Role of women in hamlet

The Role of Women in Hamlet

We live in a society where women have rights that were unheard of centuries ago. These rights include the right to driving freely, having jobs rather than staying at home, and being treated with the same respect as men in the workplace. But in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet women have a role that is mainly passive in that the men in Hamlet hold a higher position than women and are treated in a manner that would be labelled as misogyny today in that women are only seen as objects rather than human. In Hamlet there are only two women who have a significant role in the play: Gertrude and Ophelia. Gertrude role in Hamlet is one that is a loving mother that does care for her son but also raises her selfish ambition above everyone else and tries to reconfigure her family around her new husband Claudius. Ophelia role in Hamlet consists of being one-dimensional and stagnant, that soon crumbles after the death of her father due to her frailty and innocence.

During the first scene of book, Hamlet recalls scene between his mother and father and the love and affection they possessed before his father passed away. He then becomes disgusted over the fact his mother quickly married off a man instead of being with her son. The fact that this man was her deceased husband brother makes Hamlet disgust his mom even more. He feels his mother is weak in many aspects including emotionally and morally. Emotionally due to the fact that she was able to marry off in just two months after her husband died without a sign of distress or sadness over her King Hamlet. Morally,due to the fact that she married her husband’s brother which at the time was considered incestuous. This quote could also apply to Hamlet and his view on Ophelia. When Hamlet states that women are frail, he could be making reference to Ophelia weak hearted and easily manipulated by other. This is evident through her brother and father who use her to seize power and to get close to hamlet for their personal gain.

One of the most significant and most popular quotes in hamlet in regards to feminism is in Act 1, Scene 2; when Hamlet proclaims:

“Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month -
Let me not think on't - Frailty, thy name is woman! -
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she follow'd my poor father's body...”-Act 1, Scene 2

This quote is significant because it alludes to the alleged inherent weakness women might have possessed at the time and how Hamlet ...

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One of the most significant and most popular quotes in hamlet in regards to feminism is in Act 1, Scene 2; when Hamlet proclaims:

This quote is significant because it alludes to the alleged inherent weakness women might have possessed at the time and how Hamlet became extremely frustrated with his mother weak character. Throughout the book women are referred to as whores to show that “frailty” women possessed and what Shakespeare might have viewed at the time.. Shakespeare uses this quote to show the frailty and weakness of both Gertrude and Ophelia. Ophelia is completely controlled by her father and will always obey his command no matter what he tells her. Polonius easily manipulate Ophelia and convinces her to not see and be with Hamlet and which she quickly obeys in Line 136 “I shall obey my lord,”which clearly shows Polonius control over Ophelia and her weakness. This quote could also refer to the weakness in Gertrude in that she betrayed her deceased husband and married his brother which at the time was considered incestuous.

Throughout the play Shakespeare paints both Gertrude and Ophelia as tools to the male characters in the play rather than individuals. Ophelia was manipulated many times in the play in order to benefit her father Polonius and King Claudius. Polonius asks her to spy on Hamlet while he and Claudius stand idly behind carefully listening to their conversation. One must question why Ophelia would even go along with such a plan since she does love Hamlet. Polonius was able to easily manipulate her to do as he says without any argument. It really shows the state of women at the time since they really didn’t have any say and were easily manipulated by the men around them.

Ophelia was also manipulated by her lover Hamlet. During Act 3, Scene 1, Ophelia visits Hamlet to return his letters and other pledges of affection for her due to the pressures from her father. Hamlet appears to be troubled, and accuses Ophelia of lying to him and being prostituted by her family. He soon proclaims:

“If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy dowry: Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery. Go, farewell. Or if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them”-Act 3, Scene 1 140-50

This quote clearly shows Hamlet disgust for they way women act around men and even states that women turn men to monster which could mean it’s women who are to blame for men committing adultery since they don’t satisfy men physically, emotionally and sexually.

This outburst, however, is used solely to camouflage his real purpose-to have revenge of Claudius, his uncle, for killing his father. Hamlet is aware that Polonius and Claudius are watching this encounter between him and Ophelia, and uses the situation to his benefit- he can pretend to be heartbroken by Ophelia’s supposed disregard for his affection, but in reality can use this as an excuse to act as if he were crazy. Hamlet completely abuses Ophelia’s love for him, selfishly using her part in his life as only a cover-up for his real intent- that is, to deceive Claudius enough so as to make him comfortable with the situation.

