in power and social class. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet Shakespeare gives many examples of social class and power and how they both can destroy and disrupt when greed and unrighteousness gets in the way. He also proves how both social class and power can break, manipulate, and ruin individuals caught up in the dramas of social class and power. It is without question that William Shakespeare 's Hamlet teaches us the truth about power Those who are in power and high in social
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a young prince tries to yield the revenge of his dead father, by trying to kill the current king, his own uncle. Within the play many themes are illustrated, but revenge is the most prevalent. Due the play’s famous monologues and 4000 year old age, Hamlet has been adapted to many films and modernized plays. Hamlet by Michael Almereyda starring Ethan Hawke and Hamlet by Franco Zeffirelli starring Mel Gibson both adapt the 4000 year old play into a movie. Although both
Hamlet is a character with a negative view of himself. William Shakespeare presents him as someone with an incredibly pessimistic self-image. He faces difficulty in making decisions and committing to them. He also struggles with accepting his own qualities. Hamlet exists in a constant state of self-loathing because he lacks the qualities he associates with strength, accounting for his internal desire to prove himself not a coward. Hamlet’s inability to carry out decisions contributes to his mentality
Hamlet, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare consists of many themes such as madness, portrayal of women, masculinity, imagery and suicide. In this play Shakespeare portrays women inferior therefore they receive a lack of respect from men. In the play, Shakespeare characterizes women as dirty and disgusting and refers to them as prostitutes. Women are also seen weak and obedient which are identified by the only two female characters, Gertrude who is the Queen of Denmark and Ophelia who is Hamlet’s
attempting to disassemble gender roles in an effort for equality. However, when Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, women were rarely seen as anything other than a wife, mother, and in the case of some a pawn that could be used to manipulate for the good of someone else. Ophelia and Queen Gertrude are two examples of women who are used as pawns by the men in Hamlet. When one observes the effects of gender roles in Hamlet, Ophelia is an example of character who is heavily affected by the oppressive standards of her