Men Overpowering Women In Hamlet By William Shakespeare

Men overpowering women has always been a present topic in forms of literature since the female characters have been inactive. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare there are only two female characters that have a valid role in the plotline. In most plays and works of literature back during the Elizabethan Era there were no women in the plays since they could not perform. Even when women are expressed in the play they are do not have a huge role in the play. There was one play that had a main female role and multiple supporting roles, this play was Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Mostly, men are the ones included in the dialogue while rarely women were allowed to make their own decisions in this play. Hamlet by William Shakespeare shows

In act three Ophelia tries to give Hamlet his love letters that he had wrote for her back. She sees no need for them anymore and she kindly tries to deliver them to him. This upsets Hamlet so he starts to yell at her he believed she had no right to try and give these letters back. While he was yelling at her Hamlet said some pretty sexual, rude things to Ophelia in his rage. He told her, “If you marry, I’ll give you this curse as your wedding present—be as clean as ice, as pure as the driven snow, and you’ll still get a bad reputation. Get yourself to a convent, at once. Good-bye. Or if you have to get married, marry a fool, since wise men know far too well that you’ll cheat on them. Good-bye…. I’ve heard all about you women and your cosmetics too. God gives you one face, but you paint another on top of it. You dance and prance and lisp; you call God’s creations by pet names, and you excuse your sexpot ploys by pleading ignorance. Come on, I won’t stand for it anymore. It’s driven me crazy. I hereby declare we will have no more marriage. Whoever is already married (except one person I know) will stay married—all but one person. Everyone else will have to stay single. Get yourself to a convent, fast” (III.i.136-152). In this rage, he tells Ophelia that if she marries a smart man he will know that she will ruin their marriage, he tells her that he doesn’t want to marry her anymore, and to bring herself to a whorehouse. He looked down on Ophelia at this moment because she had upset him by following what her father had told her to do. Hamlet tells her these things to try and hurt her feelings even though he loves her, her is mad at her for listening to Polonius all the times. Ophelia is looked down upon Hamlet referred to her as a whore and a woman that he can’t love