How Does Hamlet Change Over Time

Over a course of time; some things change. As humans, we have to adapt to those changes over time. Many would say that so much has changed since Shakespeare’s time, which is very true, but some things also have remain the same throughout those hundreds of years that passed. Currently in our world today, a large amount of small-minded men still belittle women like they did back in the sixteen-hundreds. As shown numerous times in the play Hamlet; Ophelia, as a woman, was controlled and had no say for herself. Throughout the play, Ophelia was always suppressed by one man after another. She was forced to obey her father, Polonius; undervalued by her brother, Laertes, and downplayed by her so-called beloved, Hamlet. Poor Ophelia had not much power to do anything back then, but has that changed at all? Starting off near the beginning of the play, Laertes was demanding that Ophelia would stay away from Hamlet. He started off by hinting that Hamlet, who is a royalty, is up to no good and will never respectfully love someone like her. After giving Ophelia the impression that Hamlet might never love her how she wants him to; Laertes starts telling Ophelia that Hamlet will not be with her for long. Laertes compares Hamlet to temporary things that are admired

Men from the beginning believed that they have more power and women will always be underneath them. The way the men, Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet, in Ophelia’s life treated her is a prime example of how most women were descended back then. Although women are more independent now in the twenty-first century, women are still not considered to have equal value as men. Because so many women, like Ophelia, did not speak up and defend for themselves; men continue to belittle women. One of the many ways that can be changed starts with how women allow themselves to be treated in that manner. If people spoke up and took