The Libation Bearers and Hamlet

In the play Hamlet, women are often degraded; this is Shakespeare’s way of displaying the gender roles during the Elizabethan era. Ophelia is a naïve girl who is dominated and controlled by men, thus portraying Shakespeare’s views. Ophelia, like many women in Shakespeare’s plays, was expected to be a silent observer (Petrut 2) even when addressed with disrespect. Women’s opinions were often silenced due to their given roles during this time and lacked many social rights women have today. When Hamlet says to Ophelia, “Lady, shall I lie in your lap?” (Shakespeare, 3.2.107), he disrespects Ophelia in front of her father and his own mother by making sexual notions. Ophelia, simply and respectfully, replies with “No my lord” (Shakespeare, 3.2.108).

The equality of men and women has been a controversial topic throughout various eras of time. Previously observed as delicate and feeble individual’s incapable of independence, women have not always had to opportunity to voice their own opinions. This is clearly demonstrated within the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare by two prominent female characters, Queen Gertrude and the love interest of Prince Hamlet, Ophelia. Depicted as a reserved leader who favors luxury and affection over loyalty and strong morals, Gertrude often seeks guidance from the male figures around her. Similarly, Ophelia has a malleable personality built upon the opinions of her father and the endearment of Hamlet,

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.

The mythology of Ancient Greece and Rome appears in the characterization, imagery, allusion, and theme of this play. The references to the classical period are both bold and subtle as Shakespeare weaves them into the work.

“Oedipus the King” tells the terrible tale of a brilliant man who became king of Thebes and later discovers that he is the cause of a plague on the city because he killed his father and married his mother. “Hamlet” follows the events of a Danish prince who has been called upon to kill his uncle and thereby avenge his father’s murder. These two tragedies appear to have little in common on the surface, but upon closer inspection, share the many qualities of an epic tragedy.

There is a great debate surrounding what instigated Ophelia’s madness in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. By examining Ophelia through a feminist criticism lens we can better understand the origin of her madness.

In The Tragedy of Hamlet, William Shakespeare captivates his audience in many ways by using a multitude of different literary techniques and devices. He is able to capture the attention of his audience by using said techniques and devices to portray the revenge-seeking Hamlet and his lover, Ophelia, as “crazy”. These techniques and devices include symbolism, allusion, character development, and the explicit use of themes and motifs. A symbol is defined as a thing that represents or stands for something else; and symbolism is the use of those symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

From the outset and throughout, Shakespeare in his tragedy ‘Hamlet’ presents the plight of women through the leading ladies of the play, Ophelia and Gertrude. In the patriarchal society Shakespeare presents, misogyny is far from uncommon, as both women are treated as puppets and pawns in the games of the men central to their lives. As per the context of the play, Ophelia is under the control of her father as she is not yet married, her youth also leaving her vulnerable to foul play. However, when a woman becomes married she is now under the direction of her husband which is evident in the treatment of Gertrude by Claudius. The passive acceptance of things these women endured all their lives eventually leads to their own destruction, and as

Shakespeare’s play Hamlet presents many themes such as, betrayal, deceit, and revenge to name a few. Events in the play include murder, eavesdropping, and confessions. Questions regarding love, honor, and loyalty are also fused into the storyline. Madness in the form of insanity is also a question throughout the plot. Moral behavior regarding right, immoral behavior regarding wrong, and whether to be a righteous character, or corrupt are also focused on. Two reoccurring elements mentioned are fear and mortality.

Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism Elaine Showalter Though she is neglected in criticism, Ophelia is probably the most frequently illustrated and cited of Shakespeare’s heroines. Her visibility as a subject in literature, popular culture, and painting, from Redon who paints her drowning, to Bob Dylan, who places her on Desolation Row, to Cannon Mills, which has named a flowery sheet pattern after her, is in inverse relation to her invisibility in Shakespearean critical texts. Why has she been such a potent and obsessive figure in our cultural mythology? Insofar as Hamlet names Ophelia as “woman” and “frailty,” substituting an ideological view of femininity for a personal one, is she indeed

     In Elaine Showalter's essay, "feminist criticism allows Ophelia to upstage Hamlet [and] . . . brings to the foreground . . . the cultural links between femininity, [and] female sexuality" (221). In most of his plays, William Shakespeare has many women in secondary roles, only filling dead space or causing strife between men. During Shakespeare's time, thoughts of women bordered on weak and deceitful images, leading to the idea of frail, yet conniving creatures. In Hamlet, the character Ophelia uses her sexual prowess as a source of power when dealing with the opposite sex. As she weaves her way through the background of the play, she affects the men greatly to become a main focus when

Women in Shakespearean plays have always been important roles. Female roles create the main conflicts and base of the plays, or bring up interesting moral and cultural questions. They identify Shakespeare’s social and political commentary. Shakespeare's characterization of Ophelia in Hamlet illustrates the consequences that an extreme lack of female tradition has upon a woman. What Ophelia’s actions in the plat suggest about women’s situation in Shakespeare’s time?

The Woman in Hamlet provides an explanation of women's accepted roles, specifically of Ophelia, and how her repression of feelings led to her madness. How does Ophelia’s madness compare to Hamlet’s?

Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a tragic revenge story surrounding the main character Hamlet, the prince of Denmark. Hamlet has been widely examined for hundreds of years; however his love interest, Ophelia, is commonly overlooked, much like many Elizabethan women in an early 17th century patriarchal society. Using feminist criticism, it becomes easier to discern the significance of Ophelia as a character: the oppressed, victimized woman who evolves into an iconic symbol of femininity. Ophelia lacks almost all agency at the hands of her socioeconomic status, her father, and her sexuality, until she descends into madness and ultimately falls to her demise.

Shakespearean plays are often known for their outstanding entertainment and classic comic conflict. In his masterwork, Hamlet, Shakespeare uses these aspects to serve his thematic purpose. He has used comedy throughout many of his historic plays, but in this play, comedy is the drawing point that makes it fun and entertaining, yet clear and intuitive. Generally, his tragedies are not seen as comical, but in reality, they are full of humor. However, these comic elements don’t simply serve to relieve tension; they have much significance to the play itself. The characters of Hamlet, Polonius, Osric, and the Gravediggers, prove to be very influential characters, and throughout the play, they are the individuals that