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For many years, in the older eras, women had always been categorized as insignificant, and worthless. Because of this, women were forced to conform to the stereotype of depending on men, and were subjected to what the men said. William Shakespeare demonstrates this in the play Hamlet. The women are portrayed to deserve their fate because of their inability to be independent and their ability to be easily influenced. In the play, Shakespeare demonstrates that both Gertrude and Ophelia deserve their fate.
The women deserve their fate because of their inability to be independent. Polonius instructs Ophelia to be aware of her shallow emotions and to display herself as more valuable by not responding to Hamlets every command. When Polonius says,
… these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a making,
You must not take for fire. From this time, daughter,
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to parley. (Shakespeare 1.3.117-123)
He is essentially telling Ophelia how she should be behaving and reacting to her own situations. This is portraying her as a woman who cannot think for herself and is dependant on Polonius. In addition, Polonius’ death is the trigger to Ophelia’s insanity, because she depended upon him a great deal. When Ophelia is told by Polonius to never contact Hamlet again, she obeys Polonius, but Hamlet acts crazy in reaction to her denial. Ophelia says, “No, my good lord; but, as you did command, / I did repel his letters and denied / His actions to me.” (2.1.109-111) By doing everything Polonius tell her to do, she makes matters for herself worse. Ophelia cannot stand up for her...
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...made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine! (1.5.44-53)
Claudius seduced Gertrude easily because of his ‘power’. Claudius manipulated her and his traits are not of any quality. Gertrude and Ophelia are easily impressionable, and were easily used to others’ advantages, proving their presence invaluable.
It is demonstrated that both Gertrude and Ophelia deserve their fate throughout the play. The women deserve their fate because of their inability to be independent and their ability to be easily influenced. It is important to have independence in all of one’s life, and to be capable of making one’s own choices; Otherwise, many terrible events may occur. Numerous historical events have resulted in women earning their independence. It is a vital characteristic to have, which can help people in many ways.
Ophelia is portrayed as a sensitive, fragile woman. Easily overpowered and controlled by her brother and father, Ophelia is destined to be weak. Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, warns and pushes Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet and is further supported by their father Polonius. “Polonius enters and adds his warning to those of Laertes. He orders Ophelia not to spend time with Hamlet or even talk to him. Ophelia promises to obey” (“Hamlet” 95). Ophelia’s obedience to her father’s directions prove the side she
Culturally, women have been expected to be soft spoken, gentle, delicate flowers. They should not question a man's opinion or go against their will. Ophelia, in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is an example of a young naive girl who faces the dangers that come from only following what others want, and not thinking for herself. The men in this play use her for their own benefit and she suffers the repercussions, which leads her to madness and “accidental” death.
During Hamlet, Polonius and Laertes use Ophelia for their own self-gain not taking her feelings in consideration. In the article “Jephthah's Daughter's Daughter: Ophelia,” Cameron Hunt reveals that Polonius disregards Ophelia’s wants for his ...
Ophelia is conditioned to obey Polonius and Laertes’ commands, thinly veiled as guidance for her “own good.” She is never trusted to have a mind of her own, often having her intelligence openly insulted, causing her to be dependent on the men in her life. These men exercise authority over her, patronize, and degrade her, lowering her self-esteem to a non-existent level, and leaving her a...
Polonius immediately calls to question Ophelia’s ability to reason with his opening remark, “I must tell you / You do not understand yourself so clearly.” (1.3.104-105). This statement along with his suggestion to, “Think yourself a baby” (1.3.114) in regards to how she feels about Hamlet show his commanding nature and instant mistrust of how Ophelia could possibly behave in the best way. Ophelia, to her credit, responds with a curt, “I shall obey, my lord” (1.3.145), which shows her maturity and respect by avoiding conflict through a calm demeanor. However, given how she responded to Laertes, this response also comes across as snide and mocking showing her independence through a resilient, almost defiant, statement. Ophelia, for the second time, faces immediate threats to her power over herself and deals with both calmly and intelligently by not provoking a reaction while still showing abject
In a critical essay, Judith Cook[1] noted that in many of Shakespeare’s plays major women characters ‘die because of direct association with the fate of a tragic hero’. This could be seen as Shakespeare trying to convey women’s fate being a ‘by-product’ of the fate of men- men are superior. On the other hand, Ophelia is crucial in understanding Hamlet as a character and gives an insight into different motifs of the play. Some may argue that Ophelia is one of the causes of Hamlet’s ‘madness’ and his recoil from love.
