Oppression Of Women In Shakespeare's Hamlet

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,

When looking at Hamlet through a feminist lens, Ophelia and Gertrude gain the spotlight. However, with the spotlight on them, they are shown to be dependent upon men and men’s affection, Gertrude needing the affection of Claudius, and Ophelia needing the affection of Hamlet. This shows the women in the play to be seen as weak minded and easily exploited. In the end, not only is Claudius the reason for Gertrude’s death, but Hamlet is the reason for Ophelia’s death. The men they are dependent on control Ophelia and Gertrude’s stories; yet, those men are what drive them to the grave.

In today’s world, women of all ages are given equal rights and freedom. In Shakespeare’s time, woman’s obligations were to follow the rules of the men and obey the men in their lives’. “Frailty, thy name is woman;” Hamlet implies the powerlessness of the two women characters in the play. In Hamlet, the roles of Gertrude and Ophelia are very important in that they are the only two female characters in the play. Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark and mother of Hamlet, and Ophelia, the lover of Hamlet, are characterized as controlled and lost in their lives because they are being used by the men throughout the play. Fundamentally, Shakespeare illustrates the nature of Gertrude and Ophelia as powerless victims by the women being subjects of men,

The Role of Women in Hamlet in William Shakespeare's Play Gertrude and Ophelia, the only two women in Hamlet, reflect the general status of women in Elizabethan Times. Women were suppressed by the males in their lives (brothers, fathers, and partners) and were always inferior. Ophelia and Gertrude have little or no power due to restricted legal, social and economic rights that were found in Elizabethan society. The male characters in Hamlet reflect this sexist view point, represented by Hamlet’s judgement that “frailty, thy name is woman”. This view was not uncommon in Shakespeare’s time and heavily influenced Shakespeare to present women the way he does in Hamlet.

“I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/ could not with all their quantity of love/ make up my sum” (5.1.285-286). Hamlet tells Ophelia that he never did love her, but in all honesty he does still love her. Hamlet is truly insane. When he is talking with Ophelia he is truly mean to her and treats

Throughout time, women were always viewed as pure, frail, and obeying belongings of men. They were symbolically a possession of their fathers until a man came along to marry them to start a new life and raise a family. As a wife, a woman was expected to hold her purity for her husband and tend to his every need. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, women were viewed as powerless beings and were seen to be only good for reproduction and holding an appealing appearance upon wondering eyes. In the play, Hamlet’s view on all women is dark because he believes they are untrustworthy.

As the play progresses, the audience is introduced to Queen Gertrude, who was had married the murderer of her first husband, and Ophelia, Hamlet's love interest. Throughout the play, the interactions and words of Hamlet and the other male figures surrounding the two ladies contribute to the overall message about gender hierarchy that Shakespeare seems to be expressing to his audience. Throughout the play, Hamlet's diction and tone in his soliloquies, Laertes' tone and action, the foil developed between the characters, as well as the actions of the women themselves serve to emphasize Shakespeare's and his time period's views towards women. Hamlet reinforces the Elizabethan idea that women, being weak emotionally and mentally, require the guidance of a strong male figure to guide them through their

He understands that women should be characterized as solely virtuous beings and should not be capable of acting unmercifully and performing transgressions or to simply behave how they desire to. During scene 1, Hamlet manipulates Ophelia to get back at her father after he objectifies her love in effort to anger Hamlet, he treats her more of an object than a human and disconcerts her completely. He accuses her of being a "breeder of sinners" and orders Ophelia to a "nunnery" (lll. l 131-132) As a result of Hamlet’s enragement caused from his mother’s remarriage he generalises and has concluded that all females have the same qualities and abilities, they are lustful, distrustful, unavailing creatures.

The powerful define the everything beneath them because their downfall leads to the destruction of the will of the powerless Lenses influence the ideas of approaches that could help define societies. The idea of a lens leads to reflections of cultures, just as Marxism does through literature. Marxism focuses on the idea that whoever controls the most power controls society. Division of the social classes introduces the idea that to end the conflict between those classes, it must be with the literature that reflects the culture. Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, relates to class division through the dialogue between characters and the own thoughts of Hamlet. Looking through a Marxist lens at Hamlet is part of Marxist literature due to the the portrayal of the relationship between the royalty and the less important characters while also showing the alienation of the less fortunate working class.

