Elizabethan Gender Roles In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Kat Cameron

In the tragedy Hamlet written by William Shakespeare women were portrayed as subordinate to men, reflecting the Elizabethan time period. In Shakespeare’s work, there are many different female characters portrayed. Each character is presented with a certain purpose. How Gertrude and Ophelia were treated was consistent with how women were treated during the Elizabethan era, which occurred from the 16th to the 17th century. Society viewed women as inferior to men during that time, and there are many valid examples of that in this tragedy. Manipulation of women is an important theme in Hamlet, and Gertrude and Ophelia are prime examples of that.

Elizabethan gender roles were very stereotypical during the Elizabethan

Ophelia is a noblewoman of Denmark. Her father is Polonius, and she has a sister who’s name is Laertes. She is also Hamlets love interest. Ophelia is definitely a victim in this play due to how she is treated and manipulated by the men of the play. For example, Ophelia says to her father Polonius “I do not know, my lord, what I should think”. (Shakespeare) That shows that Ophelia is relying on her father Polonius to basically think for her and tell her what to do, rather than trying to think for herself. Ophelia is under the control of Polonius and he controls her with ease. Another example of how Ophelia is extremely obedient to men is when her brother and father have a conversation about her resisting Hamlet’s advances to have sex with her. At first her brother told her not to have sex with Hamlet and Ophelia was able to resist a little. However, when her father told her the same thing she did not try to resist at all. She said “ I shall obey, my Lord”. (Shakespeare) That scene was fairly early on in the play, and that shows that already from the beginning of the play that women are obedient to men. The reason why Ophelia’s father and brother didn’t want Ophelia to have sex with Hamlet , is because she won’t be seen as “pure”. Once a woman lost her virginity, she was not desired by most men anymore. Many of the men wanted a virgin to marry. That shows that the main focus was for the men. It was about making sure to please men and to make sure that they were satisfied. Another example of how Ophelia is manipulated by men in the play is by Hamlet. When Hamlet wants to convince everyone that he’s gone mad, he displays madness in front of Ophelia. He does that because he knows that she will go back and report what happened to her father, because as proven before she is obedient to him the most. Once Ophelia tells her father, Hamlet got what he wanted and was able to convince people that