Hamlet wants to use Ophelia for his sexual desire, but also to provoke his uncle-father and mother. Polonius warms that Ophelia will not get what she expects out of this relationship, showing her that there are other people who will care for her more than Ophelia. The word “beguile” means to enchant, so, again, Polonius warns Ophelia that he will take advantage of her for his own good, and Ophelia should be aware of all the consequences that will follow when the relationship ends. At the end, Polonius suggests that Ophelia should talk to Hamlet and end their relationship. Ophelia responds with the submissive, “I shall obey, my lord.” This shows how submissive Ophelia is and how loyal she is to her father. Although Ophelia is loyal, too much of anything is a bad thing. Because of her unbounded loyalty, Ophelia is defined as Polonius, she doesn’t know how to be an individual. At one point, Romestant suggested that “without the presence of a mother figure, Ophelia grew up sandwiches between [Polonius] and his rigid ideas alone, and did not have an opportunity to develop any kind of sophisticated identity,” (6). Although this claim seems reasonable, Ophelia has been bound to Polonius from birth, and if you replaced him with a woman, she would still be dependent on the woman. The dependence of her mother would be fueled by Polonius, therefore Ophelia
Hamlet treats Ophelia like property and because he does not care for her. This is proven because he insults Ophelia, uses her to get his revenge on Claudius and uses her as a way to get attention. To begin with, Hamlet abuses Ophelia by accusing her of having impure motives. To him she “jig[s]… amble and …lisp” (3.1.145) to seduce other men. He also accuses her of being deceitful because she changes the “one face [that]…God hath given” to her by putting on cosmetics. Hamlet verbally abuses Ophelia because he believes that she is worthless. Hamlet is not concerned about the effect that these insult have on Ophelia’s psyche. In addition to verbally abusing Ophelia, Hamlet uses Ophelia as a pawn. Hamlet uses Ophelia as a way to get to Claudius by also physically abusing her. Ophelia description of Hamlet’s abuse exhibits Hamlet’s unruly behaviour towards her: “He took me by the wrist and held me hard; then goes he to the length of all his arm” (2.1.88-89). Hamlet physically abuses Ophelia because he knows that Ophelia will report it to her father who in turn will tell Claudius. By doing this, Claudius will think Hamlet is insane and will then lower his guard and will not suspect that Hamlet intents to kill him. Hamlet does not stop to consider what kind mental toll will take on Ophelia, all he cares about is to finishing what his father asked of him. It is apparent
Even though women’s rights has evolved drastically, today and throughout history, women still largely adhere to men’s demands. Men, who withhold most of the power in relationships, tend to expanded their own power at the cost of these women, displaying that anybody in a position of power can become uncontrolled. A similar scenario of imbalanced power appears throughout Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays women as pawns in a mostly male world, due to their desire for acceptance from men, women are led to their downfall, showing that in seeking a man’s approval, they often fall victim to men’s greed and manipulation.
Ophelia’s betrayal ends up putting Hamlet over the edge, motivating him in his quest for revenge. Ophelia is one of the two women in the play. As the daughter of Polonius, she only speaks in the company of several men, or directly to her brother or father. Since we never see her interactions with women, she suppresses her own thoughts in order to please her superiors. Yet, however weak and dependent her character is on the surface, Ophelia is a cornerstone to the play’s progression.
Ophelia doesn’t have much of an assertive voice throughout the play, but still here character still largely influences the play. Ophelia is used by Polonius to spy on Hamlet, and prove that he is mad. Ophelia never stands up for herself, and assumes the role of a typical woman during the time period. She does as she is expected to , obey. She never defends herself from Hamlet’s harsh remarks either. She shows no defiance from her fathers order, Ophelia just acts as she is expected to. Ophelia is especially significant in the scene where Hamlet insults her and all women. In this scene Hamlet seems to know that Polonius is watching, and using Ophelia to spy on him. So Hamlet uses Ophelia, much like Polonius. Hamlet talks to Ophelia in such a way in this scene that he seems to insinuate things. Hamlet is able to insinuate that Ophelia perhaps isn’t pure, and may be pregnant with Hamlet’s child. During this scene is also the first time it is suggested that Hamlet knows about the death of the king. Ophelia appeared flawless up to this point. But now Ophelia is essentially like a battleground for Hamlet and Polonius. They both utilize her to say what they want to one another, and prove what they want. Both use her to their advantage. Hamlet also uses Ophelia to get the word out that he mad, after seeing Ophelia and acting crazy. Ophelia serves a tool for both Polonius and Hamlet...
As Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, the fiction was set in the Renaissance era and therefore the persona of women was reflective of that period. The natural stereotype of that time viewed women as weak, fickle, and dependent of the men in their society and subject to the decisions that men make for them. It was an exceedingly common depiction and very rarely was it proven wrong to the men of that time. Women’s rights were nonexistent in this time period so it wasn’t unusual for the portrayal of women to be so negative and offensive. Given that women of that age had known nothing else they attempted to fit the stereotype to please the ‘natural order’.
This idea of the classic husband – wife relationship, could quite possibly be the reason why Gertrude and Ophelia played out their roles as they did. Women were not to take precedence of the authority of the men. Gertrude had a man holding her back and Ophelia had a man holding her back.
In Shakespeare’s dramatic works there is no room for the heroic or the strong woman, and therefore many of his plays can be perceived as being antifeminist. Often he portrays women as weak, mad, sexual, and as even witches. Hamlet is no exception. The only women in the play, Ophelia and Queen Gertrude, are given confined and limited roles. These roles are from a male-dominated viewpoint and only add focus to the male characters instead of incorporating the insight and the impact of the women as well.
Ophelia is manipulated by Hamlet to display to the King and the rest of the court that he is in fact mad. When Hamlet enters her room wearing disheveled clothing and acting quite strange towards her, he knows that Ophelia will tell her father and the King. Ophelia then reports this strange occurrence to her father, telling him about his strange composure of taking her “by the wrist and” holding her hard and then “shaking” when he was about to let go. (Act 2, Scene 1 Lines 86-91) The team of Polonius and the King also exploits Ophelia in order to dig deeper into Hamlet’s madness.