Shakespeare’s Hamlet, shows strong prejudice against woman especially with such characters of Ophelia and Gertrude. Shakespeare created an interesting character with Gertrude; he created a character that sits in the middle of all the conflict and appears to not partake in much of it. However Gertrude does seem intent in defusing it at every possible chance she receives. Gertrude is a central figure in the play. She appears a great deal but doesn’t say much – implying mystery and creating an interesting uncertainty in the audience. Hamlet spends a lot of time dwelling on her marriage to Claudius and Shakespeare leaves many questions unanswered with Gertrude such as did she have an affair with Claudius behind old hamlets back? Why does she drink the poisoned wine that is intended for her son? Does she know it is poisoned? Gertrude is the mother of Hamlet and although they do not have a typical mother son relationship she does love him. Queen Gertrude is often interpreted by many as an adulterate, incestuous woman. Catherine Belsey states that typical interpretations of Hamlet maintain: ‘Gertrude a slut; and Shakespeare a patriarchal bard’ (Belsey,1997:34). Gertrude’s actions throughout the play could be read to show her to be a very passive character, far from a strong independent woman. This is shown with her obedience to Claudius, three times during the play, Gertrude is told to leave and each times she complies without hesitation. In Act 1, scene 2 Claudius says to Gertrude, ‘Madam, come’ (122). Then again, Act 3, scene 1, Claudius says to her, ‘Sweet Gertrude, leave us .’ (28), she complies with ; ‘I shall obey you’ (37). And finally, in Act 4, scene 1, Claudius say, ‘O Gertrude, come away!’ (28). This obedience that Gertrude ...
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...anchester: Manchester University Press. 116-133.
Belsey, Catherine. Feminism and Beyond. Shakespeare Studies 25 (1997): 32 - 41
Ekici, Sara (2009). Feminist Criticism: Female Characters in Shakespeare's Plays Othello and Hamlet. Munich: GRIN Publishing.
Heilbrun, Carolyn G. (2002). Hamlet's Mother and Other Women. 2nd ed. West Sussex: Columbia University Press.
Loberg, Harmonie. “Queen Gertrude: Monarch, Mother, Murderer.” Atenea 24.1 (June 2004): 59-71
Ouditt, Sharon. "Explaining Woman's Frailty: Feminist Readings of Gertrude." Hamlet. Ed. Peter J. Smith and Nigel Wood. Theory in Practice. Buckingham: Open UP, 1996. 83-107.
Pearson, Patricia. When She Was Bad: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence. New York: Viking, 1997
Uéno, Yoshiko. “Three Gertrude’s: Text and Subtext.” Hamlet and Japan. Ed. Yoshiko Uéno. Hamlet Collection 2. New York: AMS, 1995. 155-68
Although steps have been made towards equality in the aspect of gender, plays such as Hamlet contain views of the past. Hamlet was written in the early 1600’s, which is known as the Renaissance period. In this time period, women were treated differently than they are now. During the
All the females are oppressed as well and class does not matter. Women were treated as inferior and it did not matter whether the woman was a queen or a peasant. The motif of female oppression plays a big role with all of the females in the play. Hamlet is even guilty of oppressing women whether it is the queen/mother or a common girl/girlfriend because he reduces the women in his life to archetypes—that is, the cunning lover and the frenetic past lover. Hamlet’s oppression of women was a result of his mother’s action to remarry with his uncle and this causes Hamlet to despise and loath women. Though Hamlet has known these women before the death of his father, he is so wrapped up in revenge that he cannot treat them fairly. Hamlet insulted Gertrude by yelling out, “frailty, thy name is woman!” (1.2.150) When Hamlet talks about frailty, he is talking about weakness. Gertrude is the epitome of weakness to Hamlet because of her foolish act of remarrying which Hamlet views as a
Hamlets misogyny is not something that was engrained in his culture but what his mother has engrained within him. Hamlet hasn’t always hated women as he does now, his harsh treatment of Gertrude and Ophelia are because of their betrayal of his love. Hamlet knows that even though she has made mistakes she has not stopped being a mother to him, apart from that he stills feels anger towards her and the hate that he now feels for Ophelia is just a displacement of his feelings for his mothers, “the total reaction culminates in the bitter misogyny of his outburst against Ophelia…Hamlet is really expressing his bitter resentment against his mother” (1199) towards the poor and innocent Ophelia. His hate for women is just his frustration for his mother and Ophelia blinding him and not truly him hating women because in Ophelia’s grave he tells Laertes “I loved Ophelia, Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum.” (5.1.262) Hamlets repulsion against women is just him repressing his true love for the women in his life who have hurt him, “the powerful repression to which his sexual feelings are being subjected.”
Heilbrun, Carolyn. “The Character of Hamlet’s Mother.” Literature. 5th ed. Ed. Robert DiYanni. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. 1502-1503.
William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a complicated story, which involves revenge, madness, and murder. The tale uses different styles to highlight concepts and complications. This essay will reveal the meticulous explanation of the complex images of a woman, which helps to understand the tales of Ophelia and Gertrude. Throughout the entire play, the misogynistic images of women in Hamlet’s life inform the readers about different opinions associated with the characters of the production. The women in the play have power to challenge the patriarchal society and figure out their own identities, which were much different from Hamlet’s perspective.
Throughout time in history, women have continued to play minor roles in society, although with heavy contributions, as depicted in William Shakespeare’s tragic revenge, Hamlet. This unfortunate truth is reflected through the actions of Queen Gertrude, and Ophelia, as they are the true source of all conflict, seen as weak and characterless personnel, and incredibly dependant on the men in their lives. Thus labeled as the true driving factors of other characters actions, and as a result, receiving abusive treatment.