Gertrude was also easily manipulated by the men around her. Claudius was able to successfully convince her that there was no way anyone could have killed King Hamlet and even get her to marry him a mere two weeks after King hamlet’s death which shows how easily manipulated she is by what’s around her and paints her as an oppressed and ignorant character which may have been Shakespeare’s an d other men at the time view of women in general. It also shows her desire for retaining power, status and money by her action of quickly marrying Claudius so no one else could claim the throne. Another sign of Shakespeare painting women to be tools of the male characters in the play is when Gertrude betrays Hamlet by telling Claudius that Hamlet killed Polonius and made her swear not to tell Claudius or anyone else. This is clear proof of how men controlled women in the play since Gertrude was able to simply betray her own son to a man that isn’t even Hamlet’s father.

Both Ophelia and Gertrude play positions typical of women at the time: easily manipulated to the point where women become tools for men and tend to be weak in character. Characters made by Shakespeare like Lady Macbeth, Goneril and Regan all represent women who are tough and brute with their wishes and don’t wait idly by the male characters in their respective plays. These women represent women in idealistic society- women that can adapt to the image of women today. In Hamlet, Shakespeare represents the only female characters in the play: Gertrude and Ophelia as women who were easily manipulated by males and more typical during the time the play was written. Both Ophelia and Gertrude were weak characters who were totally obedient to the males in the play with Ophelia being totally controlled by her father and Gertrude being manipulated by her husband, Claudius.

References:

Hamlet Navigator: Hamlet: His Thoughts about Women. (n.d.). Retrieved May 29, 2009, from http://www.clicknotes.com/hamlet/Hamwomen.html

Plays: women in hamlet, ophelia in hamlet, women in hamlet. (n.d.). Retrieved May 29, 2009, from http://en.allexperts.com/q/Plays-1556/women-hamlet.htm

Women In Hamlet. (n.d.). Retrieved May 29, 2009, from http://arts.ucsc.edu/faculty/bierman/Elsinore/women/WomenOandH.html

yet., & month—, w. a. (n.d.). Frailty, thy name is woman - Shakespeare Quotes. Retrieved May 29, 2009, from http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/frailty-thy-name-woman

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Peer Reviews

Here's what a star student thought of this essay

pictureperfect

9th of Aug 2012

Quality of writing

The layout of this essay could be improved, it is not necessary to start a new paragraph for a quotation, when you break up paragraphs to do this it can make your essay fell a little bit jumpy, which is not ideal. To add to this, it is often not necessary to copy out the whole quote as the candidate has done, you just need to state the parts that are relevant to what you are discussing. On another note, the candidate has not mentioned Shakespeare's use of linguistic techniques and how these add to the play, for example metaphors can help to stimulate a persons imagination. This is something that you need to discuss in order to achieve a higher grade. However, on a more positive note, there are no errors with grammar, punctuation or spelling.

Level of analysis

The candidates discussion of the play shows a reasonably good level of analysis, rather than simply retelling the story, they have picked out key scenes and they have used quotations from the play to discuss the characters thoughts and feelings. However, the candidate could have improved their analysis by taking the time to do some research, this allows you to develop your discussion, with this essay it would appropriate to discuss the way in which women were viewed and treated during the time that the play was written. This additional information can make your essay more interesting to read and shows that you are capable of learning independently. On a further note, this essay does not end with a clear conclusion, which is a mistake. It is important that you take the time to write a conclusion, this is your chance to leave the reader with a good impression of your work. Your conclusion should summarise key points from your essay with reference to why these are important as this helps to tie together any loose ends. You also need to write a personal response to the play and make sure that you refer back to the essay title so that you can draw the essay to a close.

Response to question

Overall, this essay is a fairly average example of the type of work produced at this level of qualification, the candidate has appropriately used quotations and analysed the play but there is room for improvement. To start with, this essay doesn’t have a proper introductory paragraph, it is important to write an introduction as this sets the tone for the whole of your essay. A good introduction engages the reader, introduces your topic and clearly states what you plan to discuss. You can engage the reader by discussing relevant background information, for example, the first few sentences of the candidates opening paragraph discusses the role of women, this is interesting and helps to catch the readers attention, therefore the reader is more likely to read the whole of your essay.

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