William Shakespeare's Hamlet

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“Hamlet thou has cleft my heart in twain”
Most productions present Gertrude and Ophelia as sympathetic victims of Hamlet’s cruelty. As your starting point, refer to either the closet scene or the nunnery scene and, paying close attention to the language, show how it reveals the interaction between Hamlet and the women characters here and throughout the play.

Referring to Hamlet’s portrayal of a cruel character, the major victims that first come to mind are Ophelia, his girlfriend possibly his future wife and Gertrude, his mother.
The significance of Hamlets attitude and behaviour shows an important aspect of the play in the relationship with two women. It shows clearly intense relationships which cause Hamlet a certain amount of pain. He is ‘trying’ to portray madness in his character with Ophelia in the nunnery scene and with Gertrude in the closet scene. Perhaps the reason of madness towards Gertrude is the fact that she has married his uncle. The reason behind the cruelty towards Ophelia could also be the fact that it is a kind cruelty trying to push Ophelia away from him.

In the scene known as the closet scene we can see Hamlet and Gertrude alone altogether. He starts with an accusation “You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife...” Shakespeare uses such language in order to strengthen Hamlet’s character, which tries to trap Gertrude, informing her of the incestuous performed by her with her husband’s brother. This dialogue in its own sense creates the atmosphere and the theme of the scene. Gertrude in her own self does fear Hamlet “What will thou do? Thou will not murder me...” this emphasises on the fear held within Gertrude, maybe it is the body language or rather face expressions of Hamlet towards Gertrude which causes to outbreaks the fear within her. As Hamlet kills Polonius, the uncertainty in the atmosphere becomes as strong as Hamlets anger, in this case we can say that it’s more of his madness which is portrayed. It shows to what extend he may go to take revenge, despite the fact that he is creating this commotion in the presence of his mother. Another factor is that he could be showing his power in order to prove a certain point to his mother, that he the dominant person of the conversation. Knowing the fact that he is holding a knife, yet he attempts to put the knife through the curtain, leading to the killing of his own love’s fa...

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...refore whilst a woman was unmarried of her young stage of life, her life would be controlled by her father. As she would get married her life would then be controlled by her husband. Women had no power and were subject to the authority of men.

This shows why Ophelia had to obey her father Polonius and do as he said, because at the time she had no choice considering the time they were living in. perhaps what Hamlet really wanted from Ophelia is to forget the love they shared and move on, because they future may have held nothing in store for Ophelia and Hamlet. Hamlet in his own position devoting all his attention towards taking revenge, he would want his mother’s side and to be away from Claudius. Gertrude in another sense had to marry the king, to stay within the royal family, and re-gain the status that she had lost by the death of King Hamlet.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• “HAMLET PRINCE OF DENMARK”
Edited by Philip Edwards

• “HAMLET”
York Notes

• Cambridge Student Guide
Rex Gibson

• Class Notes on Hamlet-English Literature

• Oxford Dictionary

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