Hamlet and his tribe

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Recommended: Sexism in hamlet

Gender criticism is a very interesting topic being debated by many, where men go to work and the woman stay home. Woman don’t have an equal roles to men especially in Shakespeare’s plays, also in Hamlet the woman were treated like objects, and being degraded. In the end Ophelia and Gertrude don’t have a voice in the play.
The female characters in the play are seen as the property of men and they have no say over their bodies or their future. In (III, i, -). Laertes begins to lecture Ophelia on how she should act and behave among other men. He doesnt want her dating Hamlet he wants her to stay a virigin “Fear it, Ophelia. Fear it, my dear sister, And keep you in the rear of your affection, Out of the shot and danger of desire. The chariest maid is prodigal enough If she unmask her beauty to the moon. Virtue itself ’scapes not calumnious strokes. The canker galls the infants of the spring Too oft before their buttons be disclosed. And in the morn and liquid dew of youth, Contagious blastments are most imminent. Be wary, then. Best safety lies in fear. Youth to itself rebels, though none else near” (33 scene 3 act 1). Laertues lectures Ophelia to control her love as if she is going around sleeping with strangers, he treats her as if she cant take care of her own body.
Shakesperare also suggests that women are not faithful to their partners. When Hamlets father dies Gertude doesnt grieve very long, she immidetialtly marries Claudis. She even goes a step further by encouraging Hamlet to move on and forget about what happened to his father. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off. And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.Do not forever with thy vailèd lidsSeek for thy noble father in the dust.Thou know’st ’tis common. All that ...

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... unkind.There, my lord.” Her rejection cause Hamlet great distress and he begins to not trust her accusing her of being unfaithful. Shaksepeare is trying to show the audience how quickly women can change their minds when it comes to love.
Theses various examples illustrate how Shakespeare potrays gender roles unequally within the play Hamlet. Within the play female characters are used as a divergent from the main plot and as distractions to the main characters. The females in the play are protrayed as beining unfaithful and easily manipulated by the various influnces. The women in the play are seen as objects by other characters and they dont serve much of purpose, they dont aid Hamlet in killing Claudis, instead they keep him from acheving his goals. Shakespeares past negative experiences with females has greatly influenced how he potrayes Gertude and Ophelia.

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