Essay On Social Commentary On Hamlet

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a social commentary of both England and Europe around the time of its circulation. During William Shakespeare’s time, women in England had very few rights; men had superiority and authority over everything, including the women. Shakespeare connected Ophelia, a female character from Hamlet, to an era where women has very few rights and had the duty to obey the men in their lives. A women in Europe or even England, if unmarried, they obeyed their brothers and father and when married they were obligated to obey their husbands. As a woman, Ophelia had few alternatives in a patriarchal society that divided her from Hamlet who could change his fate at any given time. Ophelia was a proper woman of her time and she tried to

One of the main power struggles that was shown throughout the play was the one between King Claudius and Prince Hamlet. The struggle of power begins after Hamlet discovered the truth of his father’s death from the ghost of his father, King Hamlet. The ghost of his father informed him that his was murdered by his brother, King Claudius. The ghost of the late king tells Hamlet to seek revenge for his father’s death and the ghost also informs him that King Claudius has corrupted Denmark. The shape of Denmark was becoming progressively worse as the demise of any new king would bring political anxiety. At this point Hamlet wants his revenge, but does not take any steps until he hears Claudius confession when he was praying alone, “A brother 's murder. Pray can I not…my stronger guilt defeats my strong intent…Of those effects for which I did the murder...” (3.3.2). Claudius confessed that he killed his brother in order to take power as king and rule over Denmark. Another struggle of power was when the Fortinbras of Norway was assembling an army to take back the land that King Hamlet took from them. Even Polonius desired power and he gladly dangled Ophelia in front of Hamlet in hoping that Ophelia would become queen one day. The entire family wanted to achieve royal statues even if meant that Hamlet was actually insane because that would give even more power to Polonius. The power struggle was not only happening in Shakespeare’s Hamlet but also in England and Europe. Both were being ruled by monarchs, who were trying to build up their power. In England, the established aristocracy and the representative of the House of Common were resisting the monarchy because Queen Elizabeth had no direct inheritor, which caused the kingdom to fear that England could deteriorate into civil chaos without a powerful figure to establish