Women's Role in Literature
In many works of Literature women play a controversial role, one in which their actions are the cause of conflict in many situations. There are more often then not two reasons for this. One reason why the female character is always caught in the center of the conflict is ignorance, such is the case Shakespeare's "Hamlet; Prince of Denmark" with the character Queen Gertrude as an example. The second reason why women are the cause of the central conflict are that in many instances they are trying to make a stand against society by defying what society holds to be the norm. An example of this would be Sophocles' "Antigone". In either case, the woman character is cause of the central conflict within the
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Through their actions, both of these women brought upon much stress upon not only themselves but members of their family as well, allowing for the central conflicts to take place. In "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark", it is Queen Gertrude's marriage to Claudius that causes Hamlet to act as though he has gone crazy. His father's death was hard enough on him, especially due to the fact that his Uncle Claudius was his father's murderer. His mother's hasty marriage to him only causes Hamlet to speculate about his mother's involvement in his father's death. Shakespeare does not make it entirely clear as to whether or not Gertrude took part in the elder Hamlet's death, nor does he make certain as to whether or not she took part in any extramarital affairs with Claudius prior to the king's death. It is this uncertainty that drives Hamlet to the brink of insanity. Hamlet is unsure as to whether or not he should hold his mother responsible for his father's death, and this causes him to act "mad" towards the others in the court, especially his lover Ophelia. It is the ghost of the elder Hamlet that tells his son not to harm his mother, that she is innocent of his murder. Hamlet listens to his father's ghost but still resents his mother's remarriage, seeing it as an insult to his father. As a result Hamlet remains in his "mad" state, and in the classical tragic ending, all
There is a distinct division of opinion among the other characters of the play about Hamlet's sanity and the split is along gender lines. Ophelia and Gertrude both state that Hamlet has gone mad, but the major male characters, on the other hand, like Polonius think that there is "method" in Hamlet's "madness," that his insanity is a surface mask to shield him as he plans the darker purpose of revenge. Since Hamlet is disturbed by the sudden death of his father and his mother's marriage to his uncle, King Claudius, the abnormality of his behavior to some extent is also understandable. Hamlet is naturally withdrawn, dark, and passive in the wake of those traumatic events. He also shows this when he constantly releases his anger with lines like "How (weary), stale, flat, and unprofitable seems to me all the uses of this world!" His self-exile and his self-reproach are essentially normal reactions to a series of events that he must avenge at his dead father's command but without further direction against a powerful chain of power within the guilty King.
Hamlet's rant to persuade her that Claudius is a bad man and the murderer of his father depicts his disrespect to his mother. For instance, he tells her, "You go not till I set you up a glass / Where you may see the inmost part of you." (III.iv.20-21) He is threatening his own mother! Later, he addresses her as "thou wretched, rash, intruding fool" (III.iv.32) Even though Gertrude's lust for Claudius aggravates him, Hamlet fails to show even the most fundamental respect to his superior. The relationship is full of disloyalty and distrust from Gertrude's part. First, she appeases, "Be thou assured... I have no life to breathe what thou hast said to me." (III.iv.201-203) It is assumed that she will listen to Hamlet and stay away from Claudius. However, in the next act, she displays her true loyalty to her husband, telling him that Hamlet is "in this brainish apprehension kills / The unseen good old man." (IV.I.12-13) This is partially contributed by her observations of her son talking to a ghost that she doesn't see. Polonius' death causes her to think Hamlet is dangerous, further driving the two apart. Her distrust to her son harms him by further solidifying Claudius' plan to execute him in England because the king sees him as a threat to the throne who is capable of killing. In the end, Hamlet and Gertrude's relationship take a bittersweet ending.