In my readings of Hamlet, sexism was a immense element in the story. It is not fairly unambiguous where the incest comes in and who is involved, but the unorthodox relationships that have taken place shows how things were during the Elizabethan Age, or were they? My goal in this paper is to research the gender roles between the males and females in the story and to prove how women were treated during these times, and to determine who was involved in incest and sexism. The characters in focus will be Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, and son of the deceased King Hamlet; Polonius, counselor to Claudius; Laertes, Polonius’ son who has returned home due to King Hamlet’s death; Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother and Queen of Denmark; and Ophelia, daughter of Polonius and the sister of Laertes, also Hamlet’s girlfriend.
King Claudius shows little respect for Gertrude in the play and tries to represent her as a materialistic character and puts her last before himself. “My fault is past. But O, what form of prayer can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder? That cannot be, since I am still possess'd of those effects for which I did the murder, my crown, mine own ambition, and my queen” (3.4.52-55). Claudius is saying all his sins, including the murder of his brother, Hamlet, but the last part of the quote is, “my crown, my own ambition, and my queen.” He puts his royalty and his ambition before Gertrude thinking that she’s always going to be there for him no matter what because she isn’t aware of what he’s done in the past. “Frailty thy name is woman!” (1.2.146). Hamlet supposedly has the stance to say this about women because only one, his mother, has given up so quickly and moved onto Claudius without a second thought. Hamlet considers every women to be weak, Ophelia. He treats women as if they don’t know what they’re doing and violently tries to get them to understand his logic as if they’re stupid. Most men in the play have the mentality that women don’t have the capacity of what they have, even if it’s on a subject they’re completely guessing on and don’t know all the details to. For example, back to when Polonius and Ophelia had a huge discussion about her and Hamlet, he said, “...Set your entreatment at a higher rate than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet, believe so much in him, that he is young and with a larger tether amy he walk than may be given you: in few, Ophelia, do not believe his brows; for they are brokers, not of that dye which their investments show, but mere implorators of unholy suits, breathing like sanctified and pious bawds...I would not
“Frailty, thy name is woman,” a quote stated by Hamlet in the award-winning play “Hamlet,” written by William Shakespeare between the years 1599 and 1601. Many people argue the point that women are defined regarding their sexuality, and they typically have no power compared to stand against sexual expectations. Through analyzing the Hamlet text, it is evident that women are mistreated greatly, especially Ophelia and Gertrude, due to being degraded and are affected by Hamlet, and how he is using his actions for his gain.Gender inequality is a prominent issue in the work of Hamlet as the two leading women are portrayed as weak, obedient, and used as tools of manipulation by the male figures in their lives. Shakespeare demonstrates a sympathetic
Leverenz, D. 1978. The Woman in Hamlet: An Interpersonal View. Signs, 4 (2), pp. 291--308.
Since Hamlet is notoriously the worst to the female sex, we will start with the assault on his character. Hamlet said "Frailty, thy name is woman,“ thus Hamlet believes his men are the epitome of stability and strength, right? Not really, but Hamlet's attitude toward women is definitely sexist and biased, and his hate seems to emanate from his revulsion at his mother's marriage to Claudius, which he considers “unfaithfulness” to his dead father. His attitude is totally unjustified.
Both Ophelia and Gertrude develop the theme of betrayal in the play. When Hamlet stages his vengeance plans and kills Polonius, he pesters the mother not to unveil what happened. However, Gertrude goes against her promises and opens up to Claudius concerning the action. Similarly, Polonius and Claudius arrange to capture Hamlet through Ophelia. She betrays her son by lacking concern about Hamlet’s life but instead becomes part of the evil plans. She is always ordered by Claudius the entire play, and obeys; a betrayal to her killed husband- King Hamlet, “Come away” (Shakespeare, I.II, 15). She always appears swayed and easy to convince in the whole drama- traits that show women as inferior and
In Shakespeare’s dramatic works there is no room for the heroic or the strong woman, and therefore many of his plays can be perceived as being antifeminist. Often he portrays women as weak, mad, sexual, and as even witches. Hamlet is no exception. The only women in the play, Ophelia and Queen Gertrude, are given confined and limited roles. These roles are from a male-dominated viewpoint and only add focus to the male characters instead of incorporating the insight and the impact of the women as well.
“Frailty thy name is women” (I.II.150) are words which are spoken by Prince Hamlet, the prominent character of the tragedy play Hamlet by Shakespeare, in his first soliloquy. These words underline how Hamlet truly feels about Gertrude, the queen, and Ophelia, his “beloved” maiden, and women in general. Although the two women play awfully passive characters and lack their voice for the world to hear, they are significantly important because they show how Hamlet, possibly Shakespeare, are a misogynist, which is one of the themes of the play. Through the fickle, passive, and submissive portrayal of the two woman characters, Shakespeare shows women needs to have an autonomy-sense, otherwise their lives will turn out to “cannot come to good” (I.II.163).
For many years in the past women played a small role socially, economically, and politically. As a result of this many works in literature were reflective of this diminutive role of women. In Elizabethan theatres small boys dressed and played the roles of women. In contrast to this trend, in Shakespeare's Hamlet the women in the play are driving factors for the actions of many other characters. Both Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, and Ophelia, Hamlet's love, affected many of the decisions and actions done by Hamlet.