The Royal Court of Denmark in Hamlet by William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare, the author of many famous pieces of writing has proven to have a way of getting his point across without making any point at all. In two of his most famous works, Macbeth and Hamlet, Shakespeare takes a closer look at the roles of females when having to do with authority in their royal courts. He dramatizes real occurrences within his life at the time and brings them to light using his writing. In many plays he greatly emphasizes the feminist lens by telling of the female's great anxiety that eventually leads to an unstable court. This chaos causes the females to desperately cling to the people around them for acceptance until social and political power is regained. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Queen Gertrude’s experiences with Claudius and Hamlet illustrate a contrast between her longing for acceptance and her desire for an authoritative role in the royal court of Denmark.
Throughout this piece, Shakespeare touches on many aspects of Queen Gertrude as a character. In multiple parts of the play Shakespeare refers to Gertrude as an "adulterate beast" which would mean that Gertrude and Claudius would have had to be involved with each other even before the death of King Claudius and that Gertrude was knowledgeable of the plan the entire time. If they were both involved with the murder of the previous king Claudius would have treated Gertrude as accomplice, which he does not. Gertrude allows herself to be called names and accused of adultery all to get Claudius to be more accepting of her. If she were to fight back against the names and numerous accusations placed upon her Claudius might grow annoyed with her constant fighting for her dead husband. He would feel as if she was not as interested in him as she ...

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...split that Queen Gertrude experiences throughout Hamlet reveals that there is a bigger picture than what Shakespeare has created in the confounds of this play. When people view Hamlet as a whole through the feminist lens it is apparent that females are extremely submissive and lack awareness of their situation. Gertrude longs for acceptance and a regained role in her royal court but is easily dismissed by Claudius due to the fact that he views her as unnecessary and thinks that political and royal matters should be handled by someone more stable than her. In the cases of Hamlet as well as occasionally Claudius, Gertrude acts very submissive and fits the definition of a frail woman very accurately. She does not defend herself and grants away her authority because, like a child, she is only interested in external pleasures and the positive approval of others.

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