“Frailty, thy name is woman” (I.ii.150). The most significant reason for Hamlet’s first soliloquy is based on how he feels about “woman”, mostly referring to his mother. Hamlet shows no respect towards his mother. Shakespeare tries to show Hamlet and other male characters as assertive men. However, in Shakespeare different plays women play a variety of roles. Throughout the play Hamlet, Shakespeare demonstrated brutal treatment towards women by the male characters in the play, whether it be verbally or with emotional abuse. Not only were the women manipulated by the male characters, but they were also controlled by their beloved ones.
One of the main relationships in which there is great deal of control and manipulation is between Hamlet and Ophelia. Ophelia is the only lady in her family. Her family includes her father Polonius and brother Laertes. Ophelia is an obedient lady who views the men in her life as her only reference in life’s dilemmas. However, there is irony from the advice that her family gives her to prevent her from being with Hamlet. Laertes mentions to Ophelia, “Then, if he says he loves you,/ It fits your wisdom so far to believe it/ As he in his particular act and place/ May give his saying deed, which is no further/ Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal./ Then weigh what loss your honor may sustain”(I.iii.41). Laertes tries to protect Ophelia by telling her to be wise enough on believing Hamlet’s words. Laertes does not only approve of Ophelia’s love for Hamlet because he does not want his sister to be hurt. Ophelia as the obedient lady she is, tells Laertes that she will take his words of wisdom close to her mind. The main example of Hamlet showing the act of being callous and over controlling is when...
... middle of paper ...
...on the men, which was part of Shakespeare’s play of writing.
Shakespeare shows how the women characters are not strong minded, but shows how their love and deception towards the male characters leads them to their behavior. Lead to their own demises due to the flaws such as dependence they have. The male characters bossed the women around and the women did as they were told. Shakespeare used Gertrude and Ophelia to show how the men seemed to do as they wished and women were forced to follow. It provides the power that the male towards the woman. The dependence of women on men may have traditionally been a factor in their lives; however, in today's ever-changing society, women have become more and more independent to overcome circumstances such as these. Not only were the women manipulated by the male characters, but they were also controlled by their beloved ones.
Heilbrun, Carolyn G. (2002). Hamlet's Mother and Other Women. 2nd ed. West Sussex: Columbia University Press.
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
In today’s day and age, a controversial topic of discussion is gender. Traditionally, there are only two genders: male and female. However, many people are starting to recognize and identify as more than 50 different genders. People are slowly 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.
In every story, a female character always seems to play a significant position. No matter how big or minimal their role is, their impact will be of great importance. More than oftentimes the female character will be portrayed in a depressing manner, overall being weak. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the female protagonist Ophelia’s character is conveyed as an obedient woman who tries to please those around her all the while only displeasing herself and the man she loves leading her to live a tragedy that ends her life. This play focuses on Hamlet striving to avenge his father’s death; ruining his life and those around him because of his choices. Ophelia is the girlfriend that tries to abide by him and make him the happiest man he can be but Hamlet is a man full of doubts and internal dilemmas. In regards to
Hamlets ridiculed feelings for women was because of his mother’s disappointing action. Hamlets mothers’ marriage with Claudius not so long after his father’s death did not show her devotion to her husband’s memory in the way a loving wife should. ”O god a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer” (l.2.150) degrading Gertrude, as he believes an animal would find the loss of its mate more upsetting than the queen did when she lost her husband. In his mind women are frail and weak this is why he says that women is just another name for weakness. “Frailty, thy name is woman” (l.2.148) generalizing that all women are frail and incapable to withstand temptation. His bitterness has lead him to believe that all women are dishonest and untrustworthy because his mother easily moved on from the husband she so thought to have loved and worse married his brother a month after his death. Hamlet starts to torment his mother by telling her that she is sleeping with her husband’s killer. “But you live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, stewed in corruption and making love over that nasty sty” (3.4.100) trying to make her realize the wrong that she has done, being easy to fall in love with another man because she required comfort. To Hamlet his mother is weak, surrendering to lust, changing Hamlets view and sparking his hate for women, seeing how they are not loyal. “When the compulsive ardour gives
Ever since Eve was fashioned from Adam’s rib, men have viewed women as objects that they use and abuse like an extension themselves. This idea exists because over time men have become to see themselves as superior beings. This idea has been reinforced by years of culture and tradition; it can be found in the media, the workplace and has even made its way into literature through the mind of William Shakespeare. In 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
The mindset of the unequal genders in the past is thought to have influenced the way playwright William Shakespeare portrayed females in his plays. Shakespeare exemplified this in his revenge tragedy Hamlet, written in 1601 with one of the most significant characters, Gertrude. She is central to the plot due to her relationship with the main character, Hamlet, being his mother. However, not only is she the mother to the tragic hero Hamlet, she is also widow to his laid father, King Hamlet Senior, and also newly wed to Hamlets uncle, Claudius. In this tragic play, we witness not only the downfall of women of the play in general, but specifically the falling out of Gertrude as a mother to Hamlet, as a wife to the new King Claudius, and as a woman herself.
