When one reads William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, it is easy to overlook the female characters as powerless and subservient. However, things are not always what they seem at first glance, as a further analysis of Gertrude and Ophelia suggests. Although the plot centers around Hamlet’s quest for revenge, these two female characters have a profound influence on what transpires. These women certainly play more significant roles than they seem at first.
In Act I, Gertrude appears to be an unfaithful wife who is detached from her son. Despite her husband’s death, she quickly remarries and feels no qualms doing so. Moreover, while her husband’s death takes a toll on Hamlet, she fails to console him. Instead, she tries to make his death seem
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As she dies, she tells Hamlet, “O, my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink! I am poisoned” (V.ii.340-341). Instead of following her husband’s plan, she makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her son. Without her heroics, Hamlet would be dead, and Claudius would remain king and be victorious, but she felt the need for redemption. Besides, not only does she contribute to the storyline but also to the reader’s analysis. She is indeed a complex character and raises numerous questions, such as whether or not she knew about Claudius killing her husband. Outstanding characters like Gertrude affect the plot in a significant way and supply the reader with critical thinking questions.
On the other hand, Ophelia appears to be obedient and submissive. In fact, she seems to be exceedingly deferential, as she obeys everything Laertes and Polonius say. For example, when Polonius orders her to stay away from Hamlet and ignore his love vows, she replies, “I shall obey, my lord” (I.iv.124-145). Furthermore, she refers to her father as “my lord,” which implies Polonius has her on a leash (I.iv.145). Perhaps this line also means that she has no free will and thinks in the interests of her father instead of for herself. It is difficult for a reader to contemplate how a subordinate like Ophelia could have a critical role later in the play. Nevertheless, another prominent female character comes off as
The Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet features two female characters in main roles, Ophelia and Gertrude. They are similar in a surprising number of ways. This essay proposes to elucidate the reader on their likeness or similarity.
A few characters in this play give insight on Gertrude that point in the direction of her being shallow and evil. One example is late in the first act when Hamlet cries “O most pernicious woman! O villain, villain, smiling, dammed villain!” This is when, deep in thought, Hamlet realizes that his mother could have possibly taken part in his father’s death and he thinks she’s evil. In Hamlet’s head, everything makes sense now because it is now understandable how she got over the death so quickly. This is the first time that Hamlet realizes his mother’s true character. This is a very imperative notion about Gertrude’s personality because for her very own son to think a validation like this is extreme. Often times a man will love and defend his mother until the day he dies, while Hamlet, on the other hand, is thinking of her playing a role in his father’s death. When the ghost speaks of Gertrude’s speedy marriage, it provides more evidence of her shallowness. The King’s ghost says that she is “seeming virtuous”. He is basically saying that while she looks holy and righteous, she isn’t. The new King offered her something (or many things) that she wanted, and she took the bait and married him. She didn’t care that her husband had just died, or how her son would react to this
While we humans live in a society governed largely by men we have little idea of what a matriarchal society would be like as it clearly doesn’t exist in today’s society. For centuries we have fought for gender equality, but we are reminded in films, plays and novels that Women are submissive and the weaker gender. Shakespeare’s written tragedies had clearly showed his patriarchal perspective with his character Ophelia from Hamlet, whose motivation and dominance is powered by Her father Polonius. Gertrude is another women from Hamlet who is represented as a weak minded, dependant character who has no power or control over what she does. If we look at these two characters from a Feminists point
Polonius uses her love for Hamlet as means to gain social status and to spy on the Prince. Polonius considers Ophelia property instead of a human capable of her own decisions by saying; “I have a daughter:have,while she is mine” (2.2.106) and “At such a time I’ll loose my daughter to him.”(2.2.162). Polonius has raised Ophelia to be completely obedient to him in every way. “This in obedience hath my daughter shown me.” (2.2.125).
Throughout “Hamlet,” woman’s place within the domestic sphere is carefully established through the relationship, and marriage, of Claudius and Gertrude. Gertrude, from the beginning when she marries Claudius immediately after Ole King Hamlet’s death, seems to need men in order to establish her own sense of self. Despite the fact that Gertrude seems to manage all right on her own, especially when put in a position that involves societal expectation (i.e. when beside Claudius as the Queen), she seems to still be unable to define her own sense of self. For instance, in Act I, Scene II, Gertrude makes a short comment about Hamlet’s travels, stating, “Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet, I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.” While Hamlet also replies curtly, Claudius takes this instance to go into an eight-line speech regarding how “loving and fair” Gertrude’s response to Hamlet was; as if she needed immediate validation. Claudius, in this instance as well as throughout the overarching story-line, seems to jump to the occasion to speak for both himself and Gertrude; asserting himself as the “man in charge.” However, the one thing Gertrude does seem to be able to maintain is her ability to have her own thoughts and control over her own actions. While she does rely on the main male characters,
We see an array of “personalities” to her, linking with the many different reactions she receives throughout her time in the play. Often times, she is seen as a wife in many different respects, where she both follows the typical standards set for her and defies them. There are also moments where Gertrude is a mother first and a wife second; in her interactions with Hamlet, she is much weaker than she appears beside Claudius, and her
We first realize in Act I, Scene 2 that poor judgment is her major character flaw. As the mother of a grieving son, Gertrude should have been more sensitive to Hamlet's feelings. Instead, less than two months after King Hamlet's death, Gertrude remarries Claudius, her dead husband's own brother. Gertrude should have realized how humiliated Hamlet would feel as a
This soliloquy not only expresses Hamlet’s feelings toward women, but also signifies the beginning to his madness. Not too much further into the play Gertrude realizes her sons abnormal behavior and her conscious kicks in, leading her to feel shame and guilt towards herself. “I doubt it is no other but the main, /His father’s death and our o’er- hasty marriage” (II.ii.56-57). Here Gertrude acknowledges her flaws as a mother to Hamlet, because she finally understands and convinces herself that because she moved on so quickly after the death to marry Claudius, Hamlet has become mad. This is essentially the falling action of Gertrude as a character because she is trapped between trying to please her husband and her son.
