"To what extent do you consider Hamlet a play which presents a patriarchal society in which women are essentially disempowered?"

The first 200 words of this essay...

"To what extent do you consider Hamlet a play which presents a patriarchal society in which women are essentially disempowered?"

In order to understand a patriarchal Elizabethan society, we must first understand the social and historical context of the play. Elizabethan society was fundamentally male. Most roles of importance were assigned to men. The thought that a woman was to be given a post of responsibility would have caused much upset among male civilians. Even though there was a female monarch at the time, men essentially ruled the scene, with the queen as its figurehead. Shakespeare had to convey this situation fairly accurately, as a play in which women were empowered by male standards would have been frowned upon during that period in history. However, given the change in society's views on women since Elizabethan times, the play may not have been construed as patriarchal at the time of writing. It would have been viewed as an accurate representation of the monarchy and its hierarchy of power. It is known that Elizabeth was a fan of Shakespeare's work, and for Shakespeare to present a society in which women were viewed entirely as sexual objects and nothing more would have