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Oppression Of Women In Shakespeare's Hamlet

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All the way through time and history, women have been treated as a subject of persecution and oppression in many societies. The manner in which men have controlled, used and abused women has been reinforced into a movement of human rights. Such treatment is fought against in the civilized societies with equality and freedom in the center of it. Clearly, it has been obvious in Shakespeare 's plays how women have been viewed and treated by the characters. He has demonstrated for us how women are in the center of domination and control (Dorn, 1999). The scenes he shows to us are repeated in different ways displaying the horrible actions that are taken against women in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. One important female repression is …show more content…

She suffers from extreme cruelty by her own father Polonius. He is the worst image of a father because he disrespects, controls and manipulates his own daughter for his own whims (Dorn, 1999). For example, he orders Ophelia to participate in uncovering the thoughts of Hamlet "...Walk you here… Read on this book that shows such exercise may color your loneliness"(III.i:41-46) in this excerpt, he orders her to pretend to read from a book in order to make it more reasonable to be alone when she meets Hamlet. Obviously, she follows exactly what her father tells her to as she replies to his orders "I shall obey my lord"(I.iv:136). She continues talking with Hamlet (her lover) as she tries to give back to him the gifts in which he once has given to her. Similarly, Hamlet also mistreats her as he replies that he has never given her any gifts, and he continues denying even though she insists that he did. Hamlet then denies that he has ever loved her and that she is better off in a nunnery. He goes further in identifying her only by her sexuality and he judges her to be a breeder of sinners. She suffers from an emotional breakdown because of the treatment of the one person she loves (Hulbert et al., 2006). "How now, Ophelia! You need not tell us what lord Hamlet said; we heard it all"(III.i:181-183), cruelly, in this excerpt, her father Polonius does not seem to understand the emotional situation in which he has put his daughter in nor to comprehend the damage he has caused to Ophelia and Hamlet 's relationship. He does not care about his daughter 's happiness; all he cares about is himself, and pleasing the king. Ophelia is unable to apprehend the dominance of her father as she obeys him blindly even in scheming against her beloved Hamlet. In addition, Polonius gives an advice to his son Laertes which is "Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act"(I.iii:59-60)

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Hamlet has come to see his mother, Queen Gertrude, and ends up stabbing Lord Polonius, which ultimately leads to his death. Lord Polonius’ final words include “O, I am slain!” Even though this provides a slight amount of comic relief to the reader, it has a reverse effect on Ophelia’s mental state. Her father’s death seems to be the potent punch in this fight because she officially goes mad after this final event. This is apparent in Scene IV Act I, when Laertes has come back to visit his sister and check on her well being.

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Ophelia’s character went through quite a large transformation. In the play her father tells her that she is to stay away from Hamlet and she readily agrees. In the movie Ophelia doesn’t disagree with her father but she also doesn’t agree just to please him. This shows that Ophelia isn’t easily persuaded, even by her own father. Despite her father’s warning about Hamlet, Ophelia met with him in secret at her apartment until her father found out.

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When Ophelia returns all his letters and gifts he tells her that he has never loved her and that she should “get thyself to a nunnery.” This is one example how his mood changes throughout the play. Then after all this her father, Polinous, is murdered by Hamlet. The Hamlet is sent away to England All of these actions result in her feeling such stress that she becomes insane in the end.

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Throughout all of history women have have had few rights, been thought of as lesser than, weaker than, and dumber than men, and it has been shown in many ways such as, paintings and plays, and it continues to this day, however, many societies have grown from these ideologies to become a better, stronger group. Shakespeare has written plays such as, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet that have depicted an idea that men own women, and this is because this was common during that time period, but not always the case. Societies have greatly grown from such ways of thinking, but there is still much to do for women and their rights. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream women are often viewed as less than men,

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