Hamlet And Ownership In Hamlet Essay

Hamlet, the Man-Child: Denial of Subjectivity, Violability, and Ownership in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the main character is someone who is fairly immature for his age. Hamlet, although being around thirty years of age, has numerous childish tantrums throughout the play. A major character flaw of Hamlet was that he was never able to figure out how to interact with women. Hamlet doesn’t know how to respect the women who are in his life. He believes they are just there for him to do with what he pleases and to make him happy. This is the case with both his relationship with Ophelia and with his mother, Gertrude. Once his mother breaks from the role he viewed her in, his entire opinion and attitude towards his mother changes. This is what also changes his opinions on Ophelia based solely on the fact that she is a woman. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, he

With Ophelia, in act 3, scene 1, he tells her that if she would ever marry, he would curse her marriage as his present to her. If he truly means for her to get herself to a convent, then he is forcing her to never be with a man. He will never accept her being married. Hamlet goes as far as to declare that there will be no more marriage. “will have no moe marriage. Those that are married already, (all but one) shall live, the rest shall keep as they are” (Line 145-147). Hamlet here is not just showing that he has ownership over Ophelia herself. Rather he feels like he has power over the rest of the people in Denmark. Hamlet is trying to tell every single person in Denmark that if you are not already married, you can never do so. That is something that only a person who thought that they had the right to control someone could do. Hamlet’s sense of ownership over Ophelia in this scene is just one of many times throughout the play where he displays this