Certainly, Claudius’ words “Imperial jointress” imply that they have equal power. However their actions throughout the play are to the contrary. The king is in control throughout the play, making all the decisions and choosing to refer with Polonius rather than the Queen, who stays very much in the background.
However, a sign that her lack of involvement might be of her own choice is when, although has got the opportunity, she chooses not to be confrontational with the King when he orders Rozencrantz and Guildernstern to spy on Hamlet. Instead, she responds, “I shall obey you” (Act III, Sc I, Ln 37).
In Act V, Sc 2, Claudius’ true interest in politics and power are further ascertained when he lets Gertrude drink form the poisoned cup. Although, her act of defiance is expressed a little too late in the play, she clearly disobeys her husband when he asks her not to drink, he instructs “Gertrude, do not drink”, she replies, “I will, my lord. I pray you, pardon me” (Act V, Sc II, Ln 286-287).
The other significant female character is Ophelia, Hamlet’s love. She is the ultimate casualty of male dominance. She has been brought up in complete submission to her father, and is always ready to obey him without questions. For wit, commonsense, and heroic qualities, she cannot compete with Shakespeare’s great heroines.
Ophelia’s submissiveness becomes evident when she first appears in the play. Her brother Leartes provides lengthy advice to Ophelia pertaining to her relationship with Hamlet. Leartes voices his concern of Hamlets true intentions towards Ophelia and advises her to be wary of Hamlet’s love. He warns her “Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister / And keep you in the rear of your affection / Out of the shot and danger of desire” (Act I, Sc III, Ln 33-35). Ophelia obeys. However, although she agrees to do as Leartes has said, she also tells him not to be a hypocrite and listen to his own advise. She half-teases her brother, “Do not, as some ungracious pastors do / Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven / Whiles like a puffed and reckless libertine / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads / And recks not his own rede” (Act I, Sc III, Ln 47-51). Submissive and obeying as she is, she contradicts this by showing a spark of intelligence by speaking up. In Elizabethan times women would have been expected to keep sexual comments to themselves, this is a true indication that she might not be as innocent as we’re led to believe.
Some independence is suggested especially before the play. Brenner’s version of Hamlet expresses her to have broken all the rules for example that she has already lost her virginity.
Polonius, Ophelia’s father also expresses his concerns about Hamlet’s love for Ophelia. He expressly forbids her to see Hamlet again and she yields without any struggle, “I shall obey, my lord” (Act I, Sc III, Ln 136). Polonius cheapens the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia, who finds it very hard to believe that Hamlet might actually love his daughter. He tells her she’s speaking like a fool because she believes what Hamlet has said to her, “Pooh! You speak like a green girl” (Act I, Sc III, Ln 101). Ophelia listens.
In this scene especially, Ophelia is passive and obeying when she doesn’t want to be. She listens as the two men in her life, who feel it to be their duty, try to protect Ophelia’s virginity and risky political alliance. Polonius is not as concerned about his daughter’s happiness as he is about his own reputation. As David Laverenz declares in his paper, “ Identity … is defined as role, specifically as loyalty among functionaries of a state” (The woman in Hamlet). Polonius expresses, “I hold my duty as I hold my soul” (Act II, Sc II, Ln 42).
Here, Ophelia is responsible for her own tragedy. She has a weak mind and down not have a voice of her own. She allows herself to be lead in her love affair by her brother and father and also allows herself to be used as a decoy to discover Hamlet’s secrets. There is no doubt that Ophelia’s innocent and child like nature is her own enemy. Because of her innocence, she becomes a toy in her own father’s hands in his game of spying. Hence she loses the love of Hamlet who begins, wrongly, to suspect her.
Hamlet is the central figure in this tragedy and much of the dramatic impact of the play derives form the complex nature of his character. He can be gentle, cruel, loving, vindictive, deeply reflective, introvert as well as a man capable of acting on impulse. However, Hamlet certainly does not fit in to the male stereotype displayed in the play.
In Act I, we can begin to build a profile of the characters through the language of the characters. Claudius’ language suggests a forceful, manipulative, strong individual. In contrast, Hamlets words express bitterness, emotions, grief and weakness. It is his cry of emotions in public that concern both the Queen and the new King. The Queen tells him, “Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off / And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark” (Act I, Sc II, Ln 68-69). Gertrude, blind to Hamlet’s grief, uses their bond to explain that he must pull himself together, get on with his life and realise that everything must die. Claudius’ response on the other hand is, “’Tis unmanly grief” (Act I, Sc II, Ln 94). Claudius expresses that only someone who is totally out of control would show their grief so strongly. Hamlet’s grief would only be normal given the circumstances of his father’s death. However, in this scene normal is made to feel abnormal. Ironic, though it is, it is only Hamlet that is being normal.
The first soliloquy certainly reveals a mix of emotions on Hamlet’s part. There are images of melting flesh, which stands as a powerful metaphor for dying. This conveys to us Hamlet’s desire to die. Along with the suicide contemplation, there is a mood of self-pity and a sense of waste and uselessness. The language in this soliloquy shows that Hamlet has a very strong imagination, his sensitivity and his intelligence. Not only in this scene, but also throughout the course of the play Hamlet questions his own feelings and actions. He is made to feel guilty about thinking too much and acting too little.
In soliloquy number 3, he asks himself, “Am I a coward?” (Act II, Sc II, Ln 568). Hamlet is now applying the values that Claudius expressed in Act I, to himself. Throughout this soliloquy Hamlet is continuously condemning himself for not being a man because of his feelings for his father and because he hasn’t done anything about the murder yet. There is expulsion of the feminine in order to maintain masculine power and domination in this soliloquy. Shakespeare uses a violent image and links it with a softer one to express Hamlet’s idea that to give up and not revenge is a womanly act but to fight and seek revenge is being a man. He says, “Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face? … But I am pigeon -livered and lack gall” (Act II, Sc II, Ln 570&574). Brutally exposed in this tragedy, Shakespeare exposes the conflict between the male and female, control and emotion within society and the individual self.
Moreover, Shakespeare generalises the behaviour of women by saying that women paint their faces and pretend innocence to hide lasciviousness. Hamlet says to Ophelia, “I have heard of your painting too, well enough. / God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves / another” (Act III, Sc I, Ln 143-145). But ironically enough, men also paint their faces; After all, it is Hamlet who is pretending to be mad.
The females in Hamlet might be more silent and make less of a statement than Shakespeare might have wanted because of the general role of women in his society. Gertrude and Ophelia are indeed not a true reflection of women’s political, intellectual, social, emotional and economical lives across the board. On the contrary, in contrast to the usual concepts of the lives of women in the time, Shakespeare’s women generally seem remarkably independent, free spirited, inventive, strong, enduring, capable, witty and assertive. Except their sphere of activity is different to that of men. Given this, Gertrude and Ophelia start out as exceptions to Shakespeare’s more usual portrayal of women. They are weaker and more submissive than his usual. But I think that they both gain strength and independence and assertiveness as their experiences through the play progress.
Bibliography
Text Author
Power In Hamlet Leonard Tennenhouse
The Woman In Hamlet David Leverenz
Hamlet’s word-play and the Oedipus complex Raman Senden
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