Gender Roles In Hamlet Essay

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. Thought it could be argued that her abuse by then men in her life has contributed to if not caused her codependency, however, the characters in the play seem to think that it is because of her own weakness. When Hamlet speaks the words “frailty thy name is woman,” he was not referring to Ophelia, he may just have easily have been. There are two characters in particular that Ophelia tends to cling to, her father

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. These significant events can be 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 usually associated with external action.

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.

To begin with, Shakespeare uses rhetoric to illustrate how Hamlet is a misogynist. Throughout the play Hamlet refers to his mother as an incestuous, cold hearted, whore, whose actions are only defined by her sexual desires. This was displayed during his soliloquy when he

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. The irony; Hamlet as prince of Denmark has power to make his decisions but fails by contrast the women presumably the people with the least power make powerful decisions.

It is far too often that women, in even the most modern of literature, are portrayed as nothing more than snivelling cowards, used merely to motivate the inevitably male heroes. Certainly, this is still the case in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which is inarguably a product of its time; sexism runs rampant, as Ophelia, the female lead, is told by Hamlet himself to “Get thee to a nunnery” (3.1.121), with not a batted eye nor consideration of why this would be wrong. In this day and age, such blatant disrespect for women would be greatly frowned upon by a modern and discerning audience, no doubt filled with cultured women who would take offence. Bonham-Carter’s Ophelia is far from the frail and tragically beautiful flower that she is often interpreted as; “ she's like a rag doll losing its stuffings” (Hinson). With ratted hair and wild eyes, and a voice that shifts rapidly between soft and biting, she is an unpredictable and truly mad Ophelia, sparing nothing from the viewers. She legitimately scares the other characters, assaulting the first guard she meets outside by ripping off his helmet and touching his armour, making the audience fear for his safety. When she is lead inside, calling loudly for the Queen, she frightens Gertrude so badly with her singing and clutching at the walls that the Queen legitimately runs from her. The audience is forced to fear for another character’s safety once more as Ophelia runs swiftly after her, nearly pinning her to the wall to continue her convoluted and sickening speech. She is constantly touching and feeling at things, fiddling with a string between her fingers and grasping the Queen’s necklace or at the sides of her own dress, and the movements of her head are jerky and erratic. To an audience, she is so entirely unpredictable

Hamlet faces many problems in the play. The first problem he faces is King of Denmark which is his father died. In the play, Hamlet suffers from depression. The play Hamlet Is like a love triangle. A big topic in the play is incest, incest is a sexual activity with a close relative or family members. Incest and sex are important in the article because drama plays a big role in the play.

During the Elizabethan period, the role of women in society was very different from what it is today. According to the system of patriarchal society that dictated that women were inferior to men, they had to obey the male figures in their lives. The woman was seen as the weaker sex either physically or emotionally which meant that it was entirely dependent on her husband if married and members of his family if single. Moreover, in the Elizabethan theater, women were not allowed to play because of this hierarchy. Therefore, they were replaced by men disguised as women. 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

Feminism has gained a new definition a new understanding of female roles since the Elizabethan Era. Hamlet, a play written by William Shakespeare, is about a young prince, Hamlet, being visited by his father’s apparition urging him to avenge his death by murdering Prince Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. All the while, Hamlet is enraged by his mother’s hasty marriage to Claudius and is showering his supposed love, Ophelia, with gifts and words of affection. Queen Gertrude and Ophelia are blindly obedient to male authority due to the influence of the social standards that require women to be submissive to men. Queen Gertrude and Ophelia’s actions and outcomes as characters are affected by male influence, the social norms of this time, and the females’ consequences of following these norms.

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.

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet there are many male characters, but the only two significant female characters are Ophelia and Gertrude. Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, a high ranking official in the court in Denmark who serves as a love interest and an object of desire for Hamlet, although it is often unclear which at many point during the play. Gertrude is the wife of King Claudius, the widow of the former king, King Hamlet, and the mother of Hamlet. In Hamlet the women often appear as if they do not have a significant role in the play. However, Ophelia’s interactions with Hamlet exaggerate his apparent madness and by being a foil to Hamlet. Gertrude’s purpose in the play is to increase Hamlet’s anger towards Claudius through their marriage while trying to mediate tensions between Hamlet and Claudius.

When comparing and contrasting Brutus and Hamlet it is important to note their interactions with women within the play. Both Hamlet and Brutus have significant female influences throughout each of their stories. Hamlet and Brutus seemingly ignore their female counterparts affections and struggles. In Hamlet his female companion is Ophelia,

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. He did not innately hate all women, but slowly as he reserved rejection after rejection he snapped. Hamlet’s relationships differed between Gertrude and Ophelia, but both had the same goal of Hamlet having someone to love and care about him. With the goal of compassion being accomplished, he spiralled in a growing hatred of the female population. Hamlet’s misogyny is not the result sexual repression , but rather his environment and the interactions with women.

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. Gertrude whose husband passed away recently in the beginning of the novel, she quickly married her brother-in-law. Hamlet in deep sorrow over his father death but even more heard broken over his mother re-marriage which drove