Shakespeare's Portrayal of Women Essay

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,

Hamlet can be viewed through a feminist lens by focusing on Ophelia and Gertrude and how various other male characters treat them. Ophelia and Gertrude are dismissed as characters through the entire play because they are women. Hamlet refers to women as “frailty,” implying that they are weak and are dependent on men. Reason suggests that with out the males, Ophelia and Gertrude would simply have no story.

In Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, the number of women are much fewer than that of men. Even though the unequal male-female relationship in the world of Hamlet portrays that male is more superior than female because it becomes a tradition that passed down from generation, the roles of women are essential for the development of the play and male characters.

Moreover, as mother to Hamlet, she acts largely as a reflection of the evils within Claudius. Much of the antagonism Hamlet directs towards her is, thus, aimed clearly at the elements of her that mirror Claudius: her lustfulness and corruption. In return, however, Gertrude offers Hamlet a level of motherly love and understanding. When she says "Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet. / I pray thee, stay with us, go not to Wittenberg," she quite clearly is expressing simple love and a desire to remain close to Hamlet. While Claudius is purely destructive towards Hamlet, Gertrude's ability to filter her lustfulness and corruption through her womanhood allows her to act, at least on some level, as a positive force on Hamlet.

In the play Hamlet, author William Shakespeare points out a few differences between the men and women of this time. They were treated very differently based on their gender. This goes to show that men are favored more than women. Almost all of the women in Hamlet are either disrespected or taken advantage of by men. The women in Hamlet may be disrespected and denied many privileges, but they still worked their hardest to earn more equality with men.

As Hamlet and Claudius attempt to maneuver around each other, the other characters are brought into the fray, and the balance of the play sways back and forth between Claudius and Polonius. Gertrude becomes equivalent to many of the male characters within the story, however, is not overtly used by the characters. Gertrude’s role within the play becomes more about having her on the respective sides of the central conflict, rather than using her in the same way that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, or Laertes are used within the plot. Gertrude is mostly used as a literary device to show the indecisive air about the story, and further contrast the positions of the conflicting characters, Hamlet and Claudius. However, this general confusion is then combined with the weak-willed nature of Gertrude as a woman.

Shakespeare was possibly the first writer to portray women as strong, crafty, and intelligent. However, he has still received criticism from feminists about his representation of women. Some have even accused him of misogyny. There are only two female characters in the play Hamlet - Gertrude, Hamlet's mother and Ophelia, daughter of Polonius. Any debate based upon gender roles must therefore focus upon these two characters.

The topic of female empowerment is a prominent issue in modern day society. The idea behind this rapidly growing movement involves the creation of an environment for women where they can make decisions of their own, for personal and societal benefit. Conversely in the Elizabethan Era, during which William Shakespeare 's Hamlet was written, the societal role of women was divergent to our current beliefs. The play follows young prince Hamlet 's revengeful journey to avenge his father 's murder by his uncle Claudius; throughout which, we see the protagonist constantly delaying his revenge due to excessive contemplation and perpetual doubt. The two major female roles in the play are Hamlet 's mother, Queen Gertrude, and his lover, Ophelia. Throughout the play, these women are silenced to represent how they could be manipulated to serve the male characters ' best interests; additionally it emphasizes the patriarchal standards during the Elizabethan era. Ophelia is manipulated by Polonius who insists she conserve her innocence from Hamlet 's provocative interest. Additionally, Claudius manipulates Gertrude to gain access of the throne and continually ensures she perceives matters that concern her son Hamlet through his point of view. Finally, Hamlet himself seems to develop into a misogynistic character and humiliates Gertrude and Ophelia to further his revenge plot; specifically his apparent madness.

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.

At the time that Hamlet was written, women were often oppressed in their inferior positions. Even when the play, Hamlet, was performed, it was disgraceful for women to go on the stage, so men had to

Shakespeare and Webster represent the female characters in ‘Hamlet’ and ‘The duchess of Malfi’ by using general themes such as the patriarchy and the social control, the female identity and its independence, this institution of marriage, the expressions of sexuality and finally women shown to be either conformist or transgressive. Men were firmly in control in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era, and the expectations for women were to stay home, cook, clean and raise a family. Women’s status and roles were subject to the Tyranny of patriarchy, they were given strict disciplinary rules to follow whether by law or unspoken norms to prevent from rebellion. Women’s rights were restricted, legally, socially and economically, unlike today were women are more powerful and independent. Today women and men are seen to be equal and women can do pretty much everything a man can do (voting, working, becoming president) although there are many people still today who disagree with women having these rights.

Women stereotypically are portrayed as a weak gender. Often women are given the roles in which they must rely on the protection and permission of men to go about both action and idea. When conflict occurs between any male characters, the female character can be torn and forced to make a decision in which no matter the decision, she will be put in a bad view. When the demand for a woman to have allegiance to a man’s will and subsequently given no opinion or independent thought, this will undoubtedly drive any woman mad. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, both Ophelia and Gertrude, the women, are represented as lower than the men, expected to obey the males’ commands and eventually, the women die as a result of the men.

Shakespeare is known for his amazing literary works and his strong, female characters, none of whom appear in one of his most famous literary works Hamlet. In the tragedy Hamlet, Shakespeare depicts women as weak lesser beings whose only purpose is to serve men either as servants, wives or pawns.The female characters of Hamlet certainly leave something to be desired. Ophelia and Gertrude are the only female characters in Hamlet and are constantly used throughout the play to further the agendas of the men of Hamlet. Typically the women of Shakespeare are strong, independent women who don’t need a man to ‘rescue’ them women like Cordelia, Portia, and Rosalind. It makes a one think that perhaps Shakespeare set strong female characters completely

Throughout history, women have endured patriarchy and oppression. The re-envisioning of literature in a feminist canon has reinvigorated lost works of women and has made clear themes of sexual difference and importance of gender within classical texts. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the feminist perspective reveals several elements of these societal differences that were so relevant in Elizabethan times. Although the play suggests an array of interpretations, the feminist perspective emphasizes the strength and significance of the feminine elements in this controversial piece of literature, mainly through the deterioration of Ophelia’s psyche, the patriarchal relationships that admonish the component of power concerning gender, and the significant rhetoric that differentiates these roles.

Some believe that men are rulers or in control of everything. It may even be thought that men are the cause of most disasters in the world today. There is also an outlook on women, that they are innocent and only take responsibility for emotions instead of actions. Hamlet by William Shakespeare depicts how Hamlet falls victim to an adverse outlook on women in the play. The women in this play, Ophelia and Gertrude, take the role of what today’s society thinks a man should act as or have an impact on.