Motif of Misogyny in Shakespeare's Hamlet

  Motif of Misogyny

        Hamlet, son of the Queen Gertrude and late King Hamlet and prince of Denmark, expresses his inner feelings towards several issues in the soliloquy. His diction and cruel response to his mother’s decisions on marrying his uncle clearly display his misogyny, or hatred towards woman. “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (148) directly shows Hamlet’s true beliefs towards woman. The word “frailty” means moral weakness or the state of actually being weak and, in this case, Hamlet was explaining that woman is just another name for weakness. This is one of the first main signs of Hamlet’s hatred towards woman in Act I. In the same soliloquy, Hamlet continues with “…-why she, even she-/O God!...” (151-152) which gives the feeling of his extreme disappointment. He is asking God how his mother could ever do such a thing, which we know is marrying his Uncle. The reference to “God” shows the religious aspect to Shakespeare’s writing, which is somewhat ironic to the fact that one of the Ten Commandments is to “honor thy father and mother”, and Hamlet is doing just the opposite by displaying such misogynistic attitudes towards his mother. The words “…why she, even she-” (151) give the reader the impression that Hamlet not only expects this, but also accepts this of other woman, but never of his own mother. This creates an even more dramatized effect on the whole message of the soliloquy because Hamlet questions God as to why his own mother could do such a cruel and thoughtless act. Continuing, Hamlet  shows his disapproval of this mother’s actions by saying that “a beast that wants discourse of reason/ Would have mourned longer!” (152-153). The use of the word “discourse” shows that Hamlet believes that his mother lacks the  capacity of orderly thought and procedure, and he describes her a subject worse than a beast, because even a beast would have waited and mourned over his or her dead husband longer than the one month. Hamlet uses words such as “unrighteous”(156), “galled”(157), and “wicked”(158) to describe features of his mother, which delivers a very negative and hating attitude towards her to the audience. “Dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (159) shows how Hamlet believes that woman are all about having sex and that his mother had to hurry into a sexual relationship immediately, which is another example of how Hamlet has a misogynistic point of view. One can clearly see by the last line, which states “But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue” (161), that Hamlet is obviously painfully aware that he truly loves his mother and does not want to disappoint her, but he firmly believes that she deserves betrayal and hatred because she has broken his heart by moving on with her life so fast and not taking the time to mourn his dead father.  Hamlet knows inside that he must not speak his mind to his mother, in order to show the respect she derives and that he wants to give her.  

The only other woman in this play is Ophelia, the one time love of Hamlet’s life, with whom his relationship becomes contradictory and confusing. At the beginning, his deep devotion to Ophelia is revealed in a love letter that he wrote to her: “O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers; I have/ not art to reckon my groans; but that I love thee best, / O most best, believe it.” (2:2:120-122) Unfortunately, circumstance, and Hamlet’s newly formed suspicion against women, mean that this relationship is doomed.

In truth it is Ophelia, the passive character in this relationship, that has become the hapless victim. She believed that Hamlet loved her, so much so that she feared he became "mad for [her] love." (2:2:84) She accepted his love letters and tokens. However, Hamlet becomes so concerned with how vindictive women are to men, (or more precisely, how much of a threat they are to him) that he cannot stop for a moment and realise the pain he is causing Ophelia. "Through Ophelia we witness Hamlet’s evolution, or de-evolution into a man convinced that all women are whores; that the women who seem most pure are inside black with corruption and sexual desires." (Mabillard)