Misogyny in Hamlet

University Degree Linguistics, Classics and related subjects

Misogyny in Hamlet

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, accuses women of being unfaithful, uncaring, and incestuous creatures. These feelings are reflected towards his mother, Gertrude. Hamlet becomes a misogynist mainly because he witnesses the manner in which his mother behaves throughout the course of the play. Queen Gertrude’s relationship with Hamlet’s murderous uncle Claudius, leads Hamlet to abhor women and female sexuality, and long for a misleading, wholly righteous mother figure (Heilbrun 1957). Her ability to be easily manipulated help influence Hamlet’s prejudiced beliefs about women. Hamlet’s attitude and feelings towards his mother, Gertrude, illustrates central importance to the play with regards to the motif of misogyny.

Hamlet most definitely believes that his father was indeed a better husband and king towards his mother Gertrude. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy of the play, aside from suffering over his father’s death, he is shown praising his father’s life, “…So excellent a king, that was to this / Hyperion to a satyr” (I.ii.139-140). By comparing his father and Claudius to the sun god Hyperion and the half human half goat called the satyr, Hamlet is clearly implying how inferior he feels Claudius is as king in comparison to his father. By calling Claudius a satyr he is also insisting his lustfulness. As Hamlet proceeds to speak in his soliloquy, mention of his father’s relationship with Gertrude appears, “…So loving to my mother / That he might not beteem the winds of heaven / Visit her face too roughly” (I.ii.140-143). Hamlet uses exaggeration in stating how loving his father was toward Gertrude; he says that his father would not allow the wind to blow too hard on her face. Due to these views of his father, Hamlet is unable to accept the fact that his father had been replaced by a man who he believes is unworthy to rule in the spot where King Hamlet once ruled. He also exercises the fact which Gertrude is willing to settle for Claudius, even though she is not being treated as kindly as she was when married to King Hamlet. She does not seem to care that she is being degraded and acts as a mere wanton to Claudius.

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Unlike her loyal son Hamlet, Gertrude betrays her late husband with her haste marriage to Claudius. While speaking to Horatio about the topic of the marriage, Hamlet says, “ The funeral bak’d meants./Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables” (I.ii.180-181). In this quote, Hamlet expresses his bitterness towards his mother’s immediate marriage by explaining how the food from his father’s funeral was served shortly after for the wedding. In his grief over his father’s death, Gertrude does next to nothing when it comes to comforting Hamlet. Instead, she ignores his feelings and tends to side with Claudius. Shakespeare does an effective job in painting a picture of Gertrude as a poor mother, lustful lover, and a possible adulterer (Heilbrun 1957). Hamlet blames Gertrude for the wedding of her and Claudius occurring so soon after King Hamlet’s death. By Gertrude allowing the wedding to occur, Hamlet perceives her to be consoled of her husband’s death; “…Frailty, thy name is woman/ A little month, or ere those shoes were old / With which she follow’d my poor father’s body / Like Niobe, all tears—why she/O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason / Would have mourn’d longer-married with my uncle” (I.ii.147-151). In this quote, Hamlet explicitly expresses his resentment towards women by calling them “frail,” and he more specifically accuses Gertrude of having less moral reasoning than a beast. Hamlet is able to create a contrast between himself and Gertrude, based on the short period of time Gertrude spends mourning after her late husband’s death. It establishes Hamlet having an automatic resentment towards Gertrude, and ultimately, towards all women in the play.

Disrespect and manipulation of Gertrude is present throughout Hamlet. When the ghost of King Hamlet speaks to Hamlet for the first time, Gertrude is spoken of as a mere object of seduction, “O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power / So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust” (I.v.44-45). The ghost speaks to Hamlet about Gertrude as if all that is required to seduce her is “wit and gifts.” Due to the fact that Hamlet so greatly idolizes his father, hearing from his father’s ghost that Gertrude could be won over as a lover so easily further shapes his misogynistic ideologies. A final example of Gertrude’s ability to be manipulated in “Hamlet” is when Polonius tells her and the king that Hamlet is in love with Ophelia and this is why he seems to be going mad. As a mother, it would seem natural for Gertrude to stand beside her maternal son over the objections of her recently wed husband Claudius, and undoubtedly over Polonius. At first, Gertrude replies with the defence in her son’s favour, “I doubt it is no other than the main/ his father’s death and o’er-hasty marriage” (II.ii.56-57). However, as Polonius and Claudius persist with their belief of the matter, Gertrude refrains from defending Hamlet and replied in the two old men’s favour, “It may be, very like” (II.ii.151). As outlined through examples, Gertrude is revealed to be a female character that is easily manipulated and discriminated against in Hamlet. She simply does not have the instinct to defend her rightful son, and surrenders to the strategy of Claudius and Polonius. It is the manipulation of Gertrude by other men that persuades Hamlet into manipulating women himself.

The actions of Gertrude are nothing short of cruel and incestuous, which lead to structure the motif of misogyny in Hamlet. By wedding with Claudius within less than a few months after King Hamlet’s death and being so easily controlled and manipulated by the men in her life, Gertrude is Hamlet’s primary influence for his misogynistic attitude. The resentment that Hamlet feels toward Gertrude for her absurd behaviour is expressed not only as hatred towards his mother, but rather as hatred towards all women. Hamlet’s desire for a mother who is completely bare of sexuality was utterly foolish, but was the cause of his disgust of women and female sexuality. If Gertrude were not so immoral, uncaring, and dishonest in Hamlet, perhaps the prince of Denmark’s fate would have been different.