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...
Just as every other male in this time, he viewed feminine characteristics as unthinkably negative. When considering the vengeance his father’s death, he goes as far as declaring: “Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murdered, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words and fall a-cursing like a very drab, A stallion! Fie upon’t! Foh!” (2.2.611-616) Hamlet seems to believe that a “whore,” a “drab,” or a “stallion” is comparable to not avenging his father’s death. One of the more famous lines of the play states, “Must I remember? Why, she hang on him As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on. And yet, within a month (Let me not think on ‘t, frailty, thy name is woman!)” (1.2.147-150) Hamlet begins this bold statement by being disgusted with the ways of his mother, however, ends the quote by stereotyping the female gender as a whole. He believes that women’s sexual “appetites” lead only to betrayal and corruption of relationships, which undoubtedly stems from his disgust with his mother’s sexual actions with his uncle and new king, Claudius. However, labeling all women as frail is a bold statement coming from the same character that overthinks every given situation and doubts every move he makes. Every male role in Hamlet exemplifies frailty in more than one way.
Just like in society the men in Hamlet follow the rules for a patriarchal society. The three most masculine characters in Hamlet are Claudius, Polonius and Laertes. “Man is supposed to be strong, courageous, rational and sexually aggressive; while woman is weak, timid, emotional, and sexually passive” (De-Yan 1). The first identifiable masculine characters are Laertes and Polonius as they are introduced in the play conversing with Ophelia. In this scene they tell Ophelia what she is allowed to do and command to her to not be with Hamlet, “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...” (1.3.5-9). After Laertes leaves, Polonius enters the scene and rebukes Ophelia for believing Hamlets words of affection. As in a patriarchal society the males of the household are the leaders. First in command is the father, and then the brother. Therefore just like in Act one scene three, Ophelia has to do what her father and brother tell her. Claudius is another masculine character in Hamlet. He shows this by murder...
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.
Throughout Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” women are used as method for men to get what they want. The men in Hamlet, either directly or indirectly continuously use women to acquire something from other men. The only two women in the entire play are Gertrude and Ophelia, who are consistently used by the current king, Claudius, Polonius, and Hamlet. Ophelia is exploited by Polonius and the King (mainly together), and is also used by Hamlet. Gertrude is used by the King, as well as Polonius. In “Hamlet,” the women throughout the play are used as pawns for men to get what they want, mainly from the other men.
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.
“Frailty thy name is woman.” (Hamlet, I.ii.146) is a line spoken by Hamlet, the main protagonist in the play Hamlet, a Shakespeare masterpiece from the 1600s. This line is said about Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, when Hamlet is accusing her of adultery with the new king, Claudius. Gertrude’s character is portrayed as weak, and male dependent which plays into her role as a queen. In the 1600s, although the queen was perceived as almost omnipotent, she didn’t have say in big decisions and had very little power; the queen was therefore dependent on a male counterpart to make all of the decisions. Hamlet himself understood this which is made evident in his line that says;
For many years, in the older eras, women had always been categorized as insignificant, and worthless. Because of this, women were forced to conform to the stereotype of depending on men, and were subjected to what the men said. William Shakespeare demonstrates this in the play Hamlet. The women are portrayed to deserve their fate because of their inability to be independent and their ability to be easily influenced. In the play, Shakespeare demonstrates that both Gertrude and Ophelia deserve their fate.