Since Gertrude caused the death of King Hamlet, she is unable to be granted to heaven. Gertrude is viewed as an incenstous person to Hamlet since he tells her God will judge her based upon her acts of incest and murder. Gertrude's involvement with the murder of King Hamlet has cost her the mother-son connection with Hamlet which leads to him having an unstable relationship with Gertrude.
Queen Gertrude is the mother to Hamlet, widow to the late King, and new wife to King Claudius as shown within the first act of Hamlet. Following her marriage to King Claudius, her relationship with her son Hamlet becomes strained. Queen Gertrude symbolizes much of what is considered to be a negative aspect of womanhood. To Hamlet, Queen Gertrude is a failure of a woman. Through his dialogue, it is presented that Hamlet desires a woman and mother to be concerned for her family and place tradition above all else. When Hamlet’s mother makes a decision outside of that realm and marries King Claudius, Hamlet strives to berate her for her choices. Through
In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare, the author, creates female characters that occupy very different roles than in his other plays. In this play, Hamlet plays opposite two women who are used by the men around them in order to further their own interests. One woman is named Ophelia. In many of Shakespeare’s other plays, he creates women that are very strong and play a very real role in the life of the protagonist. In Hamlet, however, Ophelia occupies a very different role-she exemplifies a pawn of the men around her. She is used not only by her father and his associate the King, but also by her supposed lover, Hamlet. This is a very different role for a woman in a Shakespearian play. Also, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude,
The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is strained at first. From the beginning of the play to act III, Hamlet is bitter with his mother. He feels this way because it has been less than
Although written over 400 hundred years ago, Hamlet remains a puzzling and complex play, partially due to the ambiguous Queen Gertrude. The Queen is a puzzling character as her motives are unclear and readers question her intentions throughout the play. Townsend and Pace in "The Many Faces Of Gertrude: Opening And Closing Possibilities In Classroom Talk" view her “as a simple-minded, shallow woman...who has no self beyond a sexual one” while Harmonie Loberg in "Queen Gertrude: Monarch, Mother, Murderer" sees Gertrude as murderess who “is responsible for the death of Ophelia.” Although Gertrude seems innocent of the death of King Hamlet, Graf believes “Gertrude is considered to be guilty not by her own actions or words but by the words of two key characters, Hamlet and the Ghost;” these two characters suggest that the Queen is “sensuous and disloyal,” even if not openly aware of her first husband’s murder (Graf). These contrasting views of Queen Gertrude reveal the many possible answers to readers who question whether Queen Gertrude’s words and actions are genuine or self-serving. Queen Gertrude, although a fairly minor character, is a primary example of dramatic irony in the play as she is evidently unaware of the murder of her first husband and her new husband’s plot to eliminate her son. Her seeming disloyalty in marrying Claudius less than two months after King Hamlet’s death, her seemingly willful naivete at those who conspire against Hamlet, and her apparent tendency to
Although it may not be clear to the naked eye, the women in Hamlet display certain acts of disobedience through small deeds. Ophelia, Hamlet’s love interest in the play, showcases her lack of obedience and wit through two separate scenes. She first portrays these rebellious characteristics when she first tells her father of the relationship she has with Hamlet. Many people would argue that this does not show any of Ophelia's stray from the norm and some may argue that this scene would more portray a father
Gertrude as well is exploited by men throughout the play. Gertrude is seen as a prize to Claudius, a way for him to succeed to the thrown without having Hamlet take over. Although it is not doubted that he loves her, but he first uses her to get the kingship without question. Claudius has been wooing Gertrude even before the death of the king, which a reason for the “most wicked speed” in which they were married. (Act 1, scene 2. line 156) Gertrude is also used by Polonius, but more so she allows him to spy on her having a discussion with Hamlet. Polonius tells the Queen that Hamlet is coming to her private chambers and that she should have a discussion with him on his lately “unrestrained” acts. She replies to Polonius that she will “warrant” him, and “fear [her] not” for she is on his side. (Act 3 Scene 4 Lines 1-7) Gertrude however is not an unintelligent woman, so a reader would wonder why she would allow herself to be exploited by Claudius. Carolyn G. Heliburn agrees with Gertrude’s intelligence saying that her speeches are “not the mark of a dull and shallow woman.”