When Hamlet utters the words "Frailty, thy name is woman" in act one, scene two, he prepares the audience in a very specific way for the two female characters of the play, Ophelia and Gertrude. Before either sets foot on stage we expect them to be rather weak, fickle, as opposed to the mostly strong-willed men of the play, and both live up to our expectations. Ophelia in particular is a woman completely controlled by men, though she does not seem to be a naturally weak person. The most notable frailty of both these women seems to be that, whether by nature or nurture, they cannot exist without men. Both need men as guides to their perceptions of the world and are incapable of trusting their own feelings. In Hamlet, women's feelings are not taken seriously by the male characters. In fact, Gertrude even seems to reinforce the idea that Ophelia cannot have valid thoughts or feelings on her own. Eventually Ophelia does give up her own will, and because of this resignation, goes mad when confronted with overwhelming emotions without a man to interpret he feelings for her.
             Though Ophelia is capable of having thoughts and feelings on her own in the beginning of the play, Polonius and Laertes are eager to teach her to distrust herself. Laertes begins act one, scene three by warning his sister not to think anything of Hamlet's professions of love and warns her especially not to sleep with him. Laertes' warnings are relatively gentle, in that he does not tell Ophelia that Hamlet does not love her as she thinks he does, but simply that he may not always love her. Ultimately, he advises that "best safety lies in fear;" she must be careful (I.iii.43). Polonius, on the other hand, gives commands rather than offering advice, and generally strives to make Ophelia distrust herself completely. When he asks what Laertes and Ophelia have been discussing, she answers hesitantly, as though she does not wan...