women in hamlet
Hamlet infamously declared 'Frailty, thy name is woman' (1.2.146). To a modern audience this may seem deplorable, however Elizabethan philosophy relied heavily on the grossly misogynistic Great Chain of Being. Gertrude and Ophelia, as the only female characters in the play, provide us with the only insight into the role of women in Elsinore's society. Elizabethan philosophy was based firmly in the belief that everything had a fixed rank and function in a rigid class hierarchy. This was known as the 'Chain of Being'. It reinforced the foundations of the patriarchal society, on which the Elizabethan social order was built. Man assumed the principal role within this society. Shakespeare's Elsinore is shown to be patriarchal on many levels. Claudius, as King of Denmark, has power over the state and power over Gertrude. On a smaller scale Polonius, as the head of his family, has power over Ophelia.Ophelia is portrayed as a weak character with almost no opinion, 'I do not know my lord what I should think' (1.4.103). It is hard to tell whether, in Ophelia, Shakespeare is reflecting the nature of women in a patriarchal society, or simply using her as a devise to demonstrate how far from his former self Hamlet's obsession with reve
He was paranoid that she would ruin the family name by sleeping with Hamlet, and oppressed her sexuality throughout her life. I think that it is likely that Gertrude's hasty marriage to Claudius were motivated by self preservation. For example, she puts up no objection at all to Polonius hiding in her room to spy on her son. Women in a patriarchal society were expected to have among their virtues 'Chastity, piety, obedience, and humility' (Diana Bornstein - Distances and Dames). Ophelia's character, however, in stark contrast, shows no resistance at all, 'I shall obey, my lord' (1. Hamlet sees Gertrude as the 'lustful woman', ruled by her heart and not her head, unable to control her sexual urges, 'Nay, but to live/ In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,/ Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love/ Over the nasty sty'. He reaffirms this in act 3, scene 1, using Ophelia as a pawn to spy on Hamlet, showing no regard for her feelings. Elizabethans saw women as morally inferior to me, descended from Eve, creator of original sin, responsible for man's expulsion from Eden. In act 4 scene 7, on hearing of his sister's death Laertes says 'I forbid my tears. Although Ophelia appears to possess all the desirable qualities of an Elizabethan woman, Polonius is extremely paranoid that she will bring shame upon his family and blight their name: 'Think yourself a baby/ That you have tane these tenders for true pay,/ which are not sterling. A modern reader may be frustrated with the weakness of Ophelia and Gertrude, and not fully understand their isolation and oppression.
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