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Gender inequality in hamlet
Hamlet through a feminist lens
Hamlet through a feminist lens
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“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 …show more content…
image of Gertrude and Ophelia as their downfall are blamed on how conservative and sexist the men are. Around the time Hamlet was written, it was part of the culture that the women were always inferior to the men. As stated before Hamlet used the famous line, “Frailty, thy name is woman,” aimed at his mother. After King Hamlet’s sudden death, Hamlet's mom Gertrude finds solace in the arms of her dead husband's brother, King Claudius. After learning of the marriage, Hamlet is furious as he sees this marriage as “foul incest.” He then suspects that foul play has been involved in his father’s death when Claudius is named king instead of Hamlet himself, who is heir to the throne. Hamlet saw what his mother did as a personal betrayal to not only him but to his father as well. Due to his mother’s actions with Claudius, Hamlet now sees all women as terrible flawed human beings. Hamlet and Ophelia were lovers until his hatred for his mother and Claudius began to brew. In fact, ophilia has done nothing wrong; Hamlet chooses to mistreat her. Most of his behaviors towards Ophelia is a direct result of Ophelia's father not wanting them to be together. He also believes that he can not understand what anyone on the castle is saying, he knows everyone’s plans when they don’t believe he does so he only merely plays along. During this time Hamlet's physiological state has begun to go down hill. Hamlet begins to release his anger on Ophelia to see if, like his mother in his eyes, would betray him too. He starts a game of psychological warfare with Ophilia.despite his hatred for women he loves Ophelia and tries to protect her, only to protect himself. He does this by pushing her away and yelling horrible things at her; he is testing her. When Hamlet realizes that Claudius is responsible for the death of his father, he chooses to seek revenge. With this attack, he knows that the castle, along with everyone in it, will crumble at this loss. Hamlet makes sure Ophelia would not have any connections with a murderer, so he pushes her away by denying his love for her, Hamlet states, “You should not have believed me, I love you not… get thee to a nunnery!” these words push Ophelia away and to be taken care of at a nunnery, he is just stating that no man will be good enough for her. In a twisted way, this was his form of loving her and trying to protect her from his destruction. By his mistreatment of Ophelia and his mother, he is gaining more confidence in his plan. Hamlet manipulates with Ophelia's emotions to help prove to her father he dislikes her. During the play, Hamlet can manage many people to get his points across to his viewers.
First, he can use Ophelia; Hamlet comes to the realization that the King and possibly the Queen have set him up to find out information from him. He is angry at the King and Queen and wants to throw them off, confuse the, and he wanted to express his feelings of anger towards women (the reason behind his rant against women during this encounter.) Secondly Hamlet can use Polonius for his gain, he once again acts in a “crazy” way, perhaps he may know that Polonius has consulted with the King and Queen without his knowledge.this is only another way to throw everyone off while he is still on the quest to find out the truth about his father’s death. If everyone only thinks he is crazy then they won’t suspect what his actual mission is, and he can continue on his plan with hopes there will be no flaws. Lastly, Hamlet can put together a play of his choosing, surprisingly the play within a play closely resembles the murder scene of his father. He chose to do this play in order to see King Claudius’s reaction; he uses this in a view to determine whether or not his uncle is guilty or innocent. Throughout the play, Hamlet deceives the whole cast into thinking he is a “madman.” He ultimately uses his madness to mask his true intentions of killing the king, although along the way there are an additional seven deaths. These are just a few examples of characters that Hamlet manipulates to achieve …show more content…
his ends, which is to ultimately figure out what happened to his father, and express some of his pent-up repugnance with his mother's actions. It is evident that a common theme in Shakespeare's work is how the women are degraded by the men in their life.
Hamlet is one of the most prominent plays that has this theme. While going through the Hamlet text and many credible resources it is easy to find that women are degraded by hamlet, affected by his actions, and they are used for his own personal gain, along with many other people in this play. All throughout the play hamlet finds out nits and pieces that he should not necessarily know, and he is able to use that against the
people.
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
In William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, Hamlet pretends to act mentally unstable around Claudius (the King) and Polonius, emotionally blackmails Ophelia, and gives false information to his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet uses antic disposition, emotional blackmail, and misinformation in order to better manipulate those closest to him. This eventually causes the audience and those around him to lose trust in
I think Hamlet by using his mad façade hides his real intentions and motivations from his enemies and people that will give away information, thus driving them to madness instead. Causing Ophelia to drown, Polonius stand behind that curtain, Gertrude to drink from the poisoned cup and Laertes to put poison on his blade. Shakespeare uses Hamlets fake madness as a catalyst for the surrounding characters demise. As Gertrude says when hamlet confronts her, about marrying his uncle. ?Oh Hamlet thou hast left my heart in twain.? (3:4:154)
And, to avoid moral estrangement, the Prince plans on reversing his father's death under the guise of madness. There is no question that Hamlet feigns insanity, and he does so to voice his emotions to the two closest women in his life, to influence the opinions of his peers, and to plan the revenge of his father's death. With his famous line "frailty, thy name is woman" (I, ii. 146. Hamlet descends into an abyss of emotional turmoil. He loses faith in his mother Queen Gertrude and in his lover Ophelia.
