'Are Gertrude and Ophelia merely pawns in the world of Hamlet? Explore the plays representation of femininity, paying close attention to the role and function of each of these two characters in the play'.

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Hamlet

‘Are Gertrude and Ophelia merely pawns in the world of Hamlet? Explore the plays

representation of femininity, paying close attention to the role and function of each of

these two characters in the play’.

William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ can be seen as a chess game bought to life. The play

depicts the events in a 16th century Danish royal family that unfold after a suspicious

murder of the king. The plays two female characters Gertrude and Ophelia can be

likened to pawns in this intricate web of lies and deceit, as their words and actions are

dictated by the males of the play. This can be directly linked to the broader cultural

understandings of gender roles in 16th century England, as women were portrayed as

passive, weak and submissive to the males power strength aggression and action . As

all texts position readers to interpret different characters in different ways, this text to

can be read as empowering the females, by appearing to be submissive, in order to

manipulate the men. However, as essentially Gertrude acts as a vehicle for Hamlets

emotions, and Ophelia is primarily shaped to conform to external demands to reflect

the male characters desires, the role of the women in Hamlet is primarily that of a

manipulated pawn in a chess game  that not even the kings can win.

The play ‘Hamlet’ begins with the funeral of the former king of Denmark, that is

simultaneously the wedding celebrations of the new king Claudius and his bride

Gertrude, the young Hamlet’s mother and former King’s wife. Hamlet’s suspicions

that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” are later confirmed by the ghost of

his father, who reveals Claudius killed him, in a bid to gain power and his wife,

Gertrude. Hamlet then decides that he must get revenge on Claudius and so pretends

to be mad, fooling his mother, lover Ophelia and Claudius. However, due to Hamlet’s

procrastination, events take a turn for the worse as the end of the play brings about

death to every main character through error of judgment.

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Gender roles in the play Hhamlet are a major factor dictating the lives of the females

Ophelia and Gertrude. As strong masculinity was cherished, female traits were not

desirable in a man, and this explains the actions of Hamlet, who acts in the realm of

feminine for the first 4 acts. His fathers death bought about this loss of masculinity

and Claudius further strips him of this honor by saying,

        “of impious stubbornness. Tis unmanly grief.” (Act 1 sc. 2, 94 )

thus Hamlet is left vulnerable and passive. He recognizes this in ...

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