Gender Roles In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Hamlet- Gender Roles

Gender is what we refer to as male or female and sex denotes the physiological difference between males and females. Throughout history we have developed a, double standard. It is the concept that prohibits premarital sexual intercourse for women but allows it for men. We see some of these roles in the play Hamlet. Like when Ophelia is prohibited to have any communication or contact with Hamlet . But her brother, Laertes is allowed to go to France on his own and do as he pleases (Shakespeare 15-18). Society has almost always classified work by gender. When Ophelia’s dad, Polonius is giving a perception that he is a man that involves prostitution in his life (Shakespeare 30). It shows how women are more likely to please men. In this scene we see how the woman's job is obviously being a prostitute. The term gender role refers to society’s concept of how men and women are expected to look and how they should behave, based on norms, or standards created by society. Like in the U.S. culture, masculine roles are usually associated with strength, aggression, and dominance. And feminine roles are usually associated with passivity, nurturing, and subordination. Role learning starts with socialization from a young age. Like color-coded labels to even the type of toys children begin to play with. Today,

Factors that encourage it are family, education, peer groups, and mass media. We may not notice it starts at home from such an early age as two or three years old. But one way to prevent the inequality of gender roles between boys and girls within a household are: taking turns on chores, giving the same curfew, same dating privileges and having the given an equal opportunity to independence. Perhaps it may even teach our children to take on those views of equality into the outside world and not be conformed with the social norms or