He feels that if he can trick these people into thinking he’s crazy then they’re not going to find him suspicious. Hamlet desperately feels the need to kill Claudius for killing his father. “The Mouse Trap”(Act 3, Sn. 2, Ln. ). After the play when Hamlet got the reaction he wanted from Claudius “Give me some light. Away!”(Act 3,Sn. 2,Ln. 295), Hamlet figures this is his time to strike on Claudius,but he wants to kill him when he creating a sin, “When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage”(Act 3, Sn. 3, Ln. 94). So when Hamlet thought that Claudius was hiding, while he was talking with his mother without hesitation, he stabs at the person who is hidden and accidentally kills Polonius thinking it was Claudius, “How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead! (stabs his sword through the arras and kills POLONIUS)” (Act 3, Sn. 4, Ln. 24). Hamlets acting being crazy seems to have actually made him go crazy. Hamlet didn’t even know who was hiding before he went and killed Polonius.
"Frailty thy name is women (I.ii.146)" says Hamlet in his first soliloquy that expresses his despair towards his sinful mother. In this classic play of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet, the price of Demark, adopts an outrageous character after the death of his father, King Hamlet. Incidents that occur after his father's death deeply change his feelings about love. Hamlet grew up in a prestigious and affectionate family. His parents' love for each other seemed to be unbreakable as his love for Ophelia. His mother's sudden remarriage is negative in the eyes of Hamlet; it is not only the remarriage but also the fact that it is with his uncle Claudius, the new King of Denmark. This leads to Hamlet's pessimistic view of love thus greatly affecting his relationship with his lover, Ophelia. The following is an outline of how the change of Hamlet's view of love leads to his disrespectful treatment of Ophelia.
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
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 that females are often looked down upon and mistreated, this is shown through the two female characters Ophelia and Gertrude. Often, women are looked at as objects; this happens to Ophelia when she returns love letters to Hamlet. In act three, Ophelia tries to give Hamlet his love letters that he had written for her back.
Sex debases men. They begin to struggle when they feel they are losing control of their emotions in any way. For a woman to easily change the way a man feels or the way he acts just by being female and attractive is enough to drive men insane. William Shakespeare's plays, Othello and Hamlet, demonstrate on paper, on film, and in other art forms that female sexuality and beauty are a threat to patriarchal society and that they must be controlled. Showalter affirms this in her essay by quoting David Laverenze's essay, "The Woman in Hamlet." In this essay he asserts that, " Hamlet's disgust at the feminine passivity in himself translated into violent revulsion against women and into his brutal behavior toward Ophelia" (Showalter 222). As men begin to see feminine aspects within themselves they will go to great lengths to not only deny, but also control these undesirable changes. Shakespeare's two plays are a direct commentary of the male insecurity that exists within relationships.
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.
William Shakespeare incorporates many themes and ideas into his play, Hamlet. Of the multiple important ideas, one potentially overlooked is the role of women. Only two of the characters in the play are female. Their lines are scarce, but hold huge importance in relation to the progression and plot of the play. Ophelia, the implied lover of Prince Hamlet, and Queen Gertrude, his mother, do not appear significant, but their actions and characters allow for other events to unfold. Gertrude and Ophelia are manipulated and belittled. In their weak will, they end up betraying Hamlet. Observing their manipulation by other people, Hamlet is able to justify and go through with his actions.
Hamlet’s vernacular and tone towards woman was completely different his vernacular and tone towards men. This is a result of the intense and angered relationship between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude. Hamlet addresses his mother with a sense of disgust. The idea that Hamlet was lead to believe that women would and could be controlled by their sexual appetites can be ascertained. As a result from past experience, Hamlet releases a rage of anger and frustration out on
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.
Most of the worlds cultures follow a patriarchal society and this dates back to the beginning of time. In Hamlet the patriarchal society is clearly depicted by the characters throughout the play. Hamlet is portrayed as an indecisive character when it comes to making a serious decision, for example when he contemplates on killing Claudius. This shows the masculinity and femininity aspect of his character, which offends the ideals in a patriarchal society. Claudius, Polonius, Laertes, Ophelia and Gertrude follow the usual gender roles in a patriarchal society, as for Hamlet, his characteristics come from both gender roles.
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.