Through Hamlet, William Shakespeare portrays women as inferior to men by not allowing women to have the freedom to choose what they want for their lives. The women in Shakespeare’s plays do not occupy equal positions with men in society, socially, politically, or economically (jajja 236). The women have certain roles to satisfy and they aren’t seen as fit or capable of playing a soldier or judge. According to Theresa Kemp, Shakespeare wrote for an English stage on which only males acted, and he wrote for the tastes of audiences keen for stories ranging across a male-centered vision of human experience, rather than for experience central to most women’s lives. Shakespeare used characters such as Gertrude and Ophelia in Hamlet to support the

Shakespeare defines femininity via society's ideals of the time : chastity and beauty. For women in the play, the only way to be honourable is to conserve chastity and virtue and Polonius and Laertes recommend to Ophelia to adopt certain type of behaviour : "And keep you in the rear of your affection / Out of the shot and danger of desire" (Act1 Sc3 L34-35). They do not want her to give in to Hamlet and lose her value in society by losing her "chaste treasure open / To his unmaster'd importunity" (Act1 Sc3 L31-32). To keep her virginity over the uncontrolled demands of Hamlet is the ultimate goal for Ophelia, as it is the only way for her to maintain

There are only two female characters seen throughout the entirety of Hamlet, Hamlets mother, Gertrude and his love interest, Ophelia. While each woman struggles with her own personal woes, they have a mutual connection in the fact that they are often oversimplified and seldom understood. Unbeknownst to many who read Hamlet, Gertrude and Ophelia play a larger role than one can tell by simply skimming the surface of the play. By using the feminist lens one can deduce that these women play an essential role in the advancement of the plot. The fact that these women play a large role is often missed because outside of Ophelia's love affair with Hamlet we do not get to know her as a woman. Every time the reader hears of Ophelia she is either in tears or close to tears over a man. The same can almost be said for Gertrude, the audience does not hear of Gertrude outside of her relationship with King Hamlet and Claudius. The decisions the women make are made out to appear like that of a person weak-willed and too foolish for their own good. Though Gertrude and Ophelia seem to be in emotional turmoil more often than not, their problems are never actually resolved. When the reoccurring belief is “frailty, thy name is woman” it ceases to be shocking that the emotions being

Hamlet talks to himself about the absurd marriage of Claudius and Gertrude. The Hamlet states, “Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him, As if increase of appetite had grown. By what it fed on, and yet, within a month—By what it fed on, and yet, within a month- Let me not think on ’t. Frailty, thy name is woman!” (1.2. line 143). The quote is explaining that Gertrude did not grieve long enough but instead searched for another man to slave herself too. Gertrude found her way into the arms of Claudius soon after the death of her husband; Hamlet is furious with this and generalized that all women are weak. All they have to offer are looks and worthy of nothing less than physical and verbal abuse of a man. He thinks that women are crippled without a man and they are the ‘voice of reason.’ His interpretation of women shows ignorance because he thinks that women are needy and powerless. Hamlet is yelling at Ophelia and claims that she is a whore and needs to repent her sins and be purified by God. Hamlet plainly asserts “Farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go, and quickly too. Farewell” (3.1. Line 139). Hamlet supports the theme of misogyny because he says she is an adulteress and needs to marry a fool because a wise man will know all women do is cheat. He tells

Gertrude is not independent in the slightest. The concept of fierceness is prevalent in today’s society. Women can hold their own, have a say in what they do, and what their destiny is. Gertrude, however, let fate take course over her life. Her former husband, King Hamlet, was allegedly killed by his brother, Claudius. Half way through the play, Hamlet organizes a play called “The Murder of Gonzo,” to guilt-trip Claudius into revealing whether he killed his brother or not. Featured in the play are representatives of the current King and Queen. The Player King says “Since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands/Unite commutual in most sacred bands.” (3.2.156-158) The King is essentially saying love has brought them together to marry each other, and it appears as if the King is extremely fond of the Queen. The Queen responds “So far from cheer from cheer and from your former state,/That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust you.../And as my love is sized, my fear is so.” (3.2.162-163, 168) The Queen is expressing her anxiety for the marriage,

In the Elizabethan era, women were considered to be the weaker sex, they were dependent on man and were expected to do as told, without question. William Shakespeare captures the essence of being a woman in the play Hamlet, by introducing the characters, Gertrude and Ophelia. They are naive and gullible characters that look for advice from a male figure and are expected to act in a certain way that would please and not interfere with the opposite sex. Therefore the role of women in the play Hamlet is to act as a possession of their male figure and maintain a reputation of innocence.