The Degrading Nature Of Shakespeare's Hamlet

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The Degrading Nature of Hamlet

William Shakespeare is one of, if not the best writer to ever live. He wrote many celebrated plays and poems and quite literally shaped the english language. He was many years ahead of his time in terms of the content and thematic depth of his plays, a truly forward thinker. Despite being a pioneer of modern entertainment Shakespeare still fell victim to the sexist attitudes that were prominent during his lifetime (1564-1616). He reflects this sexist state of mind in Hamlet through his use of characterization, tone, and ambiguity. Shakespeare's methods of characterization project Ophelia and Gertrude as weak and dependant. Early on in the story Polonius instructs Ophelia to stop seeing Hamlet to which her …show more content…

These lyrics come at the beginning of Ophelia's madness and draw a contrast between male and female insanity. It is considered that Hamlet’s madness is brought on by a wealth of intellect and genius while Ophelia's madness is simply brought on by the loss of a loved male character. Gertrude along with Ophelia is presented as an obedient character. Throughout the whole story she is constantly molding to the opinion of Claudius and Hamlet and when she does finally ignore the instructions of a male character she dies. Her first and last bit of fatal defiance is shown as she replies to the kings plea not to drink out of Hamlet’s cup with, “I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me.” (5.2.263) As soon as a female character shows a bit of out of character personality and independence she is essentially punished with death. Along with the weak characterization of the two female characters, the tone used when referencing them adds to the degradation of women in the

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