A Comparison Of Ophelia And Gertrude In Shakespeare's Hamlet

In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, we constantly see Hamlet’s negative view of women and harsh treatment towards them. Hamlet’s relationship with his mother, Queen Gertrude, is rocky after she marries her dead husband’s killer and brother, causing tension between her and Hamlet. Hamlet’s view of women is changed at this point in time because of his mother’s actions. This affects the way he treats Ophelia, the woman that he is in love with and that also reciprocates his love towards her. While he wants to continue his relationship with her, he knows it is not best and is afraid of the outcome. He puts his own wants and needs above his mother’s and Ophelia’s because he does not trust them and he wants to be selfish.

Patricia Thai Humanity English IV/CP Ms Shorey 04/01/2016 Compare Gertrude and Ophelia “Hamlet”, one of the most famous play in the world, was written by the brilliant author William Shakespeare. In this play, there are two main female characters namely Ophelia and Gertrude. Moreover, as foil characters, both of them are also similarly depicted in several ways to generate the masterpiece “Hamlet” to become a classical work. When it comes to Hamlet, the family love appears as a string that connects both Gertrude and Ophelia to the main character – Hamlet.

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character Hamlet was out for revenge against the man who killed his father. In addition to his path of revenge Hamlet also deals with conflicting emotions towards a woman named Ophelia. During the play Hamlet’s love, desirability, and dismissal towards Ophelia made me wonder if he was really in love with Ophelia, and it shows that her significance was that she was his last piece of sanity and love.

Hamlet’s dislike of women is shown through his behavior and language toward his mother, Ophelia, and women in general. In the play it is very obvious that he is heartless towards the opposite sex by the actions that he takes and the words that he speaks. During the time that this play was written women were viewed as insignificant human beings. Hamlet found himself having feelings for a woman and he does not know how to portray these feelings because he holds his mother responsible for his inability to love Ophelia.

For the duration of the play, Ophelia was portrayed as a naïve and submissive woman. Her passivity and powerlessness reinforce the voicelessness of women during the Elizabethan era. For example, “I shall obey, my lord” (I.iii.134) shows that Ophelia concedes to her father’s will, even though she believes Hamlet’s love is genuine. She is willing and expected to obey her father despite the fact that she still loves Hamlet, which emphasizes her character’s submissive nature. Furthermore, in Act I Laertes warns Ophelia that it would be shameful of her to love Hamlet, and she responds with “I shall the effect of this good lesson keep as a watchman to my heart” (I.iii.45). She is assuring Laertes that she will remain obedient and follow his advice.

Hamlet views Ophelia as a naive and ignorant girl who is nothing but Polonius and Claudius's puppet. This was revealed when Hamlet said "God has given you one face and you make yourself another. . You jig and amble, and you lisp, you nickname God's creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance." (III, i, 143-146) In this quote Hamlet knows that Ophelia is spying on him for Polonius and Claudius.

Though any character in Shakespeare's Hamlet could easily be the epitome of lunacy, there is no character more obviously unsound that Ophelia, whose personality is the embodiment of codependency. Every time Ophelia speaks the symptoms are apparent as she can not seem to converse about anything but men. This is stereotypical of women at the time,in society as much as in literature. One can not fully blame Ophelia however as she is a product of her time period and used by the other characters. Ophelia’s character not only confirms Hamlet's suspicions about women but serves as pawn in the metaphorical chess game between Claudius and Hamlet.

Throughout the play is Hamlet quite spiteful toward women. Some would say to a misogynistic extent. He orders Ophelia, for example, to "go to a nunnery" and tells his mother, Gertrude, "frailty, thy name is woman" even though Hamlet is not very strong willed person. He is always split between his decisions and can never make up his mind. Hamlet is not a solid character with a clear path to achieve his goal.

In the Tragedy of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, some of the most significant events are mental or psychological events that make the audience feel and have an emotional connection with the characters. Moreover, these significant events are categorized as new awakenings, discoveries, and changes in consciousness that set off a mental or psychological effect to the readers. The author, Shakespeare, gives these internal events to characters such as Ophelia, Gertrude, and Hamlet throughout the play to give the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax which associate with their external action. Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius and the sister of Laertes, who both tell her to stop seeing Hamlet. To Polonius, Ophelia is an eternal virgin who is going to be a

Hamlet: “...I did love you once.” Ophelia: “Indeed, my, lord, you made me believe so.” Hamlet: “You should not have believed me... I loved you not.”

Hamlet has not only become distraught from his conniving and lying stepfather but also his mother, Queen Gertrude as well. The unfaithfulness that Gertrude shows to Hamlet’s father and Hamlet has a toll on him and plays a part in his insanity. The facade that Hamlet displays slowly leads to his insanity, causing him to show mistreated love towards Ophelia. In the beginning of the play, Ophelia displays a very honest

In the play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, Prince Hamlet of Denmark, interactions with two women throughout the interplay. Hamlet is rejected and dismissed by both women. His first negative experience is with Gertrude, his heartless whore of a mother. He then attempts to form a relationship with Ophelia, whose weak naive nature demolished any prospect of love. The women in his life influence him into a state of misogyny.

Hamlet: The Tragedy of Female Oppression Feminism has erupted over the past century. The theme of patriarchy has ruled over women for centuries. With the uprising of the critique of patriarchy, more feminists have analyzed Shakespeare’s literary works as in favor of the male gender roles. In Act 1 scene 3, the station of Polonius and Laertes reveals their patriarchal position over Ophelia by constructing advices that molds their expectations of her and degrading her in ways that exemplify the oppression of women during the 1600’s.

Women have suffered an extreme misdeed by men throughout the history. Women in Shakespearean times were bounded with their husbands and their fathers, the women weren’t expected to do much rather that just looking pretty and not talking. In the play Hamlet women are mistreated and are shown in Shakespeare novel. There are women that have experienced exploitation in the novel. Hamlet poor mistreatment and misjudgment of Ophelia, her behavior started to change throughout the novel and eventually she ended up killing herself.

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, published in 1601, women play a very special role. First, it should be noted that there are only two women in the room: Gertrude and Ophelia. By developing the role