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Feminism Criticism on Hamlet
Hamlet by Shakespeare has often been viewed as a novel that portrayed prejudice towards women. This is not new as most novels that were written towards this period portrayed prejudice on women as the society was largely patriarchal. Hamlet is among the most read plays by Shakespeare that looks into revenge and how the characters in the play go through grief but are also able to stay loyal. Two main characters in the play are Hamlet and Laertes. From these amazing masterpieces of literature, we see Shakespeare bringing upon calamity after calamity to the protagonist Hamlet. This paper will analyze Hamlet from a feminist perspective and thus understand the status of women as portrayed in the novel Hamlet.
Ophelia and Gertrude who are the main women characters are characters that do not have much to say about what goes on in their life. Gertrude is character that is often in the middle of conflicts however she does not seem to take part in any of it. She seems however quite interested in defusing any conflict around her at every chance she gets. From the text we can see that Ophelia does not have female tradition because there is absence of women in history who can set precedence for her. She does not have a reliable female influence in her life, this role traditionally belonged to a mother (Dane, pg. 405-23). There is no mention of a mother or any other woman in her life just the men, the father and brother.
Gertrude and Ophelia who are the female characters are presented as feeble. The story majorly revolves around the men and these two characters play passive roles. Hamlet story can be complete without Ophelia but Ophelia on the other hand does not have a story about Hamlet. The plot to her story is centered around the men in her life and thus she does not have a voice of her own. Her role depicts patriarchy during this time as most women were heavily dependent on their husband or fathers or just the men in their life. She only seems to talk when talked to and does not have input on any matters as this is the role of Hamlet the man interested in romantic relationship with her. Aside from Hamlet, Plotinus is also abusive towards Ophelia and seems to want to control and dominate her life decisions (Neely. Pg. 330-39). His character shows the rot on Denmark in terms of how they treated women and the position that the women held in society. Ophelia is used by Laertes and Polonius to further their ambitions and goals and in doing so they did not pay attention to what she was feeling or what she wanted. Women seem to be treated as a second had citizens as the society is largely patriarchal.
Gertrude who is the Queen is not brought out in a positive manner. Her actions are not associated with royalty or rather she does not act as a king. Gertrude takes part in incest with Claudius who is Hamlet’s mother. Family members are not allowed to marry each other and the fact that a queen marries the brother to his former husband shows the depth of moral decay in Denmark (Sharmin, pg. 25-32). In Act 3 scene 4 hamlet tells his mother that she was living “In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, / Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love / Over the nasty sty.” (Shakespeare, 3.4 100-104) Her mother’s action leads to Hamlet’s faith in women being destroyed and we can see him becoming ambivalent towards Ophelia. Throughout the play, Gertrude does not seem to have remorse, only in act III does she portray guilt as she tries to pray but she is still not able to put her heart into it.
Ophelia is not able to change her fate because of her limited options that she dies. She is the daughter of Polonius thus her love for Hamlet creates a friction with his father as his father wanted to use her daughter as a spy on Hamlet. The friction which is caused by the men created a tragedy in her life. Her love for Hamlet is pure but Hamlet look down on her as he does not believe that women could be good and pure judging from her mother’s action. We can see hamlet being cruel to Ophelia for example in Act III, Hamlet is cruel to Ophelia because he knows that Claudius and Polonius are watching him and so he acts out to make them think that he really is becoming crazy and that he is made at Ophelia. He accuses Ophelia and women of contributing to dishonesty as women painted their face to appear beautiful than they were. All the accusations he makes of Ophelia are not true, and Ophelia is not innocent of them but suffers the mistreatment either way (Peterson, pg. 255-62).
There is subordination and men have total control of the women and their actions. In Act III when there was the confrontation between Ophelia and Hamlet was about to happen, King Claudius commands Gertrude to leave and accuses her of wanting to eaves drop on the conversation, and Gertrude’s obeys and leaves. What is ironical is that Claudius and Polonius do exactly what they were accusing Gertrude as they hide and begin eaves dropping on the conversation. Ophelia also while having a conversation with her father we can see the subordination as she states ““I do not know, my lord, what I should think” (Shakespeare, 23). She is conversing with her father but refers to him as her lord.
There is the sexual objectification of the female characters in Hamlet. Ophelia is objectified as we see the men in her life paying attention to her sexuality as they have placed a substantial value on her virginity and not her as a person. Laertes compares having of premarital sex to a flower before the buds are opened and uses the word “canker”. The use of a flower to describe Ophelia in itself is objectification and insinuates that if she has premarital sex then she loses value just as the flower. She is also sexually harassed as in the confrontation with Hamlet, Hamlet asks her to pay attention to “nunnery” which is a brothel instead and also tells her that if she had a husband she would likely cheat on him. Hamlet does not seem to harass her because of her personality but only sexually through verbal conversations (Olivas, pg. 11-42 ). Gertrude is also objectified with her sexual appeal being central in the novel. This is seen when she gets married hastily to Claudius after her father’s death. Shakespeare is quick to point out that Gertrude barely mourned the death of her husband before remarrying the king’s brother
In conclusion women in hamlet are subject to a patriarchal condescending society. They do not seem to have a voice of their own even their characters are under developed. They suffer abuse from the men in their life and are required to completely obey what the men in their life want and it is this that resulted in Ophelia’s madness leading to her death. They are seen as sexual objects and are subjected to objectification. Through a feminism perspective one can see the position of women in Denmark and the vast evidence shows women being treated as second class citizens without being given any respect. Women have been brought out as weak and submissive characters.
Works Cited
Dane, Gabrielle. “Reading Ophelia’s Madness.” Exemplaria: A Journal of Theory in Medieval and Renaissance Studies 10 (1998): 405-23.
Neely, Carol Thomas. “‘Documents in Madness’: Reading Madness and Gender in Shakespeare’s Tragedies and Early Modern Culture.” Shakespearean Criticism 19 (1991): 330-39.
Olivas, Tynelle Ann. “Who is Ophelia? An examination of the Objectification and Subjectivity of Shakespeare’s Ophelia.” (2015).
Peterson, Kaara. “Framing Ophelia: Representation and the Pictorial Tradition.” Shakespearean Criticism 48 (1998): 255-62.
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark. SR Winchell & Company, 1885.
Sharmin, Sonia. “The Tragedy of Sexuality in Hamlet.” Annals of Language and Literature 2.3 (2018): 25-32.