In the play by William Shakespeare, the ghost of King Hamlet approaches his mourning and depressed son, Hamlet, who is still affected by his death. The ghost explains to Hamlet how he died and demands that Hamlet avenge his death. Note how the ghost approaches Hamlet when he’s the weakest and still mourning to persuade and manipulate him into taking revenge for him. In Act one Scene 5 the ghost states, “If thou didst ever thy dear father love-/ Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” The way King Hamlet words his request is more as a challenge; in which Hamlet’s love for his dead father can only be proven by carrying out whatever his father wishes. The ghost influences most Hamlet’s behavior, which not only affects the plot, but also the relationships with other characters. The ghost influences the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude. He becomes angry at Gertrude because of her fast marriage with his uncle Claudius. Through the use of innuendos, antic disposition, and metamorphic plays, Hamlet makes it his duty to get King Claudius back for killing his father. Hamlet agreed to avenge his father without second thought. As the play advances, Hamlet begins to doubt the apparition. In act 3 Hamlet begins to have second thoughts and states, “The spirit that I have seen/ May be a devil…” This shows Hamlet’s inner conflict between listening to his father and avenging his death or following his ethics. To be sure that Claudius
In the play Hamlet by Shakespeare, Hamlet is the prince of Denmark, son of King Hamlet and Queen Gertrude. He is also the nephew to Claudius. At the beginning of the play, King Hamlet has died. A few weeks after the death, Gertrude married Claudius. Hamlet encounters a ghost that appears to be his father. The ghost tells him that Claudius is responsible for his death and Hamlet sets out for revenge against Claudius. Throughout the play, Hamlet goes from normal to depressed. He acts out in a way that questions his mental state. You could argue that Hamlet was truly mad, however, Hamlet was not mad but instead he was normal.
In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, the protagonist, Prince Hamlet, is an inconsolable young man who struggles with the death of his father, King Hamlet. Hamlet is confronted by the ghost of his father in the first act and discovers the truth of his father’s death. The Prince is horrified at the disclosure that his Uncle, King Claudius has murdered his father. He also finds himself outraged by his mother’s hasty remarriage; however, the Ghost forbids him to cause her any harm. Hamlet promises to avenge his father’s death and conspires to feign insanity in order to carry out his vengeance against King Claudius. Throughout the play, many characters believe Prince Hamlet to be genuinely mad, which is exactly what he anticipates. His
Shakespeare applies characterization of Queen Gertrude to display Hamlet's feeling of betrayal and anger towards her. Hamlet adored his father and was dissatisfied that his mother appeared as if she was not in the similar depressive state that Hamlet was in. Hamlet began to feel the betrayal because two months after her husband’s death, her and Claudius decide to get married. Hamlet believed his mother
King hamlet was killed by his own brother named Claudius. Two months after king Hamlet's death, Claudius had married the Gertrude, king Hamlet’s wife and became the new king of Denmark. In doing so Hamlet felt betrayed by his mother,Gertrude, marrying two months right after her husband's death and at his uncle Claudius for marrying his dad's wife. Hamlet found this disturbing and went as far as calling their marriage insestious.
In addition to his mother, Gertrudes incestual betrayal to wed the brother of her late husband, Claudius- Who is later learned to be the cause of the old king's untimely death. The treacherous act induced by both his mother and Uncle-daddy triggers Hamlets misogynistic and ludicrous behavior that enroots the rest of the play. Poisoned with the deep grief, accompanied by his mother's recent actions, Hamlet declares
Hamlet's actions either directly or indirectly lead to each woman's death. However, the internal and external events leading up to each woman's death are different. Gertrude is mistreated by Hamlet throughout the play because he now sees her as simply the woman who married her father's murderer, not as his loving mother. Because Hamlet knows this, he finds it difficult to treat Gertrude with the same respect and admiration he had before his father's death. In addition, Gertrude is a very easily influenced, submissive woman who is usually overpowered by men.
In Hamlet’s first soliloquy, Hamlet expresses the depths of his melancholy and his disgust at his mother’s marriage with Claudius after the death of his father. As a result, Hamlet condemns the marriage between his mother and uncle. He says Claudius is far inferior to his father and in anguish describes his mother, Queen Gertrude, as a lustful beast. The fact that his mother’s marriage to Claudius was so fast and to his father’s brother infuriates Hamlet. Moreover, Hamlet is already grieving over the fact that his father recently died, so the stress about his mother is enough to make him contemplate suicide.
When King Hamlet is murdered, Hamlet is so full of consuming anger and wants to avenge his father’s wrongful death. Although the Queen says, “Thou know'st tis common, all that lives must die/Passing through nature to eternity" (1.2.71-2), Hamlet does not find that comforting. He remembers the loving and tenderness his father showed towards his mother. This tortures Hamlet and pains him to see his mother so unaffected by her husband’s death. “Hamlet has just begun to express his feelings to his mother about her marriage and her intimate relations with Claudius, which he considers disgusting, adulterous, incestuous, and wicked.
The tragedy Hamlet written by William Shakespeare, who formulated a drama regarding the young Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, who experiences the emotions, depression, rage, and uncertainty because of the assassination of his father's, King Hamlet. The culprit who directed this criminal action was Hamlet's uncle, step-father and the new King of Denmark, Claudius. Hamlet yearns to seek revenge upon Claudius not only for the assassination of his father, but, the incestuous relationship between him (Claudius) and Gertrude (Hamlet's mother). In the Prince's first soliloquy, he ponders on committing suicide when he encounters difficulty mourning the death of his father whom he adored. As the soliloquy advances, he exposed his passions of disgust on his mother's decision to marry her dead husband's brother, Claudius. This marriage is incest because, Gertrude, a widowed wife, marries her brother-in-law, Claudius who is considered as "family" during the Elizabethan era. His disturbances present itself in act one, scene two where Hamlet goes through a state of depression because of his father's death, and then leads to anger because of the relationship between Gertrude and Claudius. In brief, Shakespeare utilizes the soliloquies to observe Hamlet and his constant emotional shifts which allows character development throughout the tragedy
Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark, who attends college, proving that he is a young adult. His parents, Hamlet and Gertrude, were the King and Queen of Denmark. Hamlet saw that his parents had a real love for each other and had always admired that. When his father, King Hamlet, dies Hamlet begins to mourn. He now disapproves of his mother’s marriage to his Uncle, now King Claudius. One night with the help of a friend, Horatio, Hamlet had an encounter with King Hamlet’s ghost. The ghost had informed Hamlet that Claudius killed King Hamlet by pouring poison into his ear as he slept. The ghost can be a symbolization of Claudius’ karma because the secret murder was only known by Claudius and King Hamlet, who
When people are going through events in his or her life they look for a way to express or find something that relates to the feelings that they have. Majority of the time these feelings are expressed through literature. An example is the archetypes that can be found throughout literature. In the British Middle Ages, the people were grouped into different social classes using the feudal system. Society was mainly broken into two separate groups, the nobles, and the peasants. However, there was also a subset group, which maintained the women. Women were the lowest of the low because they were considered to be evil because of what happened with Adam and Eve in the Bible. It is said that since “…Eve was created from Adam 's rib and, having
The role of women in the society is always questioned and for centuries, they have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. The treatment of women was extremely negative; they were expected to stay home and fulfill domestic duties. Literature of that time embodies and mirrors social issues of women in society (Lecture on the Puritans). But, slowly and gradually, situation being changed: “During the first half of the 19th century, women 's roles in society evolved in the areas of occupational, moral, and social reform. Through efforts such as factory movements, social reform, and women 's rights, their aims were realized and foundations for further reform were established” (Lauter 1406). Feminist poets like Emily Dickinson and Anne Bradstreet talked substantially about feminism in different lights in the past two centuries. They were very vocal and assertive about their rights and the ‘rights for women’ in general. While they might have been successful at making a good attempt to obliterate gender biases but still there are lot of disparities between the two genders. Nevertheless, their poetry reflects a